Hi,
My wife were planning our vacation to Spain.
I was wondering if it would be wise to do Portugal in (esp Lisbon).
This is how my current itinerary looks.
Barcelona - 2 Days
Madrid - 5 Days (day trips to Segovia, Toledo and Cuenca)
Granada - 1 Day
Cordoba - 1 Day
Seville - 1 Day
Portugal - 4 Days
In Portugal, we were hoping to spend 2/3 days in Lisbon and may be do a side trip.
We don't plan to spend time at the beach. We love to eat and hang out in plazas/squares/markets etc.
Not too keen on museums either - may be 1 in each city.
Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.
Thanks!
bigjon
1
badger1492
Hello bigjon,
Where are you flying in and out of? Can I assume: flying into Barcelona and out of Lisbon? I also assume you are traveling by train.
At first glance it seems like you have 2 weeks. Personally, I would add more days in Barcelona and fewer in Madrid, but that's just me. Also, you must figure travel time into your intinery. Even though it won't take a "whole" day to travel from Barna to Madrid or Madrid to Sevilla, by the time you figure all the travel time and relocating to a new hotel, you've eaten up most of the day. So, if you figure one day between each location, then it is more accurate as to the time you actually have to visit the place.
When you look at it that way, you are trying to visit too many places in 2 weeks. You will spend all your time relocating and packing your bags for the next move. Maybe cut out Granada (you can't do everything), use Sevilla as a base after Madrid and visit Cordoba as a day trip from Sevilla.
Well, that's my 2 cents.
2
jman98
Like #1, I'm a bit concerned that the trip to Granada may be time consuming and out of the way. You'll need to see how long it takes to get there by train and decide if it's worth it or not. Keep in mind that if you want to go to Toledo, do not go on a Monday as everything you'd want to see is closed on Mondays. A Monday is OK to go to Segovia. In fact