We are planning a trip to Spain & Portugal. Two couples flying to Spain from California.
Our rough itinerary is:
Barcelona - 4 days
Madrid - 4 days
Seville - 3 days
Lisbon - 3 days
Porto - 4 days
Bilbao - 3 days
My main concern is getting from one place to another. I read the trains in Spain are wonderful,
however, in Portugal, not as wonderful.
Any suggestions or thoughts are welcomed.
Thanks
I haven't been to Bilbao. I see there are Volotea and Vueling flights from Porto to Bilbao. That would be most efficient. (TIP: to find flights to/from any city, go to the wiki page for that city's airport.) The high-speed trains are fine from Barcelona to Madrid to Sevilla and from Lisbon to Porto. For the other two connections fly.
Count nights, not days. You use about 1/2 day in travel every time you change places. Your 4 days in Madrid are really 3 full days and part of another one or two. If you leave Barcelona first thing after breakfast, that probably means getting up early to pack. Allow for the time to get to the station, go through security (all high-speed trains in Spain have a security check - not as thorough as an airport check but it can take a few minutes if there's a line) and board the train. Doors close 2 minutes before departure. It will be early afternoon before you've arrived at your Madrid hotel and dropped your bags. So if you take an early train to Sevilla, that gives you barely 3.5 days in Madrid.
If you love European painting, you'll want 2 full days in Madrid for the art museums. If not, it's the least interesting city in your plan. Then I'd drop 2 days (or maybe all 4) for more time in Barcelona and/or Andalucia. Have you considered spending less time in big cities and going to a couple of smaller towns?
I am surprised that you allocated more time to Porto than to Lisbon : do you have a specific activity in mind? Otherwise I'd do the opposite.
Porto is wonderful, but I would cut it to 3 days (also use 1 day for trip up river). Take a cruise or the train.
Use a day to see places between Lisbon and Porto. Sintra, Obidos, Batilha Cathedral and Navarre.
Getting from Barcelona to Madrid is eash, take the high speed train. Seville to Lisbon may be more of a challenge. You many need to fly.
Lisbon to Porto, consider a one-way rental car.
If you go to Bilbao, how do you plan to get there? Santiago de Compostela is in Galacia, north of Porto and west of Bilbao.
You might reduce your itinerary to five places. In Madrid you definitely want to take day trips to Toledo and Segovia. Seville is a must.
You'll be fine with the high-speed trains between Barcelona, Madrid and Seville -- the issues are in the northern part of Spain as they don't have high-speed rail. We wound up taking a round-trip from Madrid to San Sebastian on Iberia (we didn't go to Bilbao itself) and then headed down to Seville, so I'd probably go with the other recommendations to fly from Porto to Bilbao.
Hi from Wisconsin,
Those are all great cities. But they are all cities. Have you considered dropping one, like the one trick Bilbao and including a couple days with a car in a rural setting? Driving in rural Spain or Portugal is simple. Typically little traffic and road surfaces that will make you envious.
Rural Basque or Portgual will include not only non-pavement foot experiences but really nice scenery, a slower pace, and great food at much reduced prices.
22 days is a very nice length for a trip. We do similar trips and our experience would recommend planning for jet lag crankiness at day 4, and a need to put your feet up and have a real slow relaxing, sit and enjoy a long meal and a few drinks, day or two around day 15.
Just because the trains aren't high speed doesn't mean they take all day. Check on the website, dbahn, for trip times. Go to, loco2, to huy tickets. Consider the wonderful time spent getting out to the airport, waiting in security lines, waiting on the plane, flight time, getting into town from airport time and not seeing a single thing of the country you are touring. Trains are pretty much located in city centers, they might scan your luggage, you get on and the train takes off on time, arrives on time in the destination's city center. And along the way you see the countyside.
And buses are a modern dream in Europe.
Wayne, iNWI
Days: Lisbon 4, Porto 3 unless you have something to see in Porto area that you haven’t shared.
All the suggestions are great to consider for our trip. So grateful that I can ask for help and it comes right away. Now I will do some fine tuning. I think I will limit the cities to 5. About driving, it is a consideration. Not too eager to get behind the wheel and drive, but I do like the smaller villages and I have time to check out the little jewels and the cost of renting a car.
Thank you for all the information.
