My husband & I end a cruise in Barcelona in October & are deciding whether to fly to Lisbon for a few days or spend a few days in Spain. We would like to see the El Greco museum in Toledo & perhaps a beach town. If we go to Portugal, is Porto a better choice than Lisbon? Decisions!!
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7576 posts
Not sure what constitutes a few days. If you want a beach town then stay in the Barcelona area. If you want Toledo then you need to go to Madrid. Unless a few days is a week or more, I’d stay in Spain and skip Portugal.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Thanks. We have been debating & appreciate the feedback. We have five days & will book a flight home after we complete our itinerary.
Posted by
Reston VA
371 posts
Where have you already been in Spain? For me, Barcelona alone is worthy of several days of exploration (in the city) and then day trips and/or beach days are an option. So, four or five extra days, to me, could easily be a "disembark the ship, head to your hotel, and enjoy those extra days in Barcelona".
Posted by
8768 posts
I've been to all the places you mentioned and they are all good.
Personally, I don't like to fly within Europe and prefer to visit places geographically closer together to save time and money.
I presume you have already visited Barcelona and that area (Girona is worth a day trip from Barcelona as well as Monserrat).
Toledo is my favorite city in Spain. It is an old city, well preserved and walkable. You could take the high speed train to Madrid, see that city, do the Prado and take the train down to Toledo. Also, if you have time do a day trip to Segovia.
Portugal is great as well, but I suggest you plan a future visit to take in Lisbon, Sintra, Obidos, Evora, Cascais, Porto and the amazing Douro River Valley. We did a 7 day river cruise on that river and it was fantastic. Do that or take the train up the river and visit Pinhao and Regua. The train runs along the north side of the river.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Good suggestions. We will save Portugal for another time & explore More around Barcelona & head by to Toledo.
Posted by
Vancouver, BC, Canada
1475 posts
If you only have five nights after your cruise, I would just enjoy all of them in Barcelona.
I find cruising to be exhausting. There are so many shore excursions and ship activities packed in a short time. It would be nice to relax a little bit after the cruise and not have to take another flight or train somewhere else.
Barcelona has a lot of exciting things to see and do. At least you would not have to switch hotels and waste a day on a train just to enjoy the beach because the beach is right there. I could sing the praises of the various well-known attractions in Barcelona but then the list could easily fill a 10-day itinerary.
Visiting Toledo would require at least a train trip to Madrid and then a second train trip to Toledo and a further train trip back to Madrid in order to fly back home. Were you planning to spend at least one night in Barcelona before going to Toledo? How many night(s) do you want to spend in Toledo or Madrid or both? Checking in and out of hotels are a big time waster. You only have 5 nights to play with.
Good luck.