I know it's rushed, but we are considering flying into Barcelona, staying for 3 nights; train to Madrid for 3 nights taking train day trips to both Toledo & Segovia. Then train or fly to Seville for 2 nights and fly into Porto for our next week's vacation in Portugal splitting that week's time in Portu & Lisbon. Fly back to the US from Lisbon. I know it's crazy rushed, but that's all the time we have in that neck of the world this time around. IDEAS, Comments? Thanks!
Posted by
4363 posts
Have you been to any of these places before, and is this the way you usually like to travel? I would make a list of what you want to see in each place and sort out the logistics, then decide if each place gets enough time for those things minus travel time. It's not what I would do, but if you time out all of the transport and it works for you, why not?
If the flight into BCN and out of LIS is too good of a deal to pass up, I would buy it because you can always make adjustments to the middle, but know that getting from Spain to Portugal is not always cut and dried.
I have regretted trying to do too much in my travels, but I have never regretted leaving something off.
Posted by
Virginia
597 posts
Looks good to me. A little hurried but doable.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6532 posts
With only 3 nights in Madrid and 2 day trips, that essentially means no time in Madrid itself. Personally, I’d limit my time to only 2 of the cities mentioned; either Barcelona and Madrid or Madrid and Sevilla. Even then, you wouldn’t be in either one enough to see all the main sights. However, it is your vacation and your choice.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6501 posts
You "know it's crazy rushed," so I won't point that out. But if it's "all the time we have in that neck of the world this time around," why not wait till the next time around to do some of it? I'd do either Barcelona + Madrid or Madrid + Sevilla, depending on what kind of flights you can get. And why sleep in Madrid when your real daytime destinations are Segovia and Toledo? Nothing wrong with those cities, but "crazy rushed" comes to mind again.
Between Madrid and Sevilla the train makes more sense than flying. Too bad you won't have time to spend a night or two in Cordoba on the way.
Posted by
Paris
6888 posts
I'm not sure I'd add Seville for just two nights without any other city in Andalucía, because if I were going to that part of the world for the first time, I would want to see Granada and Córdoba as well. I would add a night each in Barcelona and Madrid instead. That way, your trip would go from "very busy" to "almost reasonable" in my book.
Posted by
Carmel, CA, USA
2455 posts
Well, I think both Spain and Portugal are wonderful and merit much more time than you are giving them with this plan. As a wise woman once said, this looks crazy rushed. My advice, since you asked, would be to choose one for this trip, and the other for a future trip. Even with 2 weeks in either one of these countries, especially Spain, you will face difficult choices of which regions and cities to visit, and which to leave out.