2-week visit to Spain & Portugal - good idea to rent a car?

Maybe train from Madrid to Barcelona (high speed AVE train from Atocha Station to Sants Station) and plane from either to Lisbon. I'm doing the reverse of this in October - flying Lisbon to Madrid and high speed rail from Madrid to Barcelona.

From Barcelona to Madrid - AVE High Speed Train
From Barcelona/Madrid to Lisboa - Fly low cost carrier

Remember renting a car not only entails the actual expense of renting, but also petrol (expensive compared to US), finding inexpensive parking in the big city (pretty difficult), longer travel times, and the potential to get lost/needing to backtrack. Including all the stress that comes with driving in a big city like Madrid and Barcelona.

In Spain there are a few regions where a car is favorable like the Asturias/Galicia or the White Hill Towns of Andalucia for example, the areas you are traveling not so much. Remember there is usually a high extra expense for renting a car in one country and dropping it off in another.

Where do you fly in and where do you fly out?

Renting in one country and dropping car in another results in hefty ( $500+) one way fees, in addition to the base rental fee.

Parking in major cities, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona will be scarce and expensive. If those are the 3 destinations for your trip, train or plane may be a better option; depending which order you choose to travel trains may be the ideal solution. If going Lisbon-Barcelona, plane may be the better choice.

Europe generally has a better train system than most areas of the US, so unless you plan to got to some remote ancestral village a car is often a hindrance rather than a help.

The cost of fuel will be significantly higher and toll roads will add to the total travel cost. When comparing cost , be sure to add in ALL the costs associated with a car.

It depends on what you want to see. Trains are not that expensive. The fast train from Barcelona to Madrid is a snap. If there are small towns along the way you want to see a car is good. From Madrid you can bus or train to just about any place you want to see. I think that age 62 was the start point to get the Carte del Oro, which was only 5 euros at the time. It gave us 30-40% discount on fast train from Seville to Madrid. Just that trip, the card paid for itself several times over. Funny thing, though, the agent at a local travel agency did not mention any senior discounts, UNTIL WE ASKED.Perhaps he did not want to do the extra paper work. We rented a car only once, from Santiago de Compostela to San Sebastian because the trains and buses all seemed to arrive at San Sebastian at 2 in the morning. The car was extremely expensive, I got the only moving violation in my life ( which was mailed to me when I got home), parking was difficult, and returning the car to an unmanned, extremely difficult to find place at the San Sebastian Airport topped the whole thing off negatively. In Portugal and Spain they have cameras all over the place that measure your speed on the toll roads and send violations to the rental company. All in all, my car rental experience was not a good one. I'm sure there are others on the forum that can relay good experiences. When you reach Lisbon make sure to allow time to visit Sintra, it is only a 45 minute easy train ride form Lisbon. Enjoy! Hank, Novato Ca.

Some of us would question whether it is possible for any night train to be "excellent".

As you said in your original post, "driving might add too much tension." In many areas of Europe, renting a car is not the obvious and easy decision it is in US.

The only "excellent" Night Train I know is by James Brown.

A somewhat generic question, but I always rent a car when going between places since we tend to visit small towns and out of the way places. If we're staying in a large city we'll use public transportation. However, there can be hefty fees if you rent in Portugal and return in Spain. Also, if you’re only going to larger cities, a car is a hindrance, and not recommended since parking can be up to €20 a day and cars are not needed in the cities. If stopping in smaller towns, or out of the way places, then a car is beneficial since many small towns are not regularly serviced by public transportation. Parking is not generally much of an issue in them. I find the roads to be well marked and easy to navigate if you know the town you're heading towards. Driving is no more stressful than driving in the U.S. As hank said, there are traffic cameras all over, so don’t drive over the limit. Of my 6 trips to Spain, and the 3 years I lived there, I’ve only received two speeding tickets.

