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My trip for Portugal and Spain for 3 Weeks, need advice and recommendations

Hello Everyone,

We are a family of 5 who are traveling from States to Portugal and Spain in June. My initial itinary as follow:

Portugal ( We booked hotels already so we can't change times or days)
Lisbon: 3 days

Coimbra: 2 days

Porto: 3 days

Spain :

Madrid (2)

Granada(1)

Cordoba(1 )

Costa de sol (3)(full day)

Seville (4)

Barcelona (4)

These are 23. days, any suggestions to make them only 20 days?

Our flights are from and to Lisbon.

Also I couldn't find good attraction suitable for teens and children, any recommendations are highly appreciated.

Has anyone tried any prepaid phone companies that are reliable and affordable in the same time?

recommended accommodations in Spain?

What are the recent Covid rules for US tourists to Spain and Portugal? The websites have different information knowing that we all fully vaccinated except my little one who is 6y old.

Edit, We are Canadians not US citizens and we are traveling June 10th.

Thank you in advance

Posted by
26840 posts

I'd be tempted to drop the Costa del Sol (much of which is a ticky-tacky mishmash of English pubs and German sausage joints) and get my beach fix in Barcelona. However, traveling with kids may dictate more than one beach break. My next choice from trimming 3 days would start with dropping Coimbra, which is interesting but not a blockbuster like your other destinations (except Costa del Sol). But you say you're locked in to the Portuguese stops. I would recommend that you not book any more non-cancelable lodgings, because there remains a possibility you won't be able to make the trip.

If you really do have to drop 3 days, I guess I'd cut Barcelona. I love it, but it's a geographical outlier. Maybe you'll have a chance to see it on a later trip (maybe to France?). On the other hand, there may well be more to interest the kids in Barcelona than in some of your other destinations (like Porto).

Your 1 day in Granada probably means 1 night, and that will amount to less than a full day unless you take an early train from Madrid and a lateish train to Cordoba (which cuts Cordoba short, since you only have 1 night scheduled there, too). That will mean a rushed visit to Granada, where the Alhambra alone can soak up considerably more than half a day. If your kids won't tolerate more than a couple of hours or so at a sight like that, perhaps it won't matter so much.

Although there's nothing wrong with the order of your itinerary, assuming you've identified flights from Porto to Madrid (ground transportation doesn't work well for that leg), you have some flexibility about where you slot in Cordoba. As the train lines are laid out, you're likely to pass through Cordoba on the way from Madrid to Seville, from Madrid to Granada, or from Seville to Granada. So do what works for you in terms of being in the various cities when you want to be (weekdays/weekends, etc.) and getting trains at convenient times. There's not a lot of service in and out of Granada, I'd recommend researching those options first.

If you're planning to drive instead of using public transportation, use ViaMichelin.com to get an idea of driving times. For your Spanish destinations, driving will probably be a lot slower than the AVE trains. I don't know about Portugal.

You'd save a good chunk of a day by flying home from Spain (might need to be Barcelona or Madrid from a financial standpoint) if your airline tickets are changeable. As it stands, you're going to have to give up most of the last day of your trip to get back to Lisbon (the entire last day if you're driving, of course).

By the time you get to Spain, it's likely to be quite hot there, though probably more moderate in Barcelona. You may find you need mid-day breaks in an air-conditioned hotel room. I use booking.com to search for rooms. The reviews are all from people who've actually stayed in the hotels, and I find them generally reliable and helpful.

If you're looking for specific hotel recommendations, you need to tell us your nightly hotel budget in euros and the ages of your children (since one or more might count as adults). I assume there are 3 children. I think you're going to have a hard time finding rooms for five. Apartments (about which I know nothing, really) may work better.

Posted by
7280 posts

If i’m reading correctly, your Portugal time is set in stone, so the only time trimming could come from your Spain itinerary. Keeping the math simple, lop off time from your 2 biggest time chunks, the 4 days each in Seville and Barcelona. Knock Barcelona down by a day to 3 days, and Seville down by 2 days, staying just 2. Alternatively, take away one day each from Barcelona, Seville, and the Costa del Sol.

The 2 of us stayed at the Hotel Denit in Barcelona on our last trip. Great location, great breakfasts, and very good price. I’m not sure how that would work for a family of 5, but at least check them out. We had an apartment in Madrid.

No guarantees about this for your kids, but I’d think they’d enjoy the whimsical Parc Guell in Barcelona. Likewise, the huge Retiro Park in Madrid, 2 blocks from the incredible Prado Art Museum, might be appealing.

Posted by
11056 posts

Delete Costa de Sol and add those days to Cordoba and Granada, much, much worthier of your time.

