We are flying in and out of Madrid and want to make a sort of circle - Madrid - Porto - Lisbon - southern Spain and up the eastern coast to Barcelona - Madrid. I would prefer not to rent a car but use public transport - trains, buses, and if no other options, cheap European airline flights. We have 3 weeks so time is not a prime factor but of course want to minimize losing days to long bus rides, etc. Suggestions for getting around?
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
Spain and Portugal are not as well-connected as you would expect. The one exception is Galicia, which has decent rail and bus connections to northern Portugal.
To give you an idea, Salamanca-Porto is a 5-hr bus ride. The best option from Madrid to Porto is to fly, and same from Lisbon to Seville.
In general, for this reason it is often recommended to keep Portugal & Spain as separate trips. But if occasions for a future trip seem scarce, combining them is doable with flights.
Posted by
Bend, OR
1039 posts
You may get more responses if you put this in Transportation instead of the Rick Steves tour section. Or even Spain or Portugal.
Posted by
Virginia
634 posts
Your best bet might be flying from Madrid to Porto, taking the train from Porto to Lisbon, flying from Lisbon to Sevilla, train to Granada, and either fly or train to Barcelona. That is just one idea. You can do it in reverse if you like. If you can tell us what towns or cities you are interested in seeing the forum might be more helpful
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Thank you all. We probably will be following one of those routes. I have also posted this question in transportation. Thanks for the tip!