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Moving around in and between Spain and Portugal

Posted by (Jakarta, Indonesia) on

Hi,

My family is visiting Spain and Portugal and we enter via Madrid. We are two adults and a one year old baby. I was initially thinking of Madrid - Andalucia - Portugal (working from South to North) - Basque Country - Madrid in a clockwise manner. However, I have been reading here that there is no rail transport between Spain and Portugal and mostly the options are by car and bus. Our trip is 3 weeks long / short :)

I have some questions that I hope you can help me with:

  1. Given the lack of inter-country rail links, would you recommend halving the trip to dedicate time see visit each country on its own before going to the next one? Would that be more time-efficient?

  2. If Madrid would be the base of our travel, would what would be a good itinerary for Spain considering I want to see Madrid, the Basque Country and Andalucia? And any transport recommendations other than trains.

  3. For Portugal, I am considering the Algarve and Porto in addition to Lisbon and Fatima. If I had to drop one of them to make the trip less hectic, which one would you let go of?

Because we have a baby with us, I'm thinking of doing Portugal first then finish up in Spain so that we can spend a few days in Madrid at the end of the trip in preparation for the flight home. Also, within regions we're considering moving around via bus for short trips between cities.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
16895 posts

To travel along a loop as implied in your first paragraph:

  • You can take a direct bus from Seville to either the Algarve or to Lisbon.
  • If you want to travel northbound from Porto to Santiago de Compostela, there's a not-horrible train connection that departs at 8:15 a.m. (recheck later if traveling in summer) and a couple of direct bus per day operated by ALSA and FlixBus.
  • There's also an overnight train from Lisbon and Coimbra to Burgos and San Sebastian (making other stops, as well, but not at Porto).
  • For flight options to the north coast, try www.skyscanner.com.

I have not been to the Algarve but I have been to Fatima and would drop Fatima, unless it's important to you. Or substitute Coimbra for both of them.

Posted by
5687 posts

I've got an upcoming trip to Portugal planned. I am flying into and out of Madrid from/to the US. There are cheap direct flights (several per day) between Lisbon and Madrid and between Porto and Madrid - I'm flying both ways between countries. I am not even visiting Spain on this trip. So, I would probably try to fly between Spain and Portugal at least at the beginning or end and bus/train between them in the middle only if you have to.

Posted by
7160 posts

The Basque Country and Andalucia are huge and you were vague as to what you wanted to see in each region. I spent a little over 2 weeks in northern Spain alone. On another trip, I spent the same amount of time in Andalucia. I had a rental car. With a car you could visit the places you want but you’d be spending so much time getting to them, you wouldn’t get to spend much time enjoying them.

Posted by
7175 posts

Your ‘wish list’ runs to a minimum of 7 destinations, meaning a 3 night stay at each, for a trip lasting 3 weeks. You may find this quite intensive, especially with an infant, and it could potentially mean omitting some interesting sights along the way because of time restrictions. The locations are quite scattered so it means long travel days when moving from place to place.

Madrid
Granada
Sevilla (with Córdoba)
Algarve
Lisbon
Porto
San Sebastián (with Bilbao)

Choosing 5 places from your list maybe more manageable. Booking ‘open jaw’ flights, in to Madrid, out of Lisbon, or vice versa will also make things easier. Something like ....

Day
1. Arrive Madrid (5) - with days to Toledo & Segovia
6. Train to Sevilla (4) - with a day to Cordoba
10. Fly (direct) to Bilbao (2)
12. Bus to San Sebastián (3)
15. Fly (via Madrid) to Porto (3)
18. Train to Lisbon (4) - with a day to Sintra
22. Depart Lisbon

Posted by
7175 posts

Alternatively ...

Day
1. Arrive Madrid (5) - with days to Toledo & Segovia
6. Train to Granada (2)
8. Train to Sevilla (4) - with a day to Cordoba
12. Bus to Algarve (3)
15. Train (via Lisbon) to Porto (3)
18. Train to Lisbon (4) - with a day to Sintra
22. Depart Lisbon

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks to everyone for your helpful responses. I've been giving this a lot of thought and I've been reading the RS Guides on both countries and watching a lot of the Youtube Videos. I have a rough plan in mind that I'd like to check with you guys here.

Total Trip Length (excluding flying in and out from Asia): 20 Days
Travellers: 3 (me + my wife and 1 year old son)
Countries: Spain and Portugal
Places I must see on this trip (some places aren't in this list yet because I currently do not know enough about them) : Spain - Madrid and Salamaca | Portugal: Lisbon and Fatima

My plan:
Option 1: Madrid and Andalucía + Lisbon and the Algarve
Fly into Madrid
Tour Madrid day trip to Toledo (4 days)
Tour Andalucia making a base in Sevilla (5 days)
Bus to Algarve
Tour the Algarve making a base in Lagos (3 days)
Bus to Lisbon (with a day trip to Fatima) (5 days)
Fly to Madrid
Madrid with and overnight stay in to Salamanca (3 days)

Fly out of Madrid
Questions: Which part of the Algarve to spend time in?

Option 2: Madrid and Andalucía + Lisbon and Porto

Fly into Madrid
Tour Madrid day trip to Toledo (4 days)
Tour Andalucia making a base in Sevilla (5 days)
Fly to Lisbon
Lisbon (3 days)
Car to Fatima (1 day) and Coimbra (2 days)

Train to Porto and stay in Porto (3 days)
Fly to Madrid
Madrid with a day trip to Salamanca (2 days)

Option 2 Question(s): Should we spend time in Coimbra or spend time in Nazare?

Hope you can share some of your thoughts :)

Posted by
3 posts

@djp_syd your second recommendation is also looking like a great option!

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