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Travel itinerary for 20 days in Spain and Portugal -feedback please!

Posted by on

Dear fellow travelers - I am going to spain and portugal for 20 days in October and I would love your feedback.
I am especially unsure about how much to include in the few days I will have a car between Granada and Seville.
I would love to see the Peublos Blancos, but also very interested in the coast, like Nerja and/ or Malaga, and then there is Cordova! I am also going to be traveling to Madrid during October 12th national holiday. Feedback please! What would YOU do with this?

DATE. DAY OF TRIP PLAN SLEEP IN;

Oct 2 (W) Day 1- FLY to Barcelona, The plane.

Oct 3 (TH) Day 2 - Arrive Barcelona at 7:45 am (recovery day). Barcelona,

Oct 4 (F) Day 3 - Barcelona, Barcelona,

Oct 5 (Sa) Day 4 - Barcelona day trip to Monserrat Barcelona,

Oct 6 (Su) Day 5 - Barcelona - FLY to Granada /pick up car Granada,

Oct 7 (M) Day 6 - Granada - see ALHAMBRA Granada,

Oct 8 (Tu) Day 7- driving trip in Andalusia! Arcos,

Oct 9 (W) Day 8 - Drive to Sevilla (turn in car) Sevilla,

Oct 10 (Th) Day 9 - Sevilla Sevilla,

Oct 11 (F) Day 10 - Sevilla, Sevilla,

Oct 12 (Sa) Day 11 - TRAIN to Madrid (AVE TRAIN) Madrid,

Oct 13 (Su) Day 12 - Madrid - Day trip to Toledo - (AVE TRAIN) Madrid

Oct 14 (M) Day 13 - Madrid (museo’s open but close at 4:00) Madrid

Oct 15 (Tu) Day 14 - Madrid and FLY to Lisbon (evening flight) Lisbon

Oct 16 (W) Day 15 - Lisbon

Oct 17 (Th) Day 16 - ?

Oct 18 (F) Day 17 - ?

Oct 19 (Sa) Day 18 - ?

Oct 20 (Su) Day 19 - Lisbon Lisbon

Oct 21 (M) Day 20 = FLY HOME!

Posted by
7304 posts

Hi,
I like the flying into Barcelona / out of Lisbon idea.
I would arrange things differently to reduce travel distance and save a flight:
- Barcelona 4 nights (instead of 3)
- train to Madrid, 3 nights
- train to Córdoba, 1 night
- train or bus to Granada, 2 nights
- drive to Arcos or other Pueblo blanco, 1 night far better than the coast
- drive to Sevilla, 3 nights
- fly to Lisbon, 3 nights + 1 overnight in Sintra (or 4 nights in Lisbon)

You have a spare night with the above, you can spend it wherever (I'd say Barcelona, to make it 5 nights there).

Posted by
28089 posts

On your original itinerary you would spend only one non-jetlagged day in Barcelona. That seems extraordinarily short to me.

Why are you picking up a rental car on Day 5 in Granada when it appears you will be remaining in that city until Day 7?

Posted by
19 posts

Thank you, great feedback! Because of you I will not get my rental car until day 7 indeed as I don't need it while at the Alhambra in Granada.
Also, though I love the idea of saving a night, I used airmiles and they could NOT seem to get me out of Seville to Lisbon for anything, so I am commmitted to going to Madrid last before Portugal and flying to Lisbon from there. THANKS fellow travelers!

Posted by
199 posts

We also rented a car and drove from Granada to Seville, staying just 1N in Ronda. I wished we could have stayed 2N. So, consider whether you can fit an extra night into that part of your trip. Have fun!

Posted by
19 posts

Thank you Morgan,
I REALLY WANT to add another night to this part of the trip, but I would have to take it from Seville or Madrid
at this point and I'm not sure about that.
SO MY QUESTION IS - HOW LONG DO I NEED TO DO SEVILLA and then MADRID JUSTICE?

Posted by
7304 posts

Too bad about the booked flight from MAD to LIS, but it's no big deal, you only lose 1/2 day really.

Contrary to the poster above, I think one night in Ronda is fine. With the car you can leave Ronda pretty late the next day if you want to explore more.
Sevilla deserves two full days (3 nights) at least, and Madrid, one or two (2 or 3 nights), depending on whether you want to visit a museum or not, plus one night per day trip.

Posted by
19 posts

Thank you! I was trying to decide whether to focus on Cordoba or Arcos, this is helpful.

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