2 Weeks in Portugal or France

Other than Lichtenstein, San Marino and Luxembourg I don’t know if you can really visit a country in two weeks. I’ve been to France and Portugal and love them both for own individual reasons. France is 7 times as large as Portugal. So if you really want to explore one country in depth in two weeks, you might enjoy Portugal. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

Yeah I don't expect to see all of either country in 2 weeks. I did 2 weeks in Spain and got to see a lot of cities but came no where near considering it seeing the whole country

We toured Portugal last year during April & May for two weeks. We spent 4 nights in Lisbon and 4 in Tomar. Tomar was great for day trips to Fatima, Batalha, Alcobaca & Marvão. The last three were UNESCO Heritage sites. We stopped for lunch and a walk around Obidos on our way to Tomar. Loved Tomar. We booked a tour guide for Coimbra on our way to Porto and spent 3 nights in Porto.

We like to drive and be able to stop and see whatever we want as we move from city to city. For example, we stopped outside of Evora to see their equivalent of Stonehenge and also to check out the cork trees up close. I usually check the UNESCO Heritage sites that might be located on our route. We are not beach people so we skipped most of Algarve but did a day trip out of Lisbon to the coast. If you would like more info, I have a Quick Driving Mileage Chart and Itinerary. Can send it with a PM. I would highly recommend Portugal. Lovely people and unique places, cathedrals, museums, etc.

We have been to Paris for about the same time you have and made a few stops to the southern coast area. We are going back next year. Check out the sites you want to see in both places and pick the one that excites you.

Hope this helps

Explore the whole country? In 2 weeks? Disaster.

My suggestion is to drop the project of seeing every important thing in whichever place you go, and focus on making the best 2 week trip for yourself.

In Portugal, you might hit some cities and smaller towns. Lisbon-Sintra, Coimbra, Porto.

In France you probably want to spend some time in Paris and then visit perhaps 2 other regions--3 if you are very nimble. Normandy and the Loire, Burgundy and Lyon, Lyon and Provence, Provence and the Riviera. Actually, I'd chose to travel south-to-north that time of year, if you can stand postponing Paris for the grand finale.

Make some fantasy itineraries and pick the best one.

Haha I guess I am unsure where everyone is seeing I said a "whole country." I know I can spend a year in these countries and never see the whole thing. I've lived in the US my whole live and have not seen the "whole country." I'm just looking for peoples' opinions on where you would rather spend 2 weeks

Both countries are great. France is so much more than Paris. If you choose France, focus on two or three regions. My wife and I went to Alsace-Alps-Burgundy-Chartres-Paris in 2010 and it was great. In 2003 we did Bruges (Belgium)-Paris-Normandy-Loire-Dordogne-Langedoc-Provence-Riviera in two weeks. You might notice our 2010 itinerary was slightly less crazy than 2003--we were more experienced travelers. Certainly the museums are more spectacular in France. You can have a good visit in both countries by public transit, but in Portugal I recommend a car for sure. Major cities in Portugal are limited to Porto and Lisbon. And even Porto is not much of a major city. You might want to define your interests more specifically. Beaches, major cities, museums, historical sites etc. as you mention might be hard to do on one trip.

vftravels got it right. Stick to a region for France.

You can see a lot of Portugal in two weeks. Lisbon, Evora, Sintra, Obidos, Navarre, Porto, the Douro River Valley.

France is huge so whether you'd enjoy France more depends on where you want to go in France.

I think the Alsace region is a great combination of delicious (and fairly unique) wine and charming medieval villages. I love Provence for the sun, sea, food, and those tasty dry rose wines. Brittany's windswept coast, unique culture, and sights are wonderful. And I haven't been to the Dordogne, or Burgundy, or many other famous areas in France.

It's a pretty weird question then to just ask who prefers which country. They're countries. Even the small ones are big. You should just research more to see which appeals to you more.

From a weather perspective, I'd pick Portugal. It is also ( I believe) a more reasonably priced place to visit than France. I think you could design a very nice 2 week trip there by public transportation.

Frankly u cannot go wrong with either. Both are wonderful of course France can be a tad more costly.but portugal is smaller and u could really see Alot in 2wks. Not so,with France. U could concentrate on 2 regions which would be quite diff from one another.
If budget is imp then work the numbers for both then decide.