My wife and I (67 ish) are considering a trip to Spain and Portugal next September. The only rule my Wife has laid down is "not too many churches please!" They key thing to my "happy wife happy life" planning is a minimum of lodging changes so best to have a minimum 3 nights in one locale. We are perfectly fine doing 5-7 days in a locale that provides for day trips. The goal is to have a variety of experiences, just do not know where to start.. # of days is flexible. Any thoughts?

Pick a place in Galicia and enjoy the scenery. We did three night in Vigo last time we were in Spain. We only had 5 nights total, but we could have easily spend a week exploring the coast between Vigo and Gijon.

Easy to spend a week in Lisbon (click on my name for my TR), and then you can head north via at least Coimbra to Porto and the Duoro valley. If you have time left you could see a bit of Galicia. Or start in Porto and head south, then take the night train to Madrid to finish.

I went on a solo trip to Spain covering San Sebastian, Barcelona, Granada, and Seville in the span of 2 weeks:
http://fanofblank.blogspot.com/2014/...-in-spain.html

And Portugal (based in Lisbon) covering Sintra and Belem, a nearby neighborhood. We only spent about 4 days in Portugal though:
http://fanofblank.blogspot.com/2017/...nd-sintra.html

Hopefully this helps you get a sense for each city so that you can get started on planning. Have fun!

You might consider Madrid for half your time (day trips to Toledo, Segovia, maybe Salamanca – and FWIW, I normally recommend at least 1 if not 2 nights in both Toledo and Salamanca, but it you want a base, Madrid would work) and half your time in Barcelona, with day trips to Montserrat, Tarragona, and Girona?

Or spend two weeks in Portugal.

I strongly encourage you to get a good guidebook or two -- perhaps the Michelin Green Guide or Rough Guide. In comparison to the cost of your trip, the cost of a guidebook will be nugatory, and you will have a wealth of information at your fingertips.

Having read your thread on Japan, let me suggestion another option: Andalusia, with bases in Granada, Sevilla & Cordoba, and (perhaps) Malaga -- given what you say of your interests and preferred pace, you might consider at least 2 weeks for this area.

I very much enjoyed an early September trip to Lisbon, Porto & various small towns and seacoast in the Galicia region of Spain. At other times of year my itinerary might have meant facing a lot of rain, but in early September the same routes tend to be much drier.

For Portugal I didn't use a car, but I picked up one at the Porto airport and drove for the Spanish portion of my trip. But it also would have been possible to take a train into northern Spain, to Vigo or other points.

Although I went to many museums and historic sights, it would be quite easy to craft a trip that was a mix of great neighborhoods, scenic vistas, impressive castles, small towns. There is a terrific contrast between Lisbon and Porto, and the scenic Duoro river valley is right nearby. There is a lot of variety & contrast in Portugal within a compact area.

Much of southern Spain would be far too hot for me in September. So I much preferred heading north from Portugal when combining Portugal + Spain in September, and I was rewarded with great food and fantastic coastal scenery, plus many enjoyable small towns with few tourists (I skipped Santiago de Compostela).

How about classical Madrid-Seville area - Lisbon - Porto trip?

Trains are best if going to large cities as most are want to do (and the countryside in those countries being rather boring IME)- for lots of rail info check www.renfe.com for Spain and https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en for Portugal -book early for discounted tickets. Check www.seat61.com for help booking own online tickets; for general info www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Land in Madrid -do a day trip to nearby Toledo

Train to Seville - do Cordoba as a day trip and maybe Jerez de la Frontera for sherry house visits, etc.

Lisbon is a great base - Sintra a must easy day trip.

Porto great base too - Braga, Batalha Monastery and Guimares three easy day trips - no need for car.

anyone think the recent independence vote in Catalonia and the Madrid reaction might make planning a Barcelona trip 11 months out iffy?

I see Kja has caught me in that I am really planning 2 trips (1) Japan and (2) spain/Portugal and the final decision may depend on available flights and wife preference. But seriously. sooner or later we will take both just not at the same time/

anyone think the recent independence vote in Catalonia and the Madrid reaction might make planning a Barcelona trip 11 months out iffy?>

Would seem to be over by then - one way or other?

What about this itinerary?

Car Trip
2 nights, in: Porto
• 2 nights, in Douro Valley
• 2 nights, in Coimbra
• 3 nights, in Nazaré (Óbidos, Alcobaça, Batalha, Fátima)
• 1 night, in Évora
• 2 days add: Tavira
• 3 nights, in Salema: (Salema, Lagos, Cape Sagres)
• 5 nights: in Lisbon, Sintra

I wasn’t objecting to planning two trips at once! I just learned (or think I learned!) more about your interests and preferred travel pace from your thread on Japan. Sounds like you are making progress with a plan for Portugal, which I have not yet visited, so I can’t comment.

Thanks all. I have found that not only will it be much harder to get premium mileage seats to Portugal or Spain but that the total travel time will be more in the 24 hour range.

On the other hand it appears that it will be easier to get the seats to Japan and the total travel time will be 15+ hours. So my Wife has pulled rank and said those facts made the decision. It is JAPAN 2018. So I will close this thread and pull it back up in 2019 when I will look at it again.

Thanks for the help.

So KJA, see you back on the Japan thread.

I like your itinerary except for only one night in Evora and only two in Porto. Add anothe day to each and it's a good plan.
I will go check your Japan thread as we are looking at a trip there too.

Dear All

Thanks for the tips. We are going to table this trip for a year as we just opted for Japan in 2018