Posted by
2923 posts

Instead of spending time in Costa del Sol, go to the Algarve in PT instead. I suggest sleeping in Salema. There are a lot fewer tourists than the Costa del Sol and the beach and food is spectacular. The Costa del Sol is crowded and tacky with American fast-food chains on every corner. You can rent an umbrella with chairs for less then ten Euro for the day in Salema.
You can fly non-stop from Porto to Faro for $67 on Ryanair. Pack as light as possible so you won’t have to check baggage that would add to the cost. You can rent a car at the Faro airport and drive to Salema (1h 15m).
You can take a day trip to Lagos (30-minutes) or a direct bus (45-minutes). When you depart Salema to drive to ES, you can stop in Tavira (1h 30m) before continuing on to Sevilla (1h 45m). Since you’re flying in and out of PT, you won’t have to worry about paying a hefty drop off fee in a different country.
To learn more about COVID rules, enroll in STEP at travel.state.gov. CA has a similar website at travel.gc.ca.

Posted by
7 posts

Hi acraven,

Thank you so much for the detailed reply, I really appreciate the efforts and information.

As per your suggestion and other commenters, I will keep coimbra for 1 day only, yes we booked the hotel but we still can cancel till this Friday. Do you think Portugal might still keep the border closed until June 10th?
I think you are right about Granada so I made it 2 full days. I forgot to mention that we already booked a car from Lisbon airport for the total trip time(21 days so we were planning to travel from Portugal to Spain by car, do you think it is an issue? If not, which city do you recommend to go next after Porto? I'm thinking to go from Porto to Madrid and then Barcelona , Granada, Cordoba, Seveille ,Lisbon, what do you think?

*If you're planning to drive instead *strong textof using public transportation, use ViaMichelin.com to get an idea of driving times. For your Spanish destinations, driving will probably be a lot slower than the AVE trains. I don't know about Portugal.****

What do you mean by driving times?

Thank you for recommending booking.com

As per your suggestions, I modified the itinerary, what do you think now?

Lisbon: 3 days

Coimbra: 1 day

Porto: 3 days

Spain :

Madrid (2)
Barcelona (3)
Granada(2)

Cordoba(2 )

Seville (4)
Lisbon 1

Now 21

Posted by
7 posts

Hi Cyn,

Thank you for your reply, as per your and other commenters suggestions I made this itinerary now, what do you think?

Lisbon: 3 days

Coimbra: 1 day

Porto: 3 days

Spain :

Madrid (2)
Barcelona (3)
Granada(2)

Cordoba(2 )

Seville (4)
Lisbon 1

Now 21

Also, thank you for suggestion the hotel and the places for the kids. My kids are 17, 14 and 6 so it is kind of hard to find something for everyone.

Posted by
7280 posts

OK, dropped Costa del Sol, and got it down to a good 21 days. We enjoyed Malaga and Fuengirola, and maybe you can visit them some other time. Regarding driving your Portuguese rental car to Spain, that’s not a problem. We rented from Hertz in Lisbon, and took it to Seville and other places in Span. One note about Seville, when we reached it, swarms of motor scooters made it unpleasant for driving. We parked the car in a pay parking lot on the edge of town, and then caught a taxi to our hotel. Old town Seville was easily walkable - no car needed while in the city. In fact, the car was a liability while there. We taxied to the parking lot when we were ready to depart Seville for other parts of Spain.

Posted by
7 posts

Hi MaryPat,

Thank you so much for your suggestion about Algrave. I heared about it alot here and I will plan its visit from Seville to Lisbon on our way back. We already book a car from the airport upon arrival which will be our transportation between all cities in Po and Spain.

Thank you for the websites, I will enroll right now.

Posted by
7280 posts

One last thought, nohauofw - on your return to Lisbon from Seville, I hope you’ll have time to make a stop at Evora, a wonderful town in Portugal, and should be on the way. It was amazing passing through the cork trees.

Posted by
7 posts

Cyn, thank you so much. Yes, I have heard about this one too but I forgot about it. Now I will make sure to add to the route along with Algarve on our way back. Again, thank you so much for all the wonderful advice.

Posted by
26840 posts

You need to get a rough idea of how much time you're going to be spending cooped up in a car, getting from place to place. That's what viamichelin.com is for. I just checked, and it estimates Porto-Madrid at over 6 hours, not including any stops, traffic, getting lost, hunting for parking, etc. Obviously, the actual time required will be considerable longer. Madrid-Barcelona is also estimated at over 6 hours. Barcelona to Granada is estimated at nearly 9 hours. That's an awful lot of driving to and from Barcelona in order to have two days in a city that really needs more time than that--partly because so many of the sights require pre-purchased of timed tickets.

Viamichelin will also estimate the cost of a drive for you; it shows tolls, and you can specify the kind of car you plan to rent to get a reasonably accurate estimate of the cost of fuel.

The car will be of no use to you once you are established in a city. You'll just be paying to park it, and the cost may be quite high.

