Hi all....am planning to take my fiance on a driving trip through Spain and Portugal and perhaps end by taking an overnight train to Paris when we return to Madrid....Hope to go in early May and pick up a car in Madrid...drive north and then West to Galicia. south along the Portuguese coast and finally east along the Algarve into S. Spain along the Costa del Sol to Malaga and then finally North again into Madrid. Hope to have about 3 weeks to do this. Am I being overly optimistic?..would appreciate any comments concerning places to see, stay and eat...thanks so much, Bob

Bob, It could be done, if you forget the Paris diversion, but you would need to plan well. The hard part will be what to EXCLUDE. Portugal takes 2 weeks to see well, Andalusia demands another 10 days, and Galicia will add 3 more days. Try to plan with a max of 4 hours driving time per day. Could be fun if you plan well.

You didn't even mention visiting Aragon or Navarra or Catalonia (i.e., Barcelona & the Costa Brava). And why Malaga??

Let's see how many miles we can put on this 'puppy' in 3-weeks ... Sounds to me like a 'Bus Driver's Holiday.' I'm not very fond of spending my holiday 'on the road.' I agree with bobthenavigator's comments except for northern Spain: Vizcaya, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia should get as much time as Andalucia.

IMHO you are trying to cram too much into your 3-week visit. I think you should go 'back to the ol' drawing board' and develop a more conservative itinerary. If you try to do everyplace you mention, you may be able to do so in 3-weeks but you won't have time to 'stop and smell the roses.'

As for places to stay: you might consider a 5-night Parador 'package' and BankHotel vouchers - always try to reserve at least a day in advance.

Thanks to BobTheNavigator and NedsIreland I have revised our trip considerably. We will now fly directly into Malaga on 15 May where I have some business to take care of and then fly up to Madrid where we will start our trip North. Are planning to drive up to Cantabria (Santander) through Burgos and then West along the N. Coast through Santillana de Mar, Gijon (Asturias)to ACoruna in Galicia. Then South through Santiago de Compostela into Portugal. Will go through Porto, Coimbra down to Lisbon and then return to Madrid through Merida. Hope I am not being too optmistic. We will have 3 weeks to do this. With that in mind we would appreciate any suggestions concerning hotels, restaurants or any other places we should try and see along the way. Thanks so much, Bob

Great Bob--that looks good.
After you leave Santiago and head south try hard to stay at the Pousada at Viano do Castello--fabulous location above a charming town. Also, try to see Marvao and Obidos--the former may be off your route.Here is my photo gallery from Portugal. Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.worldisround.com/articles/108338/index.html

For some persepctive - we did a trip from Lisbon to Madrid a couple of years ago: Lisbon to Merida to Seville to Cordoba to Marbella to Granada to Madrid - which took us a full three weeks - and we didn;t have a lot of time anywhere. So your trip sounds like its quite aggressive.