Spain and Portugal in 2 weeks

Do you have a copy of RS Spain & Portugal guide book? If not, get one. It had lots of very helpful information for us when we spent 3 weeks visiting those 2 countries.

Cathy, you're going to get lots of opinions to this question, but the simple answer is yes. Assuming you'll arrive in Madrid in late afternoon of day 1 and leave Madrid on the morning of day 14, you'll probably have to spend the first and last nights in Madrid. Here's an itinerary to consider ...

Day 1 ... arrive in Madrid
Days 2-3 ... tour Madrid
Day 3 ... AVE to Seville ... stop in Cordoba for Mezquita visit on the way
Days 4-5 ... tour Seville
Day 6 ... train to Granada
Days 7-8 ... Alhambra, Albyzin, etc
Day 9 ... fly to Lisbon on Easyjet or other inexpensive airline from Granada. Bus is possible but long, and train routes back through Madrid so makes no sense.
Days 10-12 ... tour Lisbon and visit Sintra
Day 13 ... return flight to Madrid. Arrive early enough to complete something you wanted to see at the beginning of your trip.
Day 14 ...Adios to Spain!

Unfortunately this itinerary skips Barcelona and other wonderful parts of both Spain and Portugal, but it does allow you to meet your goals without backtracking and with enough time in each town to actually enjoy the visit.

I agree; I would stick with Spain for this trip since you're starting and ending in Madrid. Trust me, you don't want to shortchange either of these countries ... they're both unique and amazing. Each region of Spain is like its own country. My suggestion would be to try for Portugal next year; that being said, it would be physically possible to do a whirlwind tour of a few major cities in both, but I think you'd be missing out on the culture and the full experience.

I think you are trying to do too much. Concentrate on Spain and go back later to Portugal. Madrid needs 2 days - 3 with train trip to Toledo one day, then rent car, drive to El Escorial and spend night at parador in Segovia, on to Santo Domingo de Calzeda - stay at Parador, on to somewhere in wine country for a night,then take a "rest" from your vacation in Cadaquez (prettiest town ever-stay at Playa de Sol hotel- ask for balcony seaview!), then drive to Barcelona and turn in car -spend 2 nights. Fly to Sevilla for 3 days - maybe day trip to White Villages, train back to Madrid. We did this in a bit over 3 weeks - but also went to San Sebastian/Bilboa and into France to Carcasson on way to Cadaquez. It was a wonderful trip.

Thank you all for your suggestions. We will not be going to Barcelona as we have been there before. We arrive in on the morning of the seventh of september and leave the morning of the 21st.