planning a 12 day trip to spain/portugal/ cinque terra/provence, nice in mid august 2015

Train travel is slow between these regions, so flying is a logical option for the first couple of legs, such as Lisbon-Madrid, or Lisbon-San Sebastian, or from any of those cities to Nice; see www.skyscanner.com. There are overnight trains between Lisbon and Madrid or San Sebastian, but no daytime trains on those routes. Conversely, there are no overnight trains from Spain to France or Italy.

If you're not interested in flying, then I would limit the trip to just France and Italy, where there are plenty of trains along the Mediterranean coast, at a moderate speed. Or, another combo could be Portugal-northern Spain-Basque France, but that would be best with a van.

Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map gives you an overview of the fastest train travel times in hours, before you get down to finding specific train schedules.

With only 12 days, I'd stick to one country. Even though the countries you listed are "next to each other," the transit links between them are problematic. You can fly, but that uses much of a day. And a van and driver for 10 people will cost a lot, but to find one that will take you across country borders will cost even more, as the driver will have to return home, and you'll be paying for that.

I'll pile on here and say you are trying to cover too much area in too little time. That is especially true due to your very large group which will only travel as fast as the slowest person in it.

As others have said, concentrate on one country or one area. It will be hotter along the Cote d'Azur and CT area, and probably packed with European tourists. Northern Spain above Portugal is cooler and very different from the rest of country, and combining it with Portugal would make a wonderful trip.

Use Rome2Rio to plot out the potential legs of your journey to get an idea of distances, ways to cover them and costs. The maps that pop up for each transportation option are very helpful.

Too bad seafood is out for some of you. Whether you are on the Mediterranean or the Atlantic, you will be in seafood heaven.

mary,

With only 12 days, I also feel that you might be best to limit your trip to France and Italy as Portugal is a bit distant from the other points and not as well served by public transit. Does that 12 days include your two flight days? Using trains (especially the high speed versions) would be the most efficient use of your time for such a short trip.

You could (for example) fly inbound to Nice and spend four days or so exploring that area, and then travel to the Cinque Terre for three days or so. You could fill in the remaining time with some other location in Italy (Stresa would be a good choice) and then fly outbound from Milan.

As you're planning on travelling in August this year, it's probably going to be challenging to find accommodations, especially in the Cinque Terre and especially for a group of ten.

Good luck!

Vegetarians who do not eat seafood will have an easier time ( more vegetarian options) in Italy and France than Spain (and probably Portugal as well, although I have no personal experience there).