My husband & I are planning to travel to Portugal after Spain- firstly to Barcelona to attend the Catalunya MotoGP which is from 5-7 June 2020.
Arriving Barcelona 1 June
I have become quite confused about how to best use the time available and manage an itinerary after the MotoGP to see some more of Spain, focus on Andalucia, then to travel to Portugal to see Porto, Douro valley, Coimbra?, Lisbon, Cintra, before heading to Morocco.
We should have 12 days for Portugal.
Not sure of best way to travel from Spain
into Portugal. I guess best to finish in Lisbon and then fly to Morocco. Therefore start in Porto after flying from Seville?
Any advice would be much appreciated- europe travel is new to us seasoned Asia travellers.
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1826 posts
Flying from Spain to Portugal - from either Madrid or Sevilla - is the way to go. There is only one night train from Madrid to Lisbon and the buses that make the trip are very long. It’s easy to take the train from Sevilla back to Madrid for your flight. That would give you more options, especially if you want to fly to Porto. When I checked flights last year, there was only one from Sevilla to Lisbon. But, admittedly, I only checked Lisbon - not Porto.
Posted by
OP
East coast Australia
8 posts
Thank you so much- flying does make sense for not wasting time. If we fly Barcelona to Sevilla to travel in this region and then take a train to Madrid so as to get to Potugal, we could have some time there, dependent on the plan for Andalucia.
I need to research flights & trains to fit. I feel that I will be able to start to make a workable itinerary for us - felt a bit lost!
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7052 posts
Travelling Barcelona-Andalucia-Madrid-Portugal-Morocco sounds like a strange route and quite a lot of backtracking.
Suggestion: Head west from Barcelona, take the night train to Vigo then cross the border to Portugal and head south via Porto-Coimbra-Lisbon as far as you like, before continuing to Andalucia. But from Lisbon to Seville, don't fly to Madrid, that will waste a lot of time. TAP has direct flights from Lisbon to Seville. If you continue further south in Portugal there are also coaches that can be an option.
Then spend some time in Andalucia before heading to Morocco, either by flying or by taking a ferry across the strait.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15794 posts
It looks like Ryanair flies from Sevilla to Porto. There are good AP (newest trains, fast, comfortable) connections Porto-Coimbra-Lisbon. Minimum 3N in Porto, more for a day trip (or overnight) to the Douro Valley, 1 full day in Coimbra, the rest in Lisbon/Sintra. You can day trip to Sintra but it is much much better as an overnight (better as 2N). To save time and hassles, take Uber between the two. It's not expensive.
Posted by
OP
East coast Australia
8 posts
Great advice, I like. I will follow up. Fly Sevilla to Porto, then use train travel. 13 N in Portugal will work well.
Porto 4 N
Douro valley 1 N.
Coimbra- 1 N (better to stay O/N ?)
Lisbon 5 N
Sintra 2 N
Then fly Lisbon to Morocco
I feel less confused :)
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7052 posts
Are you going from Sintra back to Sevilla just to fly to Morocco? And where in Morocco are you going?
Posted by
OP
East coast Australia
8 posts
No typo- I will amend post- fly Lisbon to Morocco.
Flights available TAP or AirMaroc.
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7052 posts
That sounds a lot better. Although I still think Barcelona-Portugal-Andalucia-Morocco seems like a better order with less backtracking.