Travel from Barcelona to Gibraltar to Tangier to Lisbon

Spare your trip to Tangier. If you want to do Morocco go to Marrakesh or Fez, Tangier is not so hot.

You haven't mentioned some great places like Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Seville, Granada in Spain.
Are you just doing Lisbon only in Portugal?

Do some research, buy a guidebook on Spain and perhaps one on Portugal. Use TripAdvisor.com under "things to do."

Suggest that you try to minimize excessive travel and focus on touring. From Lyon, France, you might wish to fly to Barcelona, but compare with rail for cost and time.

There are great high speed trains from Barcelona to Madrid and from Madrid to Seville.

Hello geovagriffith
Thanks for the tip on going to Marrakesh or Fez. I will look into those cities. I just picked Tangier because that's where the ferry lands from Spain from Tarifa.
As for choosing Barcelona; I chose it because I am interested in the architecture. I would consider other places like Madrid or Seville; I just haven't looked into those, yet. From Lyon, France, I would have to fly to them. I was considering taking a train from Lyon to Barcelona because the plane ride is just a few hours less than the train ride. With all the hassles of getting on a plane, I didn't think flying was worth it.
I am planning to just go to Lisbon and Sintra in Portugal.
I have Rick Steves' books on Spain and Portugal. I have used his books and forums in the past and have found them to be extremely helpful.
My hope was to get some detailed information on traveling to the places I mentioned and some tips on what cities would be the closest places to stay. I am just in the beginning stages of planning this trip.
Thanks for your help and tips.

I’m one who does complicated itineraries with what could be considered “excessive” travel.

If you intend to do this route, plan on flying either to or from Morocco and do Gibraltar and the ferry crossing on the other leg. See if you can fly from Lyon straight to Marrakech or Casablanca (don’t think there is an airport in Fez). When done with Morocco, make your way to Tangiers and take the ferry. Or reverse the leg.

It has been more than 15 years since I did some of what you are attempting. Flew into Gibraltar and explored a bit, then crossed into Spain and spent the night in Tarifa (it was pretty cool that going from Gibraltar to Spain you get to walk across the airport’s lone runway). Took the ferry to Tangiers, and went straight to the train station and traveled to Fez. Went onto Rabat, Casablanca and ended in Marrakech. Then flew home from Marrakech.

Regarding Fes: there is an airport there, and it has direct flights from Lyon. And several Spanish cities I'm sure.
Doing Fes - Chefchaouen - Tangier for the crossing to Gibraltar would give you a nice taste of Morocco over a few days.

Fes has flights on Ryanair from Barcelona and Madrid. Also from Barcelona and Lyon on Air Arabia (a low cost carrier based at Sharjah, UAE) and from Lyon on Transavia (KLM's low cost arm).

I wonder about starting in Lyon then Barcelona before flying to Morocco. Then make your way through to Tangiers, ferry to Spain, then Gibraltar (for two or three nights) then the little known 'Mr Henderson's Railway' from Algeciras to Ronda. That is one of Spains lesser known railway treats. The train continues on to Bobadilla. You could connect there for either high speed or regional rail connections to Seville.

If I had come that far I would be inclined to do the short trip down to Malaga for a night or two, then Malaga to Seville

From Seville there is the cross Border bus to the Algarve for trains to Lisbon- 2 hour bus ride to Faro.

That seems like a fairly logical progress. For the adventurous the older much slower route from Seville to the Algarve still exists- Train Seville to Huelva, Bus to Ayamonte, cross border ferry (10 minute ride) to Vila Real de Santo Antonio (Portugal). Regional train to Faro for the InterCity trains to Lisbon and Porto- the through Porto train runs twice a day.

There is a bus every 90 minutes or so from Tarifa to Algeciras railway station.

This is the summary of buses in Andalucia, which also gives buses from Tarifa to Cadiz (for rail connections) and to Seville.

Thanks to all for your ideas and suggestions. I have a lot to think about and research.