Early Oct thru mid-Nov 2 ladies of a certain age ;-) using trains/bus. We hope to rent apartments so we can have our own bedrooms. Looking for a slow pace. We were thinking of going Madrid to Seville/Granada, Malaga, perhaps across to Morocco, (?) up to Valencia and back to Madrid. It seems we might have plenty of time to see the north area or Barcelona, early or late in the trip.
Also, it seems difficult to go into Portugal transportation wise. Is this so?
Posted by
214 posts
Seems like a great trip. A good way to plan your itinerary is to look at the high speed rail map of Spain.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fep7447r2y7471.png
As you can see, Madrid is well connected to everywhere, but there's no high speed rail link connecting Malaga to Valencia directly. Malaga also does not have a ferry to Morocco, it has a ferry to the Spanish exclave of Melilla. Tarifa would be the best Spanish city to grab a ferry to see a Moroccan city. So, take that into account.
You're right that there's so quick way to pop over to Lisbon or Porto.
Posted by
1393 posts
Have you looked at flights from either Madrid or Barcelona to Fes? Marrakech?
Posted by
9287 posts
Don't bother going to Morocco unless you plan to visit Rabat, Fes or Marrakesh. Tangier is not worth the effort and cost.
If you are going for a month and a half, do visit Barcelona. Do not miss Toledo or Seville.
Also, recommend visiting Segovia for a day trip from Madrid.
The Basque region of Spain, San Sebastian and Bilbao are worth 3 or 4 days.
Do Portugal on another trip when you can do Porto and the Douro River Valley.
Posted by
Detroit, MI
1120 posts
If your plane to Madrid arrives early enough in the day, it would be possible to take the trains to either Granada or Seville the same day, and spend your first night in either of those cities. Then you could make Magala your 2nd city. Then Granada or Seville, whichever you didn't spend your first night in, could be your 3rd city, and then train back to Madrid. Cordoba occupied me for more than a day, perhaps you could add a night there. Do you want to add in some extra towns in the Madrid area like Segovia and Avila? Do you know what you would do in Valencia? Is Barcelona worth adding in? I wouldn't add Morocco or Portugal unless I could give at least 9 nights to either or 18 nights to both. In two weeks it is not reasonable to combine Spain with Portugal or Morocco. In 5 or 6 weeks adding Morocco or Portugal might work. Try writing a supposed detailed itinerary to see what might work and then post a day-by-day summary and we can give you better answers.
My solo trip was, only 14 nights total, 13 nights on the ground, plane to Madrid, train to Seville the day I arrived, 4 nights in Seville, bus to Granada (there is a train too), 2 nights in Granada, train to Cordoba, 2 nights in Cordoba (maybe I could have cut this down to one night. I took a part day trip to Castello del Almodovar del Rio. Its a castle that occupied me for just under 1-1/2 hours. Few travelers go there. You can take the bus there); train to Madrid.
Posted by
Lake District, England
10538 posts
Difficult to go to Portugal is a subjective statement.
There is a three seat train ride, twice a day from Madrid to Lisbon. RS will be out of date on that as the service has been improved from this year.
Or train to Seville, bus to Faro and train to Lisbon.
Or train Madrid to Vigo then train Vigo to Porto.
In Vigo you have to change stations, a 1km walk, but you can avoid that by routing via Santiago de Compostela from Madrid.
Also to Morocco you can take the train from Madrid to Algeciras then the ferry.
Because the line from Bobadilla (the junction on the Malaga high speed line) is a regional line it isn't on the above map but it exists.