My wife and i are planning a trip to Spain/Algarve for 3-4 weeks....we will fly into Madrid and fly out of Lisbon. We want to see Madrid, Toledo, Granda, Seville, Malaga, Cordoba. we then want to go to the Algarve and explore it (for a week?). We plan on going in Late Sept. or Oct. We are retired and generally do slow travel....not opposed to taking trains or renting a car. I prefer not to rent a car. How many days should I plan for each city? We usually pack light and use AirBnB's for stays. But if we are staying just a day or two in a city, we get a hotel. I have a niece who lives in Seville and will want to spend a little time with her.
Posted by
Washington DC
27104 posts
I'm a slow traveler; these would be my minimums:
Madrid: 4 nights if you want to go to the 3 major art museums; possibly fewer nights if you plan to skip them. Add a night if you want to take day trip to Segovia. Add another night if you want to take a day trip to Cuenca.
Toledo: I'd do at least 2 nights, because there's a great deal to see in Toledo. 3 nights would be better, as far as I'm concerned. A lot of people treat it as a day trip from Madrid (in which case, add a night in Madrid).
Granada: 3 nights. There's more there than the Alhambra, and 3 nights will give you two full days.
Seville: 4 nights. A much larger city with many sights, rather widely scattered. Four nights would keep me hopping so I think 5 would be very worthwhile, especially since your niece is there.
Malaga: I'd prefer 3 nights, but you might manage with two.
Cordoba: 3 nights.
There are some nice small towns in southern Spain as well. Some can be seen as side trips from places on your list.
I haven't been to Portugal recently, but I'd say 4 nights is the minimum for Lisbon. I'd only give the Algarve time if I had days left over. You'll need to take a bus from the Algarve to Seville. There are no trains across that part of the border (and very, very few elsewhere). Renting a car in one country and dropping it in another would be extremely costly because of the international drop charge (probably many hundreds of euros).
It will probably still be very hot in southern Spain in late September. I'd start the trip in Lisbon if I could, just for reasons of weather.
Posted by
Hudson Valley
2267 posts
It's probably hard to offer good guidance on how long to stay in places without you sharing some of what you like or don't like:
Museums? (Big ones and/or Smaller, more focused ones?)
Foodie?
Historic architecture and charm?
Landscapes?
Contemporary culture?
Etc...
Also, note that the two countries are poorly connected. getting from southern Spain to the Algarve is harder than one might think it would be. (And cross-border car return is $$$!)
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6534 posts
For a first time visitor, the number of days mentioned by acraven is fine. I’m not a Malaga fan so would use those days elsewhere, but it does have a nice Alcazaba way up on a hill.
Posted by
Bristol, UK
1002 posts
The Algarve doesn’t have great public transport so a car could be good for exploring. Uber is cheap and plentiful so that’s always a good option if you want to have a pretty relaxing week with just a few fairly local trips.
Posted by
Brush, Colorado
47 posts
Thanks all for the info.
Just to clarify a few things,
1. Been to Portugal couple of times before, Lisbon north to Porto, I have hiked the Camino portages coastal
2. We have basically decided to go in October 4 to November 5? +/- a few days
3. We know that we will take a bus from Seville to Faro. We will rent a car and explore the Algarve that way. Using Faro as a base.
4. We like to see museums but not overload on them, in Paris we did a museum/touristy stuff in the morning and them did something fun in the afternoon ( shop, people watch, hit some restaurants, ect…like to do a tapas crawl…probably in MADRID….just for fun.
5. That’s been what we have done before and it has general worked for us. We are in our mid 60’s.
6. I plan on hiking the Camino Francis in 2024…so my wife and I will do northern Spain then.