Hello,
We are in the beginning phase of scheduling a 17 day trip.
Start in Lisbon or Portugal (in general, anywhere, depending on suggestions), Morrocco, Spain, ending with 3/4 days in Rome (U2 tickets in Romes on July 16th). Fly back to States on July 17th.
Any recommendations of
places to go
travel methods (fly here, take a boat here, etc.)
timeframes
Thank you in advance.
Where are you writing from? And what is your city you depart from? People write here from all over the world. Also we need to know the exact day of departure. Is 17 days comprehensive of the travel time? If you fly from Australia you need 24 hours each way.
As far as traveling from Portugal or Spain to Rome, the only sensible way is to fly.
Places to visit in the Iberian peninsula are many, and with less than 2 weeks you need to decide what you'd like to visit, since you can't see it all. The best way would be to get a guide book. Rick Steves has an excellent one on Spain and Portugal, but you can find plenty of other resources also online.
But in the meantime check Rick Steves' tours in the region. I'm not saying you should take his tours, but that will give you an idea of what the top spots (at least in his opinion) are.
I have always wanted to take the overnight ferry from Barcelona to Rome (Cittavechia).
We were recently in Portugal and Spain. We flew into Lisbon. I highly recommend visiting there. I'd suggest spending about 3 full days. You need 1 full day just in Belem to see all of the sites there (you can get there on the trolley from Lisbon in about 30 minutes - instructions in Rick's book). You need another 1-2 days to explore all of Lisbon. I would highly recommend the Inside Lisbon tour. We did the food & wine tour, and it was fantastic.
Train travel within Portugal is fairly easy. We took a train from Lisbon to Porto. It was about a 3 hour ride and very reasonable in cost. I think to get to the other locations you mention, you'd be best to fly. The distances are big enough that trying to get there by any other method would be time consuming. Airfare within Europe is very reasonable, so I'm sure you could find to cheap airfare and it would save you a lot of time.
BTW.... I love U2. Have a great time at the concert. We are seeing them in Philly in June!
I would not go to Morocco for just a few days. Too much travel time and not enough time in country. There's plenty to see in Portugal, Spain and Italy--far more than you have time for.
I hate to see anyone need two flights during a 17-day trip, but I think you may not have a viable option unless you decide to visit just Portugal and Italy or the Barcelona-Civitavecchia ferry (which I know nothing about) works for you.
Skip Morocco, unless you go to Fez, Marrakesh or Rabat, it is not worth it.
Iberia is huge, you could do your entire trip in Portugal and Spain. Consider saving Rome for another trip.
For Portugal, you should plan on a week, visiting Lisbon then on to Porto with some places between like Sintra and Obidos.
Spain, there are three main areas, Andalusia with Seville, Cordoba and Granada; Madrid with nearby Toledo and Segovia, then Catalonia, Barcelona.
To do justice to Madrid and the area, you need four days. Seville alone you can do in three. Barcelona another three. There are cheap flights, but there is a high speed train from Madrid to Barcelona.
