21 Days in Europe Oct-Nov 2017

Click on the "Our Tours" link on the left side of the RS website. You can look at the listed tours for ideas of where to go and how long to spend. Keep in mind that every time you change locations, you will lose at least 1/2 day, maybe more. During that time of year, the weather can be iffy. You might get a lot of rain or cool temps. I think you could easily fill 21 days in Spain / Portugal and the weather in Southern Spain will be better.

Hi Stephen,

Is there a Rick Steves for Spain/Portugal? If so, perhaps we'll do Spain and Portugal and save the rest of Europe for 2018. We've used Rick Steve's books for every trip and always been impressed. From the helpful advice to the downloadable podcast tours, they are excellent.

Thanks!
Rob

Arrive London (3N)
fly to Munich
By train: Munich (3N) > Venice (3N) > Bologna (3N) > Genoa (2N) > Milan (1N) > Black Forest (2N) > Belgium (3N)
Eurostar to London (1N)
Depart London

There is not currently a tour that combines Spain and Portugal. You might consider one of the single-country tours and augment it with independent travel to the other.

Be advised, though, that Spain is a very large and varied destination where you could easily spend 21 days and leave wanting more. 21 days would be barely enough time to do Barcelona with side trips, Madrid with sidetrips, Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Ronda/white villages. If you try to squeeze Portugal in, you'll be making cuts in the Spanish itinerary that I would find painful.

Another quirk of the Iberian Peninsula is that transportation options between the two countries are pretty limited. This is what I'm aware of:

• Flights. Check skyscanner.com. Book early for bargain fares.
• Night train between Madrid and Lisbon. (No day trains on this route)
• Bus from southern Spain to the Algarve.
• Bus from Galicia (Spain) to Porto.
• Bus from Badajoz (Spain) to Lisbon.

Southern Spain/Andalucia is the warmest, driest part of Europe, so I'd expect that to be the best place weather-wise at that time of year. I've been in February and March with very mild temps (50s and even 60s) and lots of sunny days. There are fast trains between many cities, but also areas that are better with a car.

When you look at a map, you think that it's intuitive to combine Spain and Portugal, but when you look at the logistics it doesn't work well - long journeys by slow train or bus and very limited flight options. Driving doesn't work - the roads aren't high-speed and the drop-off charges for a rental are in the hundreds of €. But since you have to fly back to London anyway, you could probably spend about a week in Portugal and then on to Spain. I'd start in Portugal because it's on the Atlantic coast so weather is more likely to be better earlier.

I can't compare because I haven't been to Portugal, but you could easily fill 3 weeks in Spain alone.

Not sure why you want to spend valuable time in Genoa and Bologna. I have been to both cities, which do have some interesting sites to see, but compared to other places in N. Italy, they are second rate. Ravenna is a gem that is worth a day. Venice is special.

The lakes around the Swiss/Italian border are a great area to visit.

For Belgium, Brugges and Ghent would be good. Brussels is worth a day.

I would save Portugal and Spain for a separate trip. The Iberian peninsula is quite large and key cites are spread out requiring lots of travel time.

You probably don't want to be biking in Northern Europe in October/Nov., due to the temps.

Avoid biking in high traffic area, especially in Italy. Biking in Tuscany (countryside would be great).

Rob, There isn't a single RS tour for both Spain and Portugal that I see. If you want to try to see both countries on one trip, you could look at the tours and see what interests you the most and plan the trip yourself. Others in this thread have given some good advice as well. Good luck!

Thanks everyone! Excellent advice all the way around! We really appreciate it.