It's very risky to leave anything visible in a car while it's parked in touristy areas of Europe. Be very careful if you stop for lunch or to sightsee in the middle of the day.

Posted by
119 posts

You are getting some good advice here, a huge pile of advice. Here are some general suggestions. In my opinion you are planning to "see" way too many places on this trip. I have a lot of experience traveling in all of the places you mention, and I have traveled extensively with children and teenagers. In my experience, kids do better when staying in one place longer than just one or two days. I recommend dropping Coimbra and adding those days to Lisbon. There is a lot for kids to do in Lisbon, including beaches in Cascais, the Lisbon Zoo, the electricity museum in Belem, the caves in the gardens at the Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, and on and on. You might consider staying in Cascais.
Note that a car is much more trouble than it is worth in the cities you mention, particularly Lisbon, Porto, Seville, Madrid, and Barcelona.

Posted by
7280 posts

Together, Portugal and Spain take up just a bit less than half the geographical area of Yukon Territory, so that’s a lot of land to cover. Trains also take time to get from place to place (although you can get up and walk the aisles, or to use the restroom), and planes require time to check in and go through security, so any transportation going long distances takes a while. By by the way, Spain X-rays luggage before boarding a train, but that’s a lot faster than airport security. In addition to going places where trains and buses don’t go, and doing it on your own schedule, a rental car’s great for taking side trips or day trips from a city, but inside a big city itself, just parking it is often a lot easier. Your hotel might offer the best, and cheapest place to park, especially if they dong have their own parking. Ask ahead of time.

Your latest itinerary adds a 4th overall night for Lisbon. Is that a full day, flying home the next day? If so, and if that’s not already booked for a hotel, you could still have flexibility. Getting to some of the Algarve beach area, plus Evora and the cork tree forest, coming from Seville and finishing in Lisbon, all on your 21st day, is a lot of driving and not much time to stop and see things, except through the car window. Could you stop somewhere besides Lisbon, then get to the airport the next day for your flight home?

If you wanted beach time, since the Costa del Sol is now out, the Algarve is an opportunity, either at the beginning or the end of your trip (but get your swimsuits dry before putting them back in your luggage). If routing from Seville through Evora (the sights in town, plus the prehistoric Dolmen outside of town, where having a car is a plus), that’s how I’d head to Lisbon, but leave Seville pretty early in the day. Spend the night in Evora, if the timing works.

Can your kids research and find some things they want to do and see, depending on their interests? Should be a great trip, and you’ll want to come back for more.

Posted by
6113 posts

I have previously hired cars in Portugal and we have had to pay additionally to take the car into Spain, so you will need to declare this when you hire, otherwise the insurance will be invalidated.

The Algarve sea is cold, even in the height of summer, but is warmer the further east you travel, so I would recommend stopping between the Spanish border and Faro. It’s also much, much windier at the western end of the Algarve, so much so that we have been sand blasted off the beach on numerous occasions.

If you don’t take the boring toll roads, progress is slow on the Portuguese roads. Driving from the western Algarve to Lisbon could take all day on the coast road.

Posted by
293 posts

I'd make a short list of a few museums in the various cities that may be kid/young adult-friendly, or would be to your kids/young adults, and then see which have low ticket costs or, even better, are free. Many museums have a free day or are free after a certain time. If something captures your kids' imagination, great, if not, you've not lost anything.

Two suggestions that come immediately to mind are the Barcelona city history museum (actual name Museu d'Historia de Barcelona, or MUHBA) and the Chocolate Museum (also in Barcelona).

The Chocolate Museum (speaking as a history educator and museum nerd) is not going to win any awards for the most informative or "deep" museum out there, but it's fun, doesn't take long, has eye-catching and entertaining exhibits (sculptures, including some of cartoon characters, made of chocolate, visual-heavy exhibits on how chocolates uses have evolved over the centuries, etc.), and tickets are pretty inexpensive. This is the blog post I wrote about it after my visit a few years ago, https://www.historycoloredglasses.com/2017/07/museu-de-xocolata/

The MUHBA is built atop some Roman ruins and there are pathways constructed so you can "walk through" parts of the Roman city. At least when I visited the museum in 2016 and 2017, it was free on Sunday, but you couldn't get an audio guide (even if you wiling to pay for it). Some of the newer signage included English translations, but most was in Catalan or Catalan and Spanish. However most rooms had more general overview/fact sheets in English, French, German, etc.

Both museums are in the old city, so even if you just want to get out of the heat for a little while or the museums bomb with the kids, you haven't wasted a tone of time getting to a more outlying destination.

Hope this helps!

Caroline

Posted by
7 posts

Hello Everyone,

Thank you so much for the great help that everyone is providing. Unfortunately our trip was canceled by the airlines since Europe is still closed to all US tourists.

I have been saving all your notes and your valuable opinion and we are planing now to do this trip next summer when the situation getting better.

Again THANK YOU SO MUCH.