Way back in 2002, we started in Spain, went to Portugal, and finished in Spain, arriving and departing from Malaga. We had a car after landing in Malaga for visiting Ronda and other Andalusian towns, then headed to Granada. From there we flew to Lisbon (cheap flight, and faster than driving), and after visiting Lisbon without a car, rented another one for driving on to Sintra, up to Obidos, then touring Evora and the land of cork trees. We couldn’t afford the time to drive to and from Portugal both ways, but it made sense to have a car one direction. We couldn’t figure a good way to turn in a car in Portugal, cross the border into Spain and pick up another car, and there were 3 of us splitting the cost, so we accepted Hertz’s hefty fee for turning in the car in a different country, but had the mobility that having our own wheels allowed, and on our schedule.

We finished up in Spain seeing more of southern Spain, including Sevilla (parked the car while there), and drove to Arcos de la Frontera but everything was shut the next day due to a surprise labor strike, so, again, having a car let us take a trip to the countryside when other options weren’t available.

That was a long time ago, and several factors affected where we landed and departed, and when, and I’m not sure now that we’d do it the same way today. Paying the convenience fee of getting a car in Portugal and retuning it in Spain was worth it back then. Depends where you’re going in both countries, and what you want to see and do. More remote places make a car a good option. If your 2 weeks are centering around Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon, public transportation might be the way to go. And with cheap flights on vueling air or other airlines, what if you took the train to Barcelona from Madrid, then flew to Lisbon? Are you arriving in Madrid and heading home from Lisbon?

"Madrid to Barcelona and to Lisbon"

Is that your fixed itinerary? Or is it possible to avoid the backtracking by going, say, Barcelona - Madrid - Lisbon? If you can't change, I'd fly between Barcelona and Lisbon rather than go by car or rail.

If you do end up going directly between Madrid and Lisbon, then I'd agree with the previous comment that the sleeper service is by far the best and most civilised option, though not necessarily the cheapest depending on which class you choose.

But, with two weeks, I'm assuming you plan to visit more than just the three cities mentioned. In that case hiring a car might be the way forward if you plan to take in some smaller places and price is a key issue, provided you don't hire in one country and drop in the other. It depends really on what your specific plans are.

Driving in Spain is generally straightforward and fun. Roads are good, maintained and fairly well signed. They drive on the wrong side of the road but if you're from the USA you're used to that. Driving standards are mixed - they aren't actually insane like in Malta, but can be a little odd when it comes to indicating (they often don't bother), using roundabouts the wrong way or, my personal bugbear, not moving over to let you in from a slip-road. Otherwise they're mostly fine. Driving and parking within cities or driving on city motorways around Madrid can be painful.

If you do somehow end up driving over the border, petrol (and diesel) is cheaper in Spain than Portugal. And, at least in Western Europe terms, cheaper than most major countries, though still dear compared to the US.

Thanks for the kind replies and suggestions.
That link that was shared about how the railway system works in Spain was very helpful, thanks!

As some of you guessed, we hope to actually visit more than those 3 cities exclusively.
We are trying to narrow the options down because I realize that 2 weeks are not nearly enough to visit everything.

The only fixed points for us are the flight arrival city and departure at the end of the visit, at Madrid.
I'd like to visit Lisbon, Porto and the coastal area of Algarve.

In Spain we'd like to visit the Moorish area as well.
I see, based on your recommendation that probably renting a car is not a good idea when in the main cities, but might be a good idea when visiting the Moorish cities.

Given your expressed preferences, it appears Barcelona is too far in the wrong direction from all the other places you want to visit.

Trying to visit all 4 of your primary wish list locations and having to get back to Madrid for your departure, I think would leave you worn out from going to such widespread places. It will be HOT, so you likely will tire more easily, than otherwise.

We picked up a rental car in Lisbon, dropped it off in Porto, took a taxi to Vigo, Spain and picked up another car, toured Spain and France and later dropped off it in Barcelona, a six week trip. We were quoted a 1000€ drop fee if we kept the Lisbon rental all the way to Barcelona. The 150€ taxi ride across the border was a bargain.