Traveling to Spain and possibly Portugal
 

Hello Fodor's travel community, I am looking for some advice/recommendations on upcoming travel to Spain. Some details:

• Traveling with family: adults and teens, 7 total. Firs time visitors.
  
• Landing in Madrid and having 17 days total stay before flying back
  
• Would like to see as much of the country as possible, with a potential short stay in Lisbon to see Fatima, if possible.
  
• We love to travel not vacation. In other words, we only use our Airbnb or hotel to sleep; we like to be on the go and don't mind walking for long distances during our stays.
  
• Thinking of sticking to 3 main cities in Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, and Seville. Hoping to take day trips to nearby locations where we are staying (e.g. taking a day trip to Toledo from Madrid)
  
• We do not mind flying or using other public transportation to move around
  

Any recommendations based on the above?

What time of year?

Hi, late June to mid July of this year.

Hot weather everywhere…try to include some beach time , If possible , book hotels with a pool.

I find it difficult to believe that you would have time for Fatima. Consult Rome2Rio.com.

I am not getting a clear picture of what interests you have, other than being on the go. Do you just want to hit different areas, like a kind of road trip? A few days here, a few days there just to get a feel for the place? 17 days sounds like a lot but it's not really that much if you want to visit places like Alhambra in Granada or the Alcázar in Seville or a few museums in Madrid. And to include a visit to Portugal is really pushing it.

I think Sp

Don’t know what happened above. I think Spain is likely to be quite hot during your visit so walking a lot in the sun might not be so much fun. Also think Lisbon should be left for another trip. Travel between Portugal and Spain not always the easiest despite close proximity. It would help to have a Van to visit parts of Andalusia although Cordoba can be visited by train. Granada is a bit far for a day trip from Seville but possible. Think you do not have as much time as you think to visit a lot of Spain.

I always advise visit one or the other not both unless you have more like 21 days.
This year, heavy rain storms have already occured so forest fires should be reduced.

Spain has lots of religious sites you could visit eg the true cross is in the Picos d'Europa I understand
rome2rio is your friend with so little time to plan, but click through their links to check the details and buy tickets from local companies

Agree with other posts, Spain has enough sites to see but if you decide to go to Lisbon, fly from Madrid to Lisbon, it's the easiest least time consuming.
In Lisbon use the Metro to get around
https://www.metrolisboa.pt/en/
and the local commuter train for the outlying areas
https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en