13 Nights Itinerary - Help

You can't do a same-day roundtrip from Seville to Tangier by public bus (departs about 9 a.m. to reach Tarifa at noon) and ferry; it requires an overnight in Tarifa or Tangier. While Tangier is a very different cultural experience, the Spanish cities on your list will give you a much better view of the best Moorish architecture. If you really wanted to fit in a taste of Morocco, you could fly direct from Barcelona or Madrid (www.skyscanner.com), but I suggest saving it and adding that day to Barcelona.

I agree--Barcelona needs more time! I love Morocco, but spending all day in an effort to see Tangier for a very few hours (if that is even possible) from Seville isn't a good use of your time when you have less than two days in Barcelona.

For future reference, it's often best to fly into and out of different cities. You can pull up that type of fare by choosing "multi-city" rather than "round-trip" when you price your flights. That would avoid having to double back to your starting point, which typically costs more than half a day.

Karthik,
I do hope you reconsider your itinerary & add a couple of days to Barcelona & Sevilla.

I'd not recommend visiting Granada as a day trip from Sevilla, mainly because more than half of your day will be taken up by traveling to/from Granada; basically 6 hours (3 hours each way).

I've not visited Tangier, but as Laura has already mentioned, it's not feasible to visit Tangier as a day trip from Sevilla (6 hours each way)

Just think about it...If you leave your itinerary as is, this is how much time you'll have in each of your destinations:

• Lisbon = 2.5 days
• Madrid = 1.5 days
• Toledo = almost a full day, depending on what time you arrive & depart.
• Barcelona = 1.5 days
• Sevilla = few hours to 0.5 day
• Granada = few hours
• Córdoba = almost a full day, depending on what time you arrive & depart.
• Tangier = no time there, unless you decide to fly from Sevilla, if so, you'll only have a few hours there.

Keep in mind that each time you relocate, you will lose up to half of that travel day.

Sometimes, less is more... In terms of traveling... less destinations = more time to explore & enjoy said destination.

Enjoy!

P.S. Make sure to book your Alhambra tickets at least 2 months in advance.

Your itinerary will create horrific memories of time poorly spent traveling from one place to the next.
Example: 5 different hotels in 13 nights.
Fortunately the twins will not recall the experience, but you and your wife shall.
I am serious.

Slow down, you move too fast, you got to make the moment last!

Consider you are traveling in February when the days are shortest for sunlight.

Skip Madrid. It is at a high elevation and will be COLD in February.
This also means missing Toledo.

Your day trip time table is unrealistic.

I am at an impasse since your post lends to believing you are a traveler who values visiting the most locations in order to justify your expense. My guidence is to do Lisbon, Barcelona and Seville. Drop Granada, madrid, toledo and tangiers.

I am deliberately being harsh on your schedule for I truly believe the result will be my opening sentence. Please absorb my prediction and take in the guidance of other posters to craft an itinerary to create the opportunity for creating wonderful memories.
Safe travels!

I concur with the others that this will be a really stressful trip - yes you will check many hot spots off your list but at what cost?

That said - here is my advice on Lisbon... go to Belem for one day - the St. Jeronimos monastery, Tower of Belem and the pastries are fantastic. Follow the lines to the Belem pastry shop - you can sit or take away - purchase at least 3 for each of you - you will eat one and wish you had another but you won't want to get back in line - so have a second as backup. They are best warm and fresh but you will thank me for saving yourself a 3rd one for later that day or the next morning.

In Lisbon itself - the St. Jorge castle is great - and the walk through the Alfama is magical. I wish I had had more time to explore the other neighborhoods. And the waterfront. You definitely won't be bored in Lisbon.

You will get tons of advice on Spain so I will hold there. Have fun.

Wow. Have you flown with your twins? How do they handle flights? Some kids are fine, some have terribly painful ear aches from the altitude changes. And you don't know how they will be affected by jetlag. How efficiently are you going to be able to move around with two toddlers - packing/unpacking in hotels, getting to/from train stations and airports? I think your itinerary would be aggressive for seasoned travelers without kids.

I urge you to reconsider. Drop Barcelona, Madrid and Tangier. Spend a few more days in Portugal (Porto?). Then rent a car, drive to Sevilla and plan about a week in Andalucia (Cordoba, Granada, Ronda, Jerez . . . lots of options) and drive back to Lisbon to fly home. You could also fly to/from Sevilla, and use trains and buses for your time in Andalucia.

Thanks so much Laura, acraven, Priscilla , Marbleskies, thistleamy5 and Chani for the much valuable inputs. I am creating a less busy itinerary.