Hi! My boyfriend and I will be spending a week between Christmas and New Year traveling by car through Spain, from around December 28 to January 4. Considering travel and fuel costs, we’re looking for suggestions on which area close to Portugal would be best to explore by car and also to spend New Year’s Eve. Since it will be winter, we’d like to plan a relaxed itinerary that allows us to visit the main attractions at a comfortable pace, enjoying both the trip and the drives. We’re thinking of focusing on destinations closer to Portugal, as that will be our main destination throughout January. We’re also considering spending a few days in Barcelona afterward, flying there since it’s quite far by car. Any advice on routes, nice towns to visit, or tips for this time of year in Spain would be very much appreciated!
Posted by
6241 posts
I am confused--what places in Spain have you identified to visit? It's quite a long border with Portugal, so knowing if you mean north or south will facilitate suggestions in Portugal. I think in December south would be a good choice. You could see some of Extremadura and then drive over to Evora to start your Portugal tour.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
8056 posts
A week isn’t very long, but you can see a lot with a car. As valadelphia mentioned it would help to know which area along the border is optimal to you.
Without knowing, i too will suggest Extremadura, and more specifically, Plasencia, Cáceres, Mérida, Trujillo, Guadalupe, and Zafra. We took a day trip over to Monsanto, Portugal from Plasencia. North of Plasencia you’d be getting into more mountainous areas and weather effects could affect your itinerary.
In each of the places I mentioned except Zafra we stayed at the Parador. Recently I received an email mentioning its New Year’s Eve special packages. Its website has the information too. From the menu, select “offers” and 1, 2, and 3 nights offers come up.
Once you have an itinerary, I could let you know of small towns we enjoyed during our trips in that area. Valadelphia could too.
Posted by
new york
803 posts
The obvious answer would be Galicia, but you might have to put up with some dreary weather. But this is an extraordinary region of Spain. I've made two trips in the past two years; we loved it so much in 2024 that we returned last year for about three weeks. If you are conserving Galicia I am happy to offer advice based on my own visits. You have no time to fit in Barcelona in a week. And If you did go for Barcelona, I'd recommend staying for a week, so maybe that would be the answer; go to Barcelona, visit, and then fly on to Portugal.
Posted by
Washington DC
29650 posts
I trust you are aware that if you pick up a rental car in Spain and drop it off in Portugal, there will almost certainly be an extremely high international drop charge. If you end the trip in Barcelona, Galicia, or some other part of Spain, you will avoid that surcharge.
Winter weather in Spain will vary in temperature as well as amount of precipitation. You can find climate-summary charts in the Wikipedia entries for most cities of significance worldwide. For more detail, you can use timeanddate.com:
https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/@2510145/historic?month=12&year=2024
That gives you actual, historical, day-by-day December 2024 weather statistics for Trujillo, Spain. You should check multiple years since weather can vary a lot. Use the pull-down box at the right just above the graph to do that. Use the Search box at the upper right to change the city displayed.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
8056 posts
If you do decide to go to Galicia, we enjoyed Puebla de Sanabria. It’s near the Portugal border. We also enjoyed Baiona, Castro de Santa Trega up the hill from A Guarda, and Muxia. A highlight in Galicia is Santiago de Compostela, but there are a number of nice small villages worth visiting. In Baiona, Puebla de Sanabria, and Santiago de Compostela we stayed at the Paradors,