Barcelona 2-3 nts - Lisbon 3-4 nts Mar 2024 - best area, hotels, not too miss items for short trip?

Pairing Barcelona and Lisbon is a great idea and we could help out with advice if we knew more about what you like and what your travel style is. Also, if this is your first trip to Europe, it would behoove you to look at a guidebook and read Rick Steve’s Europe Through The Back Door

Your title suggests that you wiil have 2 days in Barcelona. ( Not enough!). When we were there for the first time, many years ago, we found it good to take one of the hoho bus tours. That way you can see some of the Modernista architecture which is a hallmark of the city.

You must buy tickets kets ahead of time if you want to see any of these sights in Barcelona, because their ticket lines are extremely long:

La Sagrada Familia
Parc Guell
Caxa Mila/La Pedrera
Casa Batllo
Picasso Museum

The Palau de La Musica Catalana should also be planned in advance, because the English-language tours can sell out.

As the long list of buy-ahead sights suggests, Barcelona is extremely popular, and it's not a city where blitz visits work well unless you'll be satisfied just to see the top sights from the sidewalk. I'd consider 3 nights iinadequate.

How do you plan to get from Barcelona to Lisbon? It seems to me you'll need to fly. Must you divide your one-week trip between those distant cities? You could spend the entire time in just one of them, allowing for some day trips, or you could split your time between Barcelona and another city in Catalunya or between Lisbon and Porto in Portugal.

Last October, I spent four nights in Lisbon which was not enough. It is a truly wonderful city.

I stayed at the Be Poet Baixa Hotel which is a three star boutique hotel. Very highly rated and I can highly recommend. It is in the Baixa neighborhood and this is the only neighborhood that i explored. This hotel is located on Rue Augusta which is a pedestrian street running from Rossio Square down to the waterfront plaza at the other end

It is a great area for walking and people watching. Public transportation is also great.

There are four hop on hop off buses each costing 22 euros but if you buy three, you get the fourth one free. I did not do any

I went to Sintra and Belem and loved both places. If possible, they should not be missed.

Unfortunately I have an arthritic knee so I was limited in what I was able to do. Lisbon, Sintra and Belem all have many museums which are very highly rated but because of my knee, I was not able to go to any. Maybe next time.

My hotel recommended an excursion company for an all day excursion but I would have to pay in cash so I chose not to. Most hotels will probably be able to recommend a similar type of company.

Enjoy your trip.

I would just point out to the readers, not the original poster, that in order to match Lisbon with Barcelona one must pass by literally dozens of cities and towns that range in appeal from terrific to top-1% world-class kinds of places.

They are going to Lisbon and they're going to love it but if you prefer a more relaxed pace with much easier transportation options then consider keeping your circle a bit tighter and forego unnecessary long legs while on your trip.

My family live in Portugal hence we’ve been to Lisbon numerous times.

We always stay at The Emporium Lisbon Suites, Rua dos Bacalhoeiros 18, Lisbon. Boutique style hotel. Large rooms with kitchenettes, and most with river views. Located in the Baixa area, flat for walking. Surrounded by restaurants and most tourist sites.

We book directly with the owners or on booking.com. Higher floor recommended if available.

Barcelona: we loved all the sites associated with Gaudi. Of course the Sagrada Familia is the most iconic. You don’t have much time in Barcelona - but if you’re a fan of Dali we loved the Dali museum in Figueres which can be easily accessed as a day trip from Barcelona. We stayed in the Ramblas and found it to be a good location. That was 20 years ago.

We were in Lisbon in October and stayed in the Chiado neighborhood. We liked this area because it didn’t feel like a strictly tourist neighborhood but well located. We walked or took a short Uber ride to get around. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, wine bars and shops in the neighborhood.

We stayed in an Airbnb so I don’t have a hotel to recommend. I didn’t experience Lisbon as a place for must see sites but agree that a visit to Belem is worth half a day or so. We enjoyed a couple of museums in Lisbon - particularly since it was raining when we were there. The museum of freedom and resistance is good for a historical perspective. The Gulbenkian Museum has a very interesting collection. Lisbon is a beautiful city to walk around in. We enjoyed a walking tour which we’ve found to me a good way to get to know a place including its history and contemporary context. We also planned to take a food tour and a tour about the history of slavery and Portugal but ended up having to cancel both due to weather.