27 Days in Spain & Portugal - Need Help

Hi,
Your loop is very ambitious... Yet misses most of the highlights of Andalucía: have you been there before? And when are you travelling?

Without more info I suggest you go no further south than Évora. After Évora you can overnight in Trujillo (beautiful old village) or Mérida (Roman ruins) on the way to Madrid. You'll save hundreds of miles of driving as well as a few nights to sprinkle here and there, in particular:
- Finisterre / Fisterra deserves two nights to properly explore the coast
- Oviedo deserves two nights, as the road from there to Santiago is quite long

Regarding Santander: no, you can skip it, stay in or near Santillana.
Consider adding two nights in the Picos de Europa, it is beautiful up there. Potes and the valley up to Fuente Dé is a good place to stay, so is Arriondas.

I agree with balso on everything. You are blasting past a lot of very interesting areas. I'd reduce the geographical extent of the trip in order not to miss so much. In addition, Burgos is quite nice. Be sure to allow time to enjoy it when not jetlagged.

I would not be a safe driver the day after flying overnight from the US/Canada.

Knowing when you plan to make this trip and what are your interests are would definitely help with pruning back this ambitious itinerary. Some initial thoughts:

-For for me way too many 1 nigthers, especially at the beginning of your trip.
-Driving 2:30hr+ directly after a transatlantic flight in an area I assume you are not familiar with is not a good idea.
-No reason to cut through all of Andalucia just to spend 1 night in Marbella, which is not that interesting to begin with.
-Ciudad Real's name belies it's importance, you won't find much here of interest, most buildings built post WWII, i.e. not worth a stop.
-For this trip it seems most interest lies in Portugal?

I agree with Balso and acraven, take a big step back and really reduce the loop to about half, add days to your 1 nighters, and reenter Spain through the Extremadura region instead of Andalucia and then go to Madrid. Consider this revised itinerary:

Fly in to Madrid
SPAIN:
Madrid - 1 night
Burgos - 1
Potes - 2 - day trip to Comillas or Santillana del Mar
Oviedo - 2 - day trip to Covadonga
Santiago de Comp. - 2
PORTUGAL:
Porto - 3
Douro/Tras Os Montes - 2
Coimbra - 2
Nazare - 2
Lisbon - 3
Evora - 2
SPAIN:
Mérida - 1
Cáceres‎ - 2 - day trip to Trujillo
Madrid - 1
Fly out of Madrid

I agree with all the above, that I'd stop heading south at Evora and then turn for Madrid, stopping one night along the way. That would give you 12 stops and a few spare days to allocate to some your existing stops.

But if you did want to see some of Andalucia, then from Evora go to Sevilla, rather than the 3 places you mention (Cadiz is in Spain, incidentally), giving you 3 nights there. From Sevilla you can then drive to Madrid over 2 days, via a day in Cordoba. Given the time in Cordoba, you probably won't want to drive much further north that day. But if you can push on, then an overnight in Almagro would be better than Ciudad Real town.

Thank you to everyone for all your ideas. I've printed out the info and am reading and highlighting everything. Everything suggested makes a lot of sense and I'm so appreciative you all took the time.

We were previously in Spain for a month in the Fall. We've been to Bilbao, San Sebastian, Madrid, Cuenca, Cordova, Sevilla, Gibraltar, Granada, Valencia, Tortosa and Barcelona. And did some side trips from there.

On this trip, we fly out on Sept. 13. We typically leave the main city where we fly into and drive to our first point. We are fine with driving about two hours. Thank goodness we got flights on Norwegian's Dreamliner. COMFY!

Stopping in Ciudad Real was strictly for sleeping somewhere as we made our way north. But will definitely consider the other option.

Yes, we really wanted to see as much of Portugal as possible. But then the interest of the northern part (Galicia, Asturias/Cantabria) developed. I like the idea of re-entering Spain through the Extramadura region, but my husband really wanted to go all the way South. That probably won't happen. Hey, I'm proud of myself for cutting out Mallorca on this trip which would have really been crazy.

We do want to have some beach days. Just relaxing and not be on the run so much. Last Sept. we went to Corsica and Sardegna for a month and we had several do nothing days. It was awesome! But then, I go away feeling like I missed something. Oh, I definitely want to see the Picos de Europa!

We like to visit historic cities and visit a few museums, cathedrals. Try to take a couple of short hikes. Visit national parks. I love to shop, visit beaches, and do things to experience the culture. Taste the local food. Meet people and talk to locals. I'm fluent in Spanish and that helped in Spain previously. We'll see how that works out for me in Portugal! lol

Again, thank you all. You are awesome!

Hi rrom slow moving Wisconsin.

27 days! As old Mrs Scot of Donegal insisted, "You must stay a second and third night to truly enjoy the soporific air." And since then we have slowed and slowed. For us 27 days is 4 to 6 rented places to stay not counting the night we arrive and the night before we exit. Let me recommend 9 stops for you.

If you are checking off destinations then drive like crazy. If you want to get to know some places in Spain that are not on common check lists, then pace your self.

Time with a sidewalk coffee surrounded by Spaniards and not tourists and then a glass of wine as the sunsets...priceless.

Enjoy,
Wayne iNWI

You may be able to read Portuguese better than understanding it when spoken. Loys of sh sh sh added. I was told the Portuguese spoken in Brazil would be easier to understand.

Wayner - yes I've changed to two and three stops only and have cut out some stops. I have kept two one nighters because the stop is strictly for sleeping, not seeing stuff. In Madrid, it's just to be there the night before our flight as we've visited Madrid for several days on a prior trip.

I'm securing refundable accommodations for each city and then I will see if there are a couple of spots I can combine. I agree...best to go a little slow. Thanks!

Suki - Yeah, I'm seeing that I'm able to read and understand quite a bit. But, I agree, it will be a challenge when people are speaking! : )

I found Nazare to be very touristy, though admittedly I only went to the beach and nearby shops and cafes. If you want some beach time, I'm sure there are better places to choose from and folks here will offer suggestions.

For both Lisbon and Porto, consider parking at the airport and taking the metro into town. A couple of times I used taxis or Uber, rates are very low even for taxis. Traffic in/out of Lisbon especially can be excruciatingly slow.

I didn't go to the Algarve. Cadiz has nice beaches and sights as well. According to google maps, going to Cadiz adds about 1 hour total driving time over Lagos or Faro.

Lastly, if you aren't on the toll roads in Portugal, driving times are much longer than apps calculate. While locals will drive at near maximum speeds on the narrow, often hilly, roads, chances are you will drive much slower on these unfamiliar roads.

Thanks, Chani...Our accommodations in Porto and Lisbon have free parking, so we will probably just leave the car parked most of the time unless we are leaving the area for a side trip.

We aren't going that far south after all. From Lisbon we are going to Evora, then head back up to Madrid. : )