Hello!
We are arriving in Lisbon on 9/23 with two young children. For the first 7 days we are in Portugal but we need to be in Oviedo, Spain on 9/30. As of now, I have no transportation reserved. We were shying away from a rental car (especially in Lisbon) but are open to getting one on our way out of town. Our other thought was to use the Euro rail to work our way north. Does anyone have any recommendations on getting a family of 4 from Portugal to Oviedo?
Assuming that you want to go from Lisbon to Oviedo, fastest way, of course, is non stop on TAP Air Portugal for a flight of about two hours. Iberia and Vueling offer flights with 1 stopover and will take 2-3 hours longer. Other options are 12 hours by train and bus, 7-8 hours by car. If your car rental is one way and you are returning it in Oviedo, you'll have to pay an additional drop charge of $300-500. Unfortunately, hard choices.
there is no such thing as "the Euro rail ". Each country has it's own railways, international trains are usually joint operations.
The question in the heading didn't specify departure from Lisbon or that whole first 7 days needed to be there.
There is a decent overnight train from Lisbon to Valladolid (continues to Hendaye in France). https://www.cp.pt/StaticFiles/Passageiros/1_horarios/horarios/PDF/in/sud-lusitania.pdf this has a fast connection to Oviedo at 08:10 arriving 11:28. It's a long journey but for 7 hours you'll be in bed! Book everything via the Spanish state railways website http://www.renfe.com/ click where it says Welcome on the top line to go to (mostly) english.
But I would leave Lisbon early and spend 1 or 2 nights in Porto. It's worth seeing. Then take the international train to Vigo at 08:15. https://www.cp.pt/StaticFiles/Passageiros/horarios/horarios/PDF/in/celta.pdf
https://www.cp.pt/StaticFiles/Passageiros/1_horarios/horarios/PDF/ap_ic/alfa-pend-ic.pdf from Lisbon to Porto there are regular trains, Alfas are best https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/discounts-benefits/Highlights/novo-alfa-pendular . Northern Spain is very rugged and there is no direct railway across to Oviedo - but once in Vigo you can rent a car without international drop off fees. For Lisbon - Porto - Vigo you can do reservations in Lisbon on the first day (assuming not travelling on main holidays).
Remember that Portugal is in the same time zone as UK (they gave us tea, we give them time.......) - when you enter Spain you jump forward 1 hour.
Although Vigo is sort of an obvious place to spend the night on the way from Porto into Spain, it was by far my least favorite Galician town last year. It is not a bad place, but if you can work it out to spend the night in Pontevedra, Santiago de Compostela, or A Coruna, I thinkyou'll find your surroundings more attractive. Galicia also has a bunch of attractive coastal towns. The small border town of Tuy has a nice historic area and a cathedral with an English-language audio guide.
Orvieto has some important, very ancient churches located outside the center of the town. If you do part of your trip by car, it would be worth trying to see one or more of the churches before dropping the car.
Thank you so much, SteveB and acraven. This is amazing and appreciated!
