Help with Spain > Portugal > Morocco trip in Sept 2026

I’m not certain this is real, so I’ll be brief. You have ten plus places listed, all across the country, and 15 days. No, this is not a realistic plan. I would do some reading about itinerary planning in general and play around with a map (not just looking but doing searches to see actual travel times). A good first trip does not have to be anything specific one way or the other, but as one potential example, a reasonable sample itinerary could be Madrid, Andalusia, and possibly Barcelona if you prefer to move very quickly. Read some other two week sample itineraries—you don’t have to invent it from scratch.

Thank you… I was hoping to get grounded a bit and you did exactly that .. what would be a good sample itinerary for my situation ?

Agree with @valadelphia above. If this proposed itinerary is sincere (and it probably is), it's beyond insane - it's probably physically impossible.

OP has 12 days on the ground.

Forget Barcelona (it's an outlier, might as well be in another country).

Forget Morocco, fer cryin' out loud.

Just this is too much for 12 days:

Madrid > Valencia > Seville > Granada > Gibraltar > Lisbon > porto > Bilbao > Barcelona

To the OP: If you are sincere, I would suggest you toss out any thoughts of following your original plan and start over, focusing on a much smaller area, and fewer stops. Combining Spain and Portugal is more difficult (and way more time-consuming) than you think it will be.

You have 9 locations listed in Spain. With just 12 days, I would suggest that you drop Portugal entirely (it deserves a trip on your own) and focus just on Spain, in fact, just one region of Spain.

If you are really determined to visit both Spain and Portugal in 12 days, then fly into one, and fly home from the other, and shrink your target areas in both countries. I'd suggest a maximum of 4 or 5 stops - two of which would be determined by your flight choices (Lisbon and Madrid).

For a good sample itinerary, start here: Spain Itinerary.

I gave you a sample itinerary—Madrid and Andalucia is where I would focus my research if I were you. Trains link the main towns of Andalucia, so a rental car is an expensive hindrance for this plan. A guide book can help you get started.

The others have pointed out that you need to significantly reduce the scope of your plans. I want to point out that Spain is a large country with widely varied climate zones. Southern Spain (Andalucia, which includes Seville, Cordoba and Granada) is one of Europe's top tourist destinations, but its weather is likely to remain very hot in September. I wouldn't say that you absolutely shouldn't include Andalucia in this trip, but you need to take a look at the actual, historical, day-by-day weather data from a website like timeanddate.com to be sure you are prepared for what you may be dealing with:

Seville weather -- September 2025

Weather can vary a lot from year to year, so use the pull-down box at the right, just above the graph, to check September in other recent years; I like to check the five most recent years. Spain has so many great destinations that I'd look outside Andalucia for a September trip.

Use the Search box at the top right to see statistics for other locations. Cordoba is extremely similar to Seville; Granada (at altitude) is likely to be a few degrees cooler. Central Spain, including Madrid and Toledo, isn't quite as miserable as Andalucia in the summer, but it's not a place I'd plan to spend much time in early September. If you just wanted to spend 2 or 3 days in the area and then head north, it might be OK if you are mentally prepared for high temperatures.

Coastal Valencia and Barcelona are less risky, weather-wise, in September but I know from experience that Barcelona can feel pretty oppressive if you hit a humid period. I recall sweltering one day in Barcelona and being shocked to see a sign showing a temperature of just 82F (converted from Centrigrade). It must have been the humidity, because it reminded me of my home in Washington DC.

I'd consider September a good time for the north cost of Spain, including San Sebastian and Bilbao as well as places like Santiago de Compostela in the far west. That area can be cool and damp even in the middle of the summer, so it's not where you'd want to go for beaches. And of course at altitude in the Pyrenees, high heat shouldn't be a concern. As someone who has never rented a car in Europe, I'm not knowledgeable about the mountains. You could put together a really nice trip, covering the French Basque Country, the Pyrenees and the Spanish Basque Country. That would allow you to take advantage of having a car.

Iberia (Spain and Portugal) is quite large and your plan to do both countries in two weeks is too ambitious.

You can't do Spain in two weeks, much less Portugal as well.

You need more that a day or two in most of these places.
You didn't mention Segovia and Toledo, which are great places to do day trips from Madrid.
Also, Seville and Barcelona need at least 3 days each.

Hi! That's a lot I agree. It would be wise to decide where you want to focus most (which regions). Since you arrive to Madrid, it would be nice to visit Spain for a couple of days with the car (given you will rent one). Go south directly (skip Valencia and go directly to Andalousia) and form there decide either to go to Portugal or Morocco. For Portugal, stick with southern Portugal cities (ex. Faro and Lagos), following this blog could work well with your plans https://www.earthtrekkers.com/southern-spain-and-portugal-itinerary/ (we used parts of its suggestion for our own trip). If you chose to go to Morocco, Take the ferry from the closest city possible to avoid transit time (from Tarifa it's quite fast https://www.ferryhopper.com/en/blog/ferry-news/spain-morocco-ferry-routes-2026 this can give you an idea). Then spend a couple of days there before going back to Madrid. That's what I would do in your place.