We will be visiting our daughter in Barcelona and are planning a 5 night trip south with her, with two travel options of which I am looking for feedback. Option 1: Sevilla, Algarve (Salema), Lisbon. We can also do this trip in reverse. Option 2: Sevilla, Route of white villages, Nerja, Granada. Any input would be great!
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Since you have an option of going almost to Cape St Vincent, I'm assuimng you'll have a car. Regarding Portugal: It's a good hike out to the western Algarve from Seville. The freeway is boring and the coastal route probably could not be done in a day. The same idea holds for driving up to Lisbon, but to a lesser time extent. I could make a strong case for skipping the Algarve and heading north out of Seville toward Badajoz and poking around Evora and and Elvas enroute to Lisbon. This would get you into the prehistoric stuff and a bunch of hill towns that are much better than the ones in Spain. Anything in Portugal is really going to add to your road time from Andalusia. I don't see how you can pull it off in five days since driving from Barcelona to Seville is a twelve hour project, even if you push really hard. Regarding Spain: Nerja, Arcos, Jerez, etc, are third-tier attractions, maybe even lower. I'd make it Cordova, Seville, and Granada. Then toss in Cuidad Real if you have time left over. Again, it's going to be really rough to do it in five days.
Posted by
OP
Seattle
3 posts
Thanks for the input. I am reminded to keep it simple! We will focus on southern spain. Granada (1 night), costa del sol (i night) and sevilla (2 nights). We'll probably fly both ways and rent a car when we get there. Any thoughts on whether to start in Grenada vs. Sevilla?
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
It makes no difference at all, but you should really try for a half-day in Cordoba, either coming or going.