My friend and I are traveling for 2 weeks in mid-August to Barcelona. We need help with the logistics of making it to Morocco and Portugal and back to Barcelona to fly home to California. We like to immerse ourselves in the true culture of places and not just do the typical tourist stuff. We are fine with flying and trains and ferries, just want to spend as little time traveling as possible, but we're realistic. I definitely want to stop at The Alhambra and other palaces or major historical significance and some museums etc. Also, this is our first time going to Europe, we're in our late 20s/early 30s. We're pretty adventurous and open minded, we want a mix of night life and relaxing on the beach.
Posted by
Washington DC
28085 posts
Barcelona, Granada, beach, Morocco and Portugal within two weeks? Even if you are willing to skip Madrid's museums (substituting options in Barcelona and Lisbon), I think that's far too many scattered locations. Traveling from Spain to Portugal is not as easy as you are probably assuming, and of course Morocco involves the time for a ferry (and spending hours getting to a Spanish ferry port) or the hassles of flying. Tangier certainly isn't worth it and Casablanca is modern, which means flying to Marrakech or Fes. You can check for Moroccan flights from Spain and to Portugal on skyscanner, but I urge you to scale way back and stick to Spain.
It will be miserably hot in Granada and much of Moroc in August. Madrid is tupically also very hot in the summer, and Barcelona--while more moderste temperature-wise--can be uncomfortable if it gets humid.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Before you get too attached to the idea of seeing Spain, Portugal, and Morocco on this trip, please heed acraven's warnings about the logistics.
We think of Spain and Portugal as practically one country, and Morocco as being just next door to these two. Actually, connections between Spain and Portugal are surprisingly skimpy, with a few buses, a very few trains (often at crazy hours) and flights. Morocco is a ferry ride (from ports at the opposite end of Spain from Barcelona) or a flight. These flights were affordable months ago when they went on sale, but may be expensive now.
With only two weeks, and the requirement that you start and end in Barcelona, I'd either just see places in Spain, or Spain and some places in one other country. Spain is not only large, but diverse, so you can have a lot of variety without changing countries if you wish.
Weather-wise, you may want to focus on northern coastal Spain (Basque country, Santiago de Compostela, and places in between). These places are cooler than Madrid or Andalucia, which bake in the summer (even Franco, who hated the Basques, summered in San Sebastian).
If you want to see the Alhambra (again, at the other end of Spain from Barcelona), you will need to check NOW if reservations are even available. And whatever you do, make sure you are in Barcelona the day BEFORE your flight home to the US, so you don't miss that flight.
To learn who flies where from a particular airport, look at that airport's Wikipedia page. And to find flights within Europe, use Skyscanner: https://www.skyscanner.com/