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Itin for Spain/Portugal/Switzerland Suggestions

I'm planning a quick tour and open to travel suggestions. Flying from the US and plan to spend 2 days in Madrid, 2 days in Barcelona, 2 days in Portugal then travel to Basel, Switzerland for a week. Which location would it be best to fly into first? and what's the best way to get from city to city? Thanks

Posted by
2734 posts

Portugal is a country. You can't see it in 2 days and most of your time will be spent getting there and back. Consider Spain, three days in Barcelona, three days in Madrid with a day trip to Toledo. You an train between Madrid and Barcelona. Travel to Basel, I don't know the best way, but I suspect flying given the distance.

Posted by
28084 posts

Moving between Spain and Portugal is not necessarily simple and I'd question whether it is worth the effort for whatever amount of time you'd have left after you get there. If you're headed to Lisbon, I think there's an overnight train from Madrid, but a flight would be a more comfortable option. Flying is the logical choice for the trip to Basel as well. There's fast-train (AVE) service between Barcelona and Madrid.

I assume you gave a reason for the week in Basel. Few people would consider it a one-week sort of place with all that Europe has to offer.

Barcelona can keep you occupied for at lot more than 2 days, as can Madrid if you're interested in art or want to take side-trips to some of the fabulous destinations in Madrid's orbit. Two weeks in Spain and only Spain would inly scratch the surface and would make for more sightseeing and less time on trains, buses and planes.

Posted by
7942 posts

IF you're going to do quickie visits to Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, and say, Lisbon, Portugal, and are flying between each place (not driving or taking the train, for example) then it may not be critical to pick your "best" first destination. You may want to consider what flight arrives earliest in the day at each place, giving you the maximum time there, or what flight arrives at the most convenient time for you in that place.

Do you have a particular airline in mind for all your flights? You might want to consider looking at Vueling, an airline that offers cheap flights around Spain and Portugal.

Even if you're flying everywhere, unless the flight timetable causes you to schedule the order of the destinations, a linear route seems to make the most geographical sense -- start in Barcelona, and work your way west, to Madrid, then Lisbon, before backtracking east to Basel.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you for the feedback! The reason why I am spending a week in Basel, Switzerland is because I have a friend who lives there and I plan to do day trips out of Basel for the final week in Europe. Open to day trip suggestions from Basel also.

Is Portugal that different from Spain? Maybe I should do 3 days in Barcelona and 3 in Madrid instead of also trying to incorporate Portugal.

Posted by
7942 posts

The language, the food, the wine, the music (be sure to catch some Fado music in Portugal when you go there) , , . all very different between Spain and Portugal. Even the beer's different - Portuguese beer's about twice a strong!

Unless you won't ever be able to see any of Portugal on another trip (and Rick Steves says "Assume you will Return to Europe," having a third day each in Madrid and Barcelona would give you more quality time in each of those cities than squeezing in a third city for a quickie visit. With time commuting between cities, saying you have two days in each place really means just having 1 1/2 days in ieach place.

Posted by
28084 posts

Yes, Portugal is quite different from Spain. But so are England, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, etc. You could in theory fly to a different country every day, but that wouldn't make for much of a vacation. Think about what it would be like to arrive in Europe, jetlagged, have one semi-normal day in (for example) Barcelona, then take a morning train to Madrid for less than 2 days, then have to head to the airport (hours early) for a flight to Lisbon, then 2 days later take another flight to Basel. You've spent six days in Europe and had only three days that didn't involve checking into and out of hotels and traversing train stations or airports.

By all means, stick to Spain for the first part of your trip if you don't want to see a bit of France or Germany instead. Those countries fit better with Basel geographically, though I'll grant that Spain is more culturally different from Switzerland.

Posted by
7175 posts

If your time is short, why reduce it even further by hopiping about so much. Choose just one of either Madrid, Barcelona or Lisbon.