Spain & Portugal

It would be crazy to try to cover both countries in 7 - 9 days so you'll have to choose.

Tony's correct - 'must sees' in Spain & Portugal include: Barcelona, San Sebastian, Madrid, Salamanca, Granada, Seville, Cadiz, Ronda, Santiago de Campostella, Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon and Sintra just to mention some.

Concentrate on one area - Andalucia in southern Spain, for example, and you'll get a better appreciation of some of one country rather than no real appreciation of two.

And if you are going to concentrate on cities you can easily do it with trains and buses. No need of a tour.

Hey Steve, you forgot .. Toledo, Segovia, Cordoba, Cuenca ;-)

If you have on 7-9 days, You should concentrate on 2 or 3 cities. You could do Barcelona - Madrid - Lisbon (with flights between them, check Vueling Airlines). From Madrid I would suggest a daytrip to Toledo, as it is only 30 minutes by train, and if you are in Madrid it is a must-see.

You could also opt to take the AVE (fast train) from Madrid to Sevilla, it take about 2,5 hours to reach Sevilla from Madrid's Atocha station.

it would help a lot if you could tell us where you will be arriving (and leaving) Spain. it would also help if you could tell us what your interests are (I know it's hard to speak for all the members in the group). Would you like to see some museums, beaches, nightlife, architecture ???

Go consentrate on Portugal.
Its not on the usual tourist route, because of its position. Do it now or maybe never, because of that.

Take the train . Car renters miss great fun and wider horizons, because of what others will share with you. Family can´t be in each other´s faces only...all the time.

We all learn from each other.
Unless you´re one of us yanks and don´t wanna know anything.

I guess Mrs. Wong maybe has Chinese origin. If so, as uai kuo ren, maybe you unknow it is perfectly possible to tour Spain and Portugal in seven days from a Chinese point of view.
Many chinese "enjoy" racing from city to city, just interested in taking some pics posing beside the most publicited spots, so they can prove they've been there, not really interested in what they are seeing. Then they can attend their main interest, compulsive shopping and bargaining, looking for that hidden treasure cheap and exotyc Camper shoes they can take home. That is, in the short time that the long trips between cities leaves them.
This is a joke, but many times, absolutely true.

My suggestion would be to see Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon. Distances take longer to travel than you realize, which will eat up your time. Other cities to go to would include (in Spain) Seville, Cordoba and Valencia and (in Portugal) Sintra, Porto and Coimbra. Do note that everything of interest in Toledo will be closed on Mondays, so you are completely wasting your time if you try to go there on a Monday.

I have mixed feelings about renting cars, which #5 talks about. In Portugal, if you don't try to drive in Lisbon and Porto, a car is great and very useful to get to places that would forever to travel to by train or bus. In smaller town Spain, a car is also useful. I have ridden many trains in Europe and I don't find other passengers real keen on getting to know strangers, but #5 may be one of those people who makes instant friends wherever he goes. As we say in America, "your mileage may vary".

RealHerrBert - thats why I said:<blockquote>Quote
<hr>just to mention some.<hr></blockquote>

Thanks a bunch for your inputs and suggestions... all have valid points. I agree that it would be crazy to try squeeze in 2 countries in such a short time. However, for my family members who do not live in Europe and it being their first time to Spain and Portugal, I am certain they would like to see as much as possible of the 2 countries. Having said that, I would like to plan a trip that is not about going to as many places as possible but rather to experience the cultural side, people and history of the place. Quite often the down side to joining an escorted tour (i.e. cosmos, etc) is that you get shuffled from A to B as quickly as possible without really getting a chance to appreciate the place. Therefore the escorted tour is less appealing...

RealHerrBert, we plan to start and end the trip in Madrid. Since Toledo is quite close to Madrid, it would be easy visit while we are there. Lots of people say that Andalucia is beautiful... I would like to try plan it into the trip... Some initial thoughts are: Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Ronda, Lisbon and Porto. Who am I kidding?? There's no way we'll be able to manage all these places in 7 - 9 days! Ok, if I have to narrow down from this list... what would be your suggestion? Thanks again.