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Getting from Portugal to Spain

Posted by (Madison, WI, USA) on

Hello Everyone,
I am planning a trip next year and had wrongfully assumed it would be easy to get from Portugal to Spain (or vice versa) and am now researching and finding it will be a bit of a pain? I assumed a fast train connecting Lisbon to Madrid or Porto to Madrid and am instead finding that a bus for 7+ hours is more likely. (yuck) Does anyone have any experience with this or advice? We are a family of 4 with two teens. I am going to detail my whole itineary in case anyone has any input on how to tackle this. This is going to be a 3 week trip. We have to spend 12 nights in a country we have never been (Morrocco and Portugal - due to work sabbatical reimbursement rules) and then we are tacking on one week in Spain to introduce our kids for their Spanish speaking skills.

Marrakesh, Morrocco - 4 nights (then fly direct to Seville, Spain)
Seville, Spain - 2 nights
Lisbon, Portugal - 4 nights
Porto, Portugal - 4 nights
Madrid, Spain - 3 nights
Barcelona, Spain - 3 nights
fly home

I am considering dropping Marrakesh all together and just spending the 12 nights we need to in Portugal - I had just kinda had my heart set on experiencing Morrocco. But if Portugal really is that hard to get to Spain as it appears, I think the flight from Morrocco to Portugal is one too many long treks to make. Thoughts?

Posted by
10589 posts

Porto to Madrid by train is 8 hrs 24 minutes- 0813 from Porto to Vigo (Guixar) for a 2 hour ride (the clocks advance by 1 hour on the border), two hours to change stations then a 1337 AVE fast train from Vigo (Urzaiz) for a 4 hour ride to Madrid.

From Seville to Lisbon you can change from bus to train at Faro. If you get the Alfa Pendular train from Faro it is a 3 hour train ride from Faro to Lisbon.

Posted by
114 posts

My son and I missed a flight from Barcelona to Lisbon once and it was a hellacious endeavor to reroute ourselves! As I recall, we took a series of 3 buses (Barcelona ➡️Madrid ➡️Portuguese border➡️Lisbon and it took about 18 hours. Do not recommend! At the airport, I had assumed there would be another flight or maybe we could take a train, but nothing was available. We saw a lot
of the country, but it was miserable.

Posted by
3466 posts

Train travel is no longer what it used to be in Europe since the explosion of low-cost airline carriers. You can fly from Sevilla to Lisbon for less than $100 and from Porto to Madrid for less than $50. Buy tickets six months out to guarantee these rates.

Posted by
374 posts

I wonder what the cost difference between the bus and flying would be. l'm seeing a 1hr 15min flight one way from Lisbon to Madrid for about $225 for 4 people.

Posted by
6180 posts

I'll just second the way you are thinking--I would not go through the trouble of Morocco for just four days.
One solution to the travel conundrum could be car rental for a portion if you are up for that. (I'd do that over introducing more flights but it's just a personal preference). Check buses routes from Sevilla to Lisbon stopping at Merida? Merida has some fantastic Roman ruins and could break up the trip, and Sevilla could use at least one more night.

Posted by
538 posts

Hello - I wanted to thank everyone for their help on this thread. We have decided to drop Morocco from this trip due to the feedback. Instead we will put the Algarve region in the intinerary which will be a halfway point from Lisbon to Seville and make that less of a transfer (downtime) on the trip. Thanks again everyone - sincerely, this forum has helped me troubleshoot and fix flawed plans before they bite me in the butt.

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