Spain Portugal 3 weeks

Hi,

It is quite ambitious, especially adding Barcelona in there. A Madrid-Madrid loop without Barcelona could be done; I would also skip Malaga and use the following pacing:

1-2-3 Madrid
4 Toledo day trip by train
5 Madrid - Salamanca
6 Salamanca - Douro Valley - Porto (long day) OR Salamanca - Douro Valley
7 Porto OR Douro Valley-Porto
8-9 Porto, with day trip to Guimarães (better than Braga IMO) if 3 full days in Porto
10 Porto - midpoint to Lisbon
11 midpoint - Lisbon
12-13-14 Lisbon
15 Lisbon - Seville
16-17 Seville
18 Seville - white villages - Granada
19 Granada
20 Granada-Cordoba (return car) - Madrid

Going Madrid-Toledo-Madrid makes little sense if you’re going to have a rental car since it means an unnecessary trip back into Madrid. Madrid-Toledo-Porto makes more sense. The drive from Toledo, or Madrid, to Porto is about 6 hours without stops and you’d be passing some nice to visit locations whichever route you take.

Lisbon to Porto is no less than 3.5 hours. Yes, you’d be passing by the 3 places you mention, but if you stop to see any of them you’ll be adding a minimum of 2 hours. Aveiro would take 1-2 hours to visit, Fátima, probably 3 hours, and Coimbra, 4 hours. Those times ares minimums in each place and don’t take into consideration time to park and walk to whatever it is you want to see.

Tolls on most Portugal highways to electronic. Familiarize yourself with its toll system and how you register your vehicle with the toll authority. Each day’s tolls are aggregated and your card is billed once each day.

https://www.pttolls.com/en

I believe the itinerary doesn’t take into account all the travel time just getting to the places you want to visit. Málaga deserves more than a partial day.

Thank you very much for the feedback. Really appreciate it.