Any advice on where to go with a 6 year old and 1 year old in mid Nov for two weeks? Places considering: Barcelona, Biarritz, Bourdeaux, Bilbao, Monroyo, Valencia, Madrid, Plascenia, Extremadura, Salamanca, Lisbon, Porto, Alentejo, Elceigo, Tudela, Girona, Andorra.
Need to consider weather and family travel.
Thanks!
Will you be driving or using public transportation? Flying in from somewhere in Europe or from the US or Canada? Accessibility may be a bit of an issue with some of those cities/areas.
Traveling off-season with young children (so the villa-with-a-pool option is a no-go), I'd tend to favor large cities with lots of local activities and day-trip options. I would not choose Andorra, Plasencia or elsewhere in Extremadura because of their isolation. Salamanca is sort of small for a week, much less two. Ditto Bilbao, and I wonder whether it might be very rainy in November.
I haven't been to Portugal recently (Lisbon might be good), so I'd lean toward Madrid or Barcelona. I find Barcelona a bit more engaging, but Madrid has a number of fabulous day-trip possibilities (Cuenca, Toledo, Segovia, Avila just to start). I don't know what sort of weather you'd encounter in November, however. Valencia has a number of science-related museums that might appeal to your 6-year-old, but two weeks...
Are you looking for one place for 2 weeks? Or a string of places?
I am unfamiliar with Portugal, but there's probably not enough to enjoy 2 weeks there in November. Getting there from Spain means either a long bus, train, or car journey or a flight, so I'd eliminate Portugal. As acraven says, Barcelona and Valencia have enough to fill a couple weeks at a reasonable pace. Girona is an easy day trip from Barcelona.
Maybe you could tell us why you are considering those places? That would give us a much better idea of what to suggest/recommend.
I'm not familiar with the smaller places on your list, but they sound interesting. I would choose from any of these combinations.
1. Bordeaux >> Biarritz >> Bilbao >> Elciego >> Tudela
2. Girona >> Barcelona >> Monroyo >> Valencia
3. Madrid >> Salamanca >> Porto >> Lisbon.
I have been to many of the places that you mentioned.
In my opinion, you would be taking on way too much for only two weeks, especially with two young children.
1) You are planning to rent a vehicle, make sure you have the right car seats. Also, sometimes renting a car in one European country and dropping it in another can lead to very high cost additions.
2) We did two weeks in Portugal with day trips into Salamanca and Santiago de Comp. and it was a full trip. We did a great Douro River cruise.
Also, you could easily spend a week in and around Madrid. I would not even try to do Barcelona, Madrid and Portugal in one two week trip, but it could be done. No way you can squeeze in the Basque country and southern France.
3) The weather will be chilly in November, especially if you go in the Pyrenees.
4) Either go with the Southern France, Basque region, perhaps adding Madrid OR Barcelona, or go with Portugal and Madrid perhaps adding Barcelona. There is a high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid. There is an overnight train from Madrid to Lisbon.
