albufeira portugal to valencia spain

It's a long journey, no matter which method you choose. Do you plan to stop along the way at all?
By car, it's 900 kilometers, and you'll go thru places like Sevilla and Cordoba.....Sevilla is certainly worth at least one night and a full day to explore. Not far off your route, a lot closer to Valencia, is Cuenca, village of the "hanging houses." However, driving in Sevilla can be difficult...and you will be hit with a large drop-off charge because you're picking up your car in one country and dropping it in another.
Another option would be to take a train-bus combo to Sevilla...bus will have to be used from Faro to Seville, since there's no rail connection. Then pick up the car there and continue....or grab a fast train to Madrid and a slightly slower train to Valencia. Even with great connections in Madrid, that'll still be a 9 or 10-hour day constantly on the go.
The third option would be to take the aforementioned train-bus combo to Sevilla, then catch a Vueling flight to Valencia. There are two flights a day...7 am and 5 pm....and the sooner you book ahead, the cheaper the fare. The flight start at about 55 Euro per person, and go up from there.

Thanks Norm.

An additional point...there is a daytime train from Sevilla to Valencia avoiding Madrid....it leaves at 9:50 in the morning and takes about 7 hours to make the run. You change once, in Ciudad Real.

Thanks, we also thought of taking the train up to Lisbon, then flying from there.

Mike

You could take that route. But with train time up to Lisbon in advance of boarding, then transferring in Madrid, it'll probably end up taking at least as long. Seats on the only direct flights, from Spanair, are 400 Euro and up.

May I ask....any particular reason for heading to Valencia....will you have had a chance to visit Sevilla-Cordoba-Granada earlier?
Actually, than brings to mind another possible routing....bus-train combo to Sevilla, bus or train to Granada, then the overnight train to Valencia.

Ya, we booked out hotel in Valencia before we checked to see how long to get there.

We found direct flights from Lisbon to Valencia for 87 Euros, we can rent a car in Alb and head to Lisbon leisurely. Time for the flight work perfect, leave at 12 arrive at 2:30.

Thanks for your advice.

Mike

What airline are you flying Lisbon-Valencia, and when?

With driving, security, etc, that'll be about 7.5 hours into your accommodations in Valencia.
Too bad you couldn't re-jig your schedule a bit. You're missing a lot of wonderful areas in Andalucia that are too far for day trips out of Valencia...unless, of course, you've already been there. Not really a lot to do in Valencia.

Iberia Airlines in August.

7.5 hours.... live and learn. :-)

Mike