Hello
I'm seeking advice on the most logical and efficient travel route. Would it make more sense to go from Madrid → Granada → Seville → Málaga → Porto → Lisbon, OR from Madrid → Seville → Granada → Málaga → Porto → Lisbon?
My current itinerary is:
Fly into Madrid and stay for 3 nights
Train to Seville for 3 nights
Train to Granada for 3 nights
Train to Málaga for 3 nights
Fly to Porto for 4 nights
Train to Lisbon for 3 nights
Fly home from Lisbon
Thank you
Naryet
That's a good itinerary, but it would be nice to fit in Cordoba as well.
It looks good. Day trip to Cordoba from Sevilla. Have fun
It doesn’t make much of a difference. If traveling by car or bus, Granada is about 45 minutes closer to Malaga than Sevilla. Go with whichever has the best transportation connections.
I agree with Lin C that it would be nice to include Cordoba. The problem with doing a daytrip to Cordoba from Seville with your current itinerary is that you don't have enough time in Seville to do that, IMO. You don't have 20 days. You have 19 nights which gives you 18 full days.
Can you possibly add a night or two to your trip? This way you could spend 2 nights in Cordoba, or 4 nights in Seville with a daytrip to Cordoba. Seville has many, many interesting cultural and historical sights, and I really think you need a minimum of 3 nights to do it justice (without a daytrip to Cordoba). Actually, 4 nights is better for Seville.
If you can't add an extra night or two to your trip, you might consider taking a night from Porto and adding it to Seville or using it to spend one night in Cordoba. Or, as much as we enjoyed Malaga, you could take one night from Malaga and give it to Cordoba. The Mezquite in Cordoba is amazing and Cordoba is a wonderful city, too. It would be a shame to miss it.
I used ViaMichelin.com to check several routings from Madrid to Porto by way of Granada, Seville and Malaga. By far the shortest/fastest by car is Madrid-Granada-Malaga-Seville-Porto. VM estimates the driving time at 15 hr. 50 min., whereas the other options I tested (including the two in your original query) were estimated to take over 19 hours. Making Malaga the last stop before Portugal isn't optional because it means having extra miles on the leg to Portugal, compared to the distance from Seville.
As you may already be aware, picking up a car in Spain and dropping it off in Portugal will almost certainly entail an extremely costly international-drop surcharge, so I'm hoping you are planning to travel by train and bus (no trains link Seville directly to Portugal).
A quick-and-dirty look at the rail schedules suggests it may not make much difference whether you travel Madrid-Malaga-Granada-Seville or Madrid-Granada-Malaga-Seville. I'd try hard to make Seville the last Spanish stop, because even without a car it will make the onward bus/train trip to Porto a bit less onerous. However, if you plan to fly to Porto--RyanAir seems to have flights to Porto from Malaga and Seville--it may not matter. Looking at the schedules, as suggested above, is smart, because in some cases there aren't a lot of departures.
I agree that 3 nights is short for Seville. Although I liked Malaga, I'd move a night from there to Seville. I haven't been to Portugal frequently enough to compare the time a traveler might need in Porto vs. Seville, but Seville is 2-1/2 times the size of Porto.
Base on your suggestions I revised the 20‑NIGHT SPAIN & PORTUGAL ITINERARY as below. Please let me know if better flow and I dont think there is any backtracking. Thank you.
Madrid ---> 4 nights (day trip to Toledo or Segovia)
Cordoba ---> 2 nights
Granada ---> 3 nights (fulll day at Alhambra)
Seville ---> 4 nights (day trip to Malaga).
Porto ---> 3 nights (day trip to Coimbra)
Lisbon ---> 4 nights (day trip to Fatima and Sintra)
Fly home from Lisbon
Malaga's closer to Granada than to Seville, so (though I don't like one-night stays) I would look at both train and bus schedules between Granada and Malaga to see whether it makes logistical sense to spend one night in Malaga on the way from Granada to Seville. It may not, because transportation in and out of Granada is sort of skimpy. But do check the bus schedule. Spanish intercity buses are usually very comfortable in my experience, and quite a few folks on the forum have recommended using a bus between Granada and Malaga. There are buses scheduled to take only 1 hr. 35 min., though I don't know how reliable those schedules are.
You could also see Malaga in transit, without spending the night there. Unless you're interested in the museums, that might give you about enough time.
The net effect of either of these approaches will be to reduce the time you spend sitting on trains or buses, possibly by as much as 3 hours.
Not. a bad plan, but you skipped Barcelona and the Basque Area of northern Spain.
Why not do a. trip just in Spain and came back later and do Portugal. We did a 15 day trip in Portugal and it was great.
One thing that I would strongly advise is to NOT miss Toledo outside Madrid. 500 years ago it was the capital and it is well preserved and amazing. Do a day trip from Madrid. Also, try to see Segovia, north of Madrid on a day trip, there is an 1800 year old Roman aqueduct, perfectly preserved. Need to add days to Madrid for this.
If you do go. to Portugal, take the train up the Douro Valley to Pinhao and/or Regua, or take a river cruise.
I agree with acraven that it doesn't make sense to visit Malaga from Seville. Malaga is only about a 1.5 hour bus ride from Granada. We took ALSA bus from Granada to Malaga. After spending 2 nights in Malaga, we took the train from Malaga to Seville. A much better routing. So you could spend one night in Malaga, or visit it as a daytrip as acraven suggests. I think one night would be better if you can fit it in. ALSA buses are wonderful. They are clean, modern, comfortable and efficient. By all means, check the train schedules from Granada to Malaga as well.
Remember, visit places that you want to visit. There must have been a reason you initially had Malaga in your itinerary. While Córboda is a city I feel everybody visiting Spain should visit if they will only be in Spain once, if Malaga has more things of interest to you, then follow your heart.
You have a limited amount of vacation time, so visit the places that speak to you. I could recommend dozens of places that are great to visit and that I enjoyed, but it’s your trip.
You don’t have time to add Barcelona, the Basque area, or anything else for that matter without rushing through everyplace, and that wouldn’t make for a pleasant trip.
Merry Christmas to everyone, and thank you for all your wonderful recommendations and suggestions. We’ve streamlined our lodging to keep things simple, and since this will be our first time visiting Madrid and Southern Spain (though we’ve been to Barcelona many times), our goal is to explore, sample the major highlights, and discover a few hidden gems along the way. We know we’ll be returning—retirement is just around the corner, and we plan to fill it with travel. Here’s how our final itinerary is shaping up:
22 days total, including travel days
Fly into Madrid
Madrid – 4 nights (train day trip to Toledo or Segovia)
Granada – 4 nights (bus day trip to the Alhambra / train day trip to Málaga)
Seville – 4 nights (train day trip to Córdoba)
Fly from Seville to Porto
Porto – 4 nights (train day trip to Coimbra)
Lisbon – 4 nights (train day trip to Fátima and Sintra)
Fly home from Lisbon
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Naryet
Keep in mind that there are a lot more buses than trains covering the Granada-to-Malaga route. I only see 3 direct trains per day, taking about 1-1/2 hours. On the date I checked, they depart at 7:36 AM, 13:19 PM and 18:29 PM. There are two other rail departures, but they are slower and require a transfer. By comparison, there are frequent direct buses every day, the fastest scheduled to take about 1-3/4 hours. The buses are good options if the timing of the trains is not convenient for you.
