Trains in Spain and to Porto

Presumably, we'll leave from Lisbon, which I understand is a 3-hour
drive from Porto, and we presume we would need to rent a car. (Advice
here is welcomed.)

Or you can just take the train from Porto to Lisbon.

The bigger question is travel from Neerja to Porto.

That will take a while, rail links between Spain and Portugal are not that great. Basically I'd say you have two options. The northern route via Madrid and Vigo. This is the only option if you want to travel only by train. Or the southern route via Sevilla and Faro, this will require a coach trip over the border as there is no rail line that crosses the border here.

We did a wonderful Douro River Cruise a few years ago.

We stayed in Douro a couple of extra days and one day visited Santiago de Compostela in NW Spain. I highly recommend that.
Also, we found a fantastic B&B in Porto, it is The InPatio Guesthouse. Only five rooms, but believe me, it is the best ever. and in a great location.

Never been to Neerja, but I would advise doing more research and consider visiting Lisbon, Cascas, Sintra, Obidos and Evora.

Neerja is in the Costa del Sol area and if you go there visit Rhonda. Also, Seville is my favorite city in Spain. If you do Southern Spain, do Cordoba as well.

If you decide to do Madrid, Toledo and Segovia then move to Avila and Salamanca.

Thanks. I'll check out your suggestions.
Are there websites you recommend where I can find and book one of these trains? Would we take a coach from Faro to Porto? Looks like a long way! Would we take a coach from Vigo to Porto? I wonder if it makes sense to fly from Madrid to Porto? It's all looking quite complicated for this old pair. Wondering if I should try to find a travel agent in Spain or Portugal.

https://www.eurail.com/en/plan-your-trip/trip-ideas/suggested-itineraries/spain-and-portugal-itinerary
https://www.tripsavvy.com/spain-rail-map-and-transportation-guide-4135648

Thanks also to geovagriffith for your suggestions. I will explore accordingly. Maybe we uncomplicate things by giving up Nerja on Southern Coast. . .

Hi Ron & Mary, I grew up in Atlantic, an hour east of you. : )

Here’s a trip report that includes Nerja. It’s six years old but will still give you a good idea of the places in the Andalucia region of Spain.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/1st-time-to-spain-trip-report

I’m heading out the door in a few moments to fly to Spain again! I can give you up-to-date info on Malaga, Estepona, Cadiz, Sevilla and Madrid if you can send me a private message in a few weeks to remind me. Short answer on Nerja; I wouldn’t go a long distance to stay there. But it was a nice stop since we were already in Granada.

For transportation, try Rome2Rio - it's a great tool. Just plug in destinations and it shows all/most of the travel options including air, bus, rail, car with range of prices and times. Click on a choice to dig deeper into options and schedules. It really helps with itinerary planning, because sometimes you have a "you can't get there from here" situation, like a 6 hour bus ride with multiple changes, etc

Also, you should be able to fly out of Porto. We did that in 2022, connected in Amsterdam.

Exploring northern Spain might be easier if you need to end up in Porto for your cruise. With 2 weeks, you could easily do Barcelona, Madrid and work your way up to Bilbao and then over to Porto.

Unfortunately, Rome2Rio isn't reliable. I recommend using it only to find the names of bus and rail companies that may operate between the cities you're interested in. Everything else (fares, travel times and frequencies) must be viewed with extreme caution.

Nerja is not the sort of place I'd recommend for a first trip to Spain unless perhaps the travelers had young children along and wanted a lot of beach time and little traditional sightseeing time. In addition, Nerja is a long way from Porto, making it geographically inconvenient.

Here's the website for tickets for Portugal. https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en

Also, Seat 61 is a good site for all things trains. You can take a high speed train from Lisbon to Porto. There's also a train from Faro to Lisbon. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/lisbon-to-porto-by-train.htm

There is the International Train from Vigo to Porto, which you book on the CP, Portuguese Railways website. You won't be able to do the who!e journey in one day. But Ma!aga to Vigo is one day, with the fast train Malaga to Madrid, then a Madrid to Vigo trajn.
Leave Malaga just before noon, arrive Vigo just after 8pm. Change of stations in Madrid.

If you take the southern route CP run 2 through Alfa Pendular trains a day from Faro to Porto- a 6 hour ride.

Malaga to Seville is 2 to 3 hours depending on the train, direct, several a day. The Seville to Faro Bus takes about 2 1/2 hours.
With the afternoon through train from Faro being at 4pm, it is entire!y possib!e to do the whole journey in one day- if a long day. Leave Malaga at 9am, arrive Porto at 10pm.

The morning through train is at 7am

I'm a little bit older than you, probably, and I love river cruising. First task: Determine where your cruise docks. Some end back in Porto, some in Spain. If Porto, I would stay overnight and fly out of there. Probably no flights non-stop to the US midwest, so the connections can make for a long day. But river cruising can be as vigorous or lazy (uh, restful) as you make it and you should not be pooped though very well-fed.
My other advice, other than have a good time in a delightful, and tasty, way to travel, is don't try to piece together your flight itinerary yourself. There are plenty of search engines that can churn out possible itineraries. Pick and choose from that information and then buy the itinerary from the principal airline on one itinerary rather than from the travel agency.