4leafclovergirl

Hello! I would like any advice or suggestions regarding an upcoming trip June 2018 to southern Spain, Lisbon & the Algarve. A little background, we are a family of five now with 3 teenage boys. I love traveling and want to give my kids the opportunity to experience different cultures.

We have taken 3 trips to Europe in the past. Italy 2011 for 3 weeks- Venice, Rome, Cinque Terre, 2 towns in Tuscany and the hiking in the Dolomites. We did 4 weeks in France 2014 including Paris, Normandy, 1 week Dordogne and 1 week Provence. In 2016 we did 3 weeks in Spain/France- Barcelona, Paris, 1 week Costa Brava, 1 week Provence. We like having a vehicle to get around but use trains/buses if needed. We like to balance outdoor activities like canoeing the Dordogne, biking in Provence and hiking CT, Dolomites, calanques with an occasional museum, church, visiting old villages, war history. We all enjoy markets, getting fresh bread and dining out. I love renting a villa within walking distance of some restaurants, shops, sites or the beach.

Here is the kicker for this trip. We have reward miles which would make flights out of the northern cities such as London & Amsterdam cost free. We would just buy tickets for the inter European portions of the trip. My concern is that is makes for a lot of moving around. Wanted to hear people's opinions on both cities. I like both but prefer Amsterdam. Also accommodations there are very expensive, I was a little surprised. Anyway we typically rent apartments or villas when we can due to the size of our family and cost. We have had great luck so far with really nice places.

Rambling sorry...a tentative itinerary:

London (or Amsterdam) 3 nights
London to Seville flight
Seville 3 nights
Ronda 2 nights
Granada 2 nights
Extra night? Nerja?
Transfer likely via bus which I know will be somewhat of a hassle, drop one car in Spain, pick up another in Portugal
Algarve 4-5 nights
Lisbon & Sintra 2-3 nights
Extra night?
Fly home from Lisbon or
Lisbon to Amsterdam (or London)
Amsterdam 1-2 nights

Any thoughts? Usually we make fewer stops than this so I have some hesitation. One of the things that has made our previous trips enjoyable is heavier touring early in the trip followed by more relaxation and staying in one place. Some days we do day trips and allow the kids a 1/2 or full day off to recharge or just swim in the pool.

Thoughts on things teenagers would enjoy?

Any suggestions for an Algarve base? Carvoeiro? Albufeira? Will the ocean water still be a bit chilly in June? Not excited about high rise, modern apartments but love old villages. I was planning to skip the beach in Spain because we are going in Portugal.

London vs Amsterdam or both?

Any restaurant recommendations for Spain or Portugal would be wonderful. Are there food markets in these countries like in France?

Thanks!

KarenWoo

It does seem like a lot of moving around for 3 weeks, especially because you are flying into and out of London or Amsterdam. Where do you live? We flew on TAP last September from Boston to Marseille, and then home on TAP from Seville to Boston. TAP has low airfares. Ours was about $666 per person for our open-jaw flights (flying into one city and flying home from a different city). That would give you more time in Spain and Portugal if you can omit London or Amsterdam. If you can't omit London or Amsterdam, would you consider going to Andalucia and eliminating Portugal from your itinerary? You could go to Malaga for the beach. We really enjoyed Malaga. And you don't have Cordoba in your itinerary, which is a wonderful city and the Mezquita is amazing. Personally, I would choose Cordoba over Ronda, although we did not visit the white villages on our trip. Also, I believe there are national parks in Andalucia that you could visit for outdoor activities. Other people on this forum might know more about them than I do.

Please keep in mind that southern Spain and Portugal will be very hot in June. If you don't like heat, would you consider visiting the UK for 3 weeks instead, especially if you fly into London? Just a thought. Temps were in the 80's and 90's when we were in Andalucia in September.

BTW, I recommend spending 4 nights in Seville if you can, instead of 3. And I recommend using trains while traveling in Andalucia. A car will be more trouble than it's worth in cities like Seville and Granada. But you might need a car for the white villages.

PalenQ

Teens will probably like London and Amsterdam best - do both. Take bullet train Amsterdam-Brussels-London or v.v. in about 4 hours and experience one of Europe's trains blowing along at speeds up to nearly 200mph. For lots on these trains and trains in general check www.eurostar.com; www.thalys.com - easy to book your own discounted tickets; www.seat61.com has great advice on doing that; general info BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

kja

Are you sure that you can see and experience what you want with this plan in this time frame? This plan sounds unpleasantly ambitious to me – too much time in transit for far too little time to actually see or do anything while in any of these fascinating places. If you haven’t already done so, I strongly recommend that you plot your trip – and the places you hope to visit – on a calendar.

A few more specific comments:

3 nights is not much for either London or Amsterdam, partiuclarly if you will have jet lag upon arrival. If at all possible – and it might not be! – consider trying to put all of your time in your departure city at the END of your visit. Or are you saying that you’ll fly into one of those cities and out of the other?

3 nights in Sevilla is, IMO, the bare minimum. Like KarenWoo, I would urge you to consider visiting Cordoba rather than Ronda – Cordoba’s Mezquita is, IMO, one of the world’s gems, and I found Cordoba well worth seeing. Ronda is in an impressive setting and has a few nice things to see; I left earlier than I expected – less then 24 hours after arriving. But maybe the opportunity to hike in / around Ronda is part of your calculus?

2 nights is JUST enough, IMO, to see the Alhambra, which can take a full day. If you want to see any of the other treasures of Granada, you might want more time – but again, maybe you are thinking that a half day or so is the most your family would want at the Alhambra? Even if so, give some thought to finding a way for the adults to visit again during the evening – the Nasrid Palace can be quite magical and evocative at night.

One last thought: With this plan, you can not possibly see everything you might want to see in any of these locations. The places you can most easily re-visit are the ones that are major international air hubs – London, Amsterdam, and Lisbon. You might consider purposefully shortchanging one or all of them to make more time to see places that are harder to reach and that are on or near this itinerary.

Hope that helps!

madridtourguide

I recommend you to change Nerja for Córdoba. Is an amazing medieval city.

PalenQ

Yes to Cordoba! Spend only a day there and didn't see it all.

PalenQ

I'd take a few days off the Algarve myself - mainly modern high-rise beach resorts with a few old towns like Tavira and Lagos - but if into a beach respite great but perhaps another two days could be spent in say London or Amsterdam.

4leafclovergirl

Thanks for all the helpful replies, keeping for the future. We decided to postpone this trip as we have family going to the same destination next year. Thus we will try to join them! Totally off topic but we have now booked a 3 week trip to Greece instead.

PalenQ

Bon voyage!