Spain & Portugal in January

Depends what you want to see in Barcelona - work it out from that. We only had three or four nights and saw everything we wanted, as well as having time to sit in bars and watch the world..
Porto is lovely, but three nights should be enough.

Also, be realistic about weather and short days. In January, it's probably not going to be warm out - depends on what you're used to, and what you're looking for. Don't be surprised if you get some rain. Days will be short, too. On the plus side, crowds will be down!

I also think of Barcelona as an outlier - it's a long way from the rest of your destinations, might as well be whole 'nother country (and it kinda sorta is). In some ways, Barcelona pairs just as well with southern France and bits of northern Spain that you're not visiting on this trip, as it does with the parts of Spain you're going to. As an alternative, consider setting aside Barcelona for a future trip (combined with the Basque country, northern Spain, southern France). That would let you slow down and savor the places on your list for this trip. Just a thought.

At least you won't have to worry about heat waves!

No option except to start in Barcelona. Flights from Melbourne, Australia to Barcelona via Singapore already booked! Weather also not an issue - temperatures between about 55 and 64 Fahrenheit here in Winter.

Where are you planning on departing from? That might dictate the flow of your itinerary. Can you fly into Barcelona and out of Lisbon?

The length of time in Barcelona looks fine to me. There’s a lot to do there and if you’re a Dali fan a day trip to the museum in Figueres would be a way to spend one of your day - besides adjusting to jet lag.

We spent 3-4 days in Porto a few years ago. Depends on what you’re interested in doing- we found that to be a nice length of time to wander, do some Port tasting and take a couple of walking tours. There are day trip options from Porto that we didn’t get a chance to fit in on a short stay.

Since you’re going in January having a little more time in each place may give you a buffer if you encounter really rainy weather. We were in Lisbon in October 2023 when there was a torrential storm on one day. We spent most of the day in our hotel.

Consider taking a day from Barcelona and/or Porto and going to Cordoba. Cordoba is lovely, food is great and the Mezquita is incredible. For us, of all the places we have been in Spain (and Portugal), the Mezquita is an unmissable highlight.

You can't fly out of Portugal? That would eliminate one of your flights. Also where are you going from Granada? Have you looked at train schedules for your route? Official sites for schedules and tickets: Renfe for Spain and Coimboios for Portugal.

I wouldn't cut time in Barcelona - there's plenty to see and do. Won't you be somewhat jetlagged when you get there?

If you leave Porto early you could stop for the day in Coimbra (provided there's luggage storage at the main train station) and get to Lisbon in the evening. Or take a night from Porto to Lisbon and day trip to Sintra or Cascais.

If you train from Madrid to Sevilla, you could spend a day in Cordoba. There is luggage storage at the bus station across the street from the train station. You really should not skip seeing the Mezquita and the adjacent Juderia - one of the best preserved medieval cities in Spain.

Thanks for your reply all.

Our route seemed to be the best without a lot of backtracking. Neither of us have ever been to Spain/Portugal, so trying to work out the best things to see in the best places to maximise our time is exhausting!!

We are now thinking about perhaps cutting out one of the days in Madrid - that we were planning on using on a trip to Toledo, and now adding in Cordoba - either Seville -> Granada -> Cordoba, or Seville -> Cordoba -> Granada. So we could go direct from Barcelona to Porto, then tack on Madrid at the end of the trip. The plan is to fly to London at the end of the trip, then home to Australia from there. We could squeeze one more day into the trip somewhere if need be, but that's about it.

Just skip Portugal until later, you can't even see Spain right in three weeks.
Do not miss Toledo and Segovia near Madrid.