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Help with a 2 week trip please!

Posted by on

Hi there :)

I'm currently in the early-ish stages of planning a 2 week trip in mid-September of next year. It will be my husband and I's 8 year wedding anniversary trip.
We currently fly in and out of Lisbon and plan to spend our final 5 nights there.
I'm trying to decide whether to spend the entire 2 weeks in Portugal or whether to split the time between Portugal and Spain. Neither of us have been to either country. We have spent a lot of time in France/some in Italy together and loved the majority of those experiences.
I know from research that we'd have to fly between the Portugal and Spain as they are not well connected, which would be fine.
With two weeks (14 nights), we usually like to do 3 destinations and might take a couple of day trips from each main location. This allows us to find a nice balance of seeing enough without feeling like all we did was travel from place to place. Budget is not a big issue for this trip, it's 3 years delayed due to covid so we're indulging in a more luxurious trip.

We're in our mid 30s, active, and are interested in food, art, culture, sightseeing, and generally just exploring cities/spending some slow afternoons in cafes. I guess you could consider us hip/artsy types (though saying that out loud makes me cringe, sorry, haha.) We used to own a wine bar/cafe and like to explore those places in new cities. That said, my husband doesn't drink, so we don't really do wine tourism anymore as it's not worth it to him and I'm fine skipping it. We don't eat pork and I can't tolerate fried food due to a health condition. The dietary restrictions have me leaning more toward Portugal due to the emphasis on seafood and veggies but I don't want to put too much weight on that factor.

We love cities, especially ones with beautiful architecture and a forward-thinking culinary scene. We'd also be open to a few slow days and nights in an interesting location/hotel somewhere smaller and quieter, especially one with an emphasis on local agriculture. For those of you who have traveled both countries, should we go to Spain too? If not, convince me to stay in Portugal! Where would you spend the additional 9 nights we have?

Thanks for any advice or thoughts!

Posted by
1646 posts

We spent about two weeks in Portugal and Spain. Of course, we didn't see everything in both countries, but we had a lovely taster. We based ourselves in Lisbon, Madrid, and Barcelona--flying between Lisbon and Madrid and taking a high-speed train to Barcelona.

From Lisbon, we did day-trips to Sintra and Cascais. These are both easy day trips and were included in our Lisboa card transit pass.

From Madrid, we took a day-trip to Toledo, and from Barcelona, we took a day trip to Montserrat.

I think our itinerary worked out really well, and we are pleased with what we saw and did.

I don't remember the food in Spain being particularly pork-heavy. I don't remember everything we ate, but a standout was a vegetarian restaurant in Barcelona. It's called Teresa Carles, and we liked it so much, we ate there twice, even though we aren't vegetarians. There are also huge markets in both Madrid and Barcelona where you can find all manner of foodstuffs, if you want to prepare some of your own meals.

Posted by
16 posts

thanks BB! that’s probably the exact itinerary we would do if we include Spain so I’m glad to hear it worked for you. I will definitely check out that restaurant rec! cheers :)

Posted by
2267 posts

I'd suggest you take a look at the Rick Steves tour in Portugal—its itinerary could provide even a loose framework for your own trip. That plan is 12 days, and as traveling on a tour is generally more time-efficientt, stretching it to two weeks for yourselves could be spot on.

If you are still eager to cross the border maybe just look to add Galicia, the northwest chunk above Portugal. Spain is a large country, for which two weeks just there wouldnt suffice. And the transportation logistics between the two countries is more challenging than one might expect.

Posted by
6113 posts

Two weeks (does this mean 14 nights in Portugal or 12 nights there?) is barely enough time to see much of Portugal, much less combining it with a huge country (Spain) with poor transport links between the two.

Two weeks is enough time for Lisbon, Porto and a town between the two, such as Coimbra, Tomar or Alcobaca. Lisbon itself can fill 5 days.

Have a day trip from Porto to the Douro and from Lisbon to Evora, Cascais or Sintra. For the middle bit, explore Alcobaca, Batalha, Tomar, the coast and Obidos.

Leave Spain for a time when you can explore it in more detail.

Posted by
1663 posts

As usual, I totally agree with Jennifer. Don’t try to do two countries in such a short time. That’s barely enough time to do the itinerary Jennifer mentioned. Portugal is more about slowing down and savoring long lunches and strolling through cities. If you rush too much, you will miss a significant piece of what makes Portugal special.

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