Too much in too little time?

Is it too much to try to include Seville/Granada/Cordoba with only 12 days total?

Yes. That is too much.

Be careful about counting how many days you really have (don't count arrival or departure days, no matter what time your flights are). You have a short trip, and as you admit, you're not seasoned travelers, so you are not going to be efficient. Remember that every time you pick up and move to another location, you burn most of that day.

I don't think you have enough for both countries. Pick one or the other, you'll have a much better trip.

Agree with David 100%.

Ten to twelve days is a good amount of time for Seville, Granada, and Cordoba alone. Adding Lisbon, Porto, and Sintra means you need about 20 days.

That's not to mention the fact the connections between Spain and Portugal are surprisingly skimpy. I know we think of them as practically one country, but they are actually not easy to combine on one short trip. There are a very few trains (often at weird hours), some buses, and flights - and these all can take the better part of a day.

I only get 10 nights per trip myself, so I know the pain of having to cut things. But please don't try to "stuff 10 pounds of sugar into a 5 pound bag."

Along those lines, how many actual nights in Iberia do you have for this trip? It's better to count nights than days. Remember that you land the day after you depart from the US, the day of arrival is often a jet-lagged haze, and the day of departure is taken up with getting to the airport for your flight home. In addition, remember that two nights in a place is one full day; a single night in a place is less than a full day.

Thanks to you both for confirming my worst fears ;-) We have 12 nights total, waking up in a Lisbon airport hotel on day 1, and flying out at noon from Lisbon on day 13 after staying in a hotel near the airport on that 12th night.

I guess we need to decide whether to take the train to Seville from Lisbon on day 1 and explore Seville, Granada & Cordoba (and maybe come back a bit early to spend one full day in Lisbon before we leave) - or skip Spain altogether and concentrate on enjoying Portugal. Is that looking like our choice pretty much?

We have only done 2 other international trips. Beijing for 8 days which was pretty easy but we didn't stray far and they have an amazing subway system that takes you close to pretty much all the main sites plus several non-touristy places we had wanted to see; taxis did the rest very well. In Brazil we stayed with friends for 2 weeks, so that doesn't really count since we had a built in chauffeur and translator the entire time.

Yes, it is too much unless you double your time and fly into one city and home from another. But it sounds like you're already committed to RT Lisbon flights and a 2-week schedule.

It's not perfect, but you can use Rome2rio to get a realistic hint of the various ways to go between the destinations you list in both countries, how long it would take and how much it would cost. With only 2 weeks, time is your most limiting resource.

In case you haven't done so already, a look at some detailed information about Portugal and Spain and your cities of interest could be useful in your final decision-making.

"take the train to Seville from Lisbon on day 1 "

But that's what we're saying - there is no such train! You can take a train from Lisbon to Faro, then a bus from Faro to Seville (no train on this segment). Or you can take a bus the whole way, or you can fly (recommended, if you really want to do this).

Do use Rome2Rio to see your options between the two countries - here's Lisbon to Seville: https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Lisbon/Seville

Thanks for smacking me up side the head with this :) Seriously, it's much appreciated. I was totally basing that train trip on what an acquaintance had told me about their trip and I must have mis-heard him. This rome2rio website is going to be a lifesaver in setting u our itinerary, I can already tell...

Rome2Rio is pretty solid in revealing what modes of transportation are available to get you from A to,B. It absolutely should not be trusted as to fares, frequencies or travel times; they are often wildly off-base. So go there, but drill down until you find a link tonthe appropriate bus or train company's website, where you can find accurate schedules for your specific travel dates. Be aware that for trains and flights (sometimes alsombuses, to a lesser degree), the fare can increase rapidly if you do not buy your ticket way ahead of time.

You can have a great Portugal trip in the time you have available; I wouldn't burn precious time crossing that border twice. Pick up a guidebook to Portugal; you'll see that there are a lot of intriguing towns. Do check weather stats for all planned destinations, though, so you pack appropriate clothes. I don't think you'll have constant sun in October.

I will add another vote for staying Portugal the entire time-especially since it sounds like flights are already purchased. Frankly, you will likely have difficulty determining how to cut down your destinations just in Portugal.
October is really a great month to be here. A lot of the tourist hordes are gone and the temperatures are lovely. The biggest issue you may face is some rain - especially in the later half of the month. But, it’s rarely an all day event so working around the rain is very doable. And, it’s worth it, IMO, to be here at a quieter time of the year.

Thanks for all the advice! I'll use the Rome2Rio website much as I use Kayak or Expedia for flights - find the info then go to the source for the actual tickets or time tables.

Being from Seattle we're very used to to living with the rain and never let it stop us, whether it's backpacking or wandering the city, and will have our gore-tex on hand just in case. Of course we'd rather have sun, but I'll take a little drizzle over the crowds any day!

With only 12 days, 3 cities may be your logical limit. When you move you will loose 4-6 hours. If you want to do Spain pick 1 or 2 places then go there first the same day you land returning to Lisbon days before your departure. Have fun.

I'd agree with the other posters that you will have a much more enjoyable trip sticking to one country and Portugal makes sense as that is where you are flying in and out of. Are you thinking of renting a car for part of the trip, if you stay in Portugal? You could then see more of the smaller towns such as Evora.

Also I don't think you need to spend your last night staying at a hotel near the airport. It's fairly easy to get to and from the airport. We actually stayed in Obidos our last night and drove in for a flight around the same time. This gives you a last evening in a more charming spot.

Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions. We've decided to stay in Portugal this trip and soak in all we can there, in Lisbon, Porto, Sintra and whatever sounds interesting and relatively accessible in between. Now we can really start planning!

My wife and I are in the final planning stage of a visit to Spain and Portugal in October. We end in Lisbon before boarding a Trans-Atlantic cruise back to the US. In our planning we found exactly what others have said about travel between Portugal and Spain. Our last stop in Spain is Seville and we opted to fly to Lisbon (the train was logistically difficult and would take all day--one way).

To avoid the number of cycles of un-packing and re-packing (and having the train ride for a nap) you may want to consider heading from Lisbon to Porto, then back to Sintra, ending up/back in Lisbon. We've never been to Porto, but on our upcoming visit, we're planning a day trip to Sintra from Lisbon. I've learned our itinerary in Sintra will be limited as getting from one venue to another is not as easy (and as quick) as it looks on a map. You may be limited to visiting 1 venue in Sintra the day you arrive. Perhaps consider spend the night of the day of the day you arrive, plus another full day and night, then head for Lisbon early the next morning. Even though you'll not be moving around a lot on the trains, familiarize yourself with the train routes, where the stations are located in the cities and the timetables. This can all be easily done on the internet and will give you a "comfort level" in your movements.

Don't think of "last hoorah". It will interfere with enjoying the places you'll visit. (We're in our 60s and 70s).

Thanks Jon - we're definitely going to relax and spend time in each area we visit. Might leave Lisbon our first day and take the train up to Porto for 3 or 4 days, then spend a couple of nights in Sintra, then back to Lisbon for the rest of the time. OR find some other interesting places to visit. We're planning to meet some acquaintances for dinner who've been to Portugal a couple of times, and have some Brazilian friends over to find out what all they did on a recent trip where they spent a week just in Lisbon...

We're in your same age bracket and by "last hoorah" I meant only that once we retire we won't really have the means to save up to do much international travel. Might be able to squeeze one more trip in, but that's about it...but there's a lot in the USA we've yet to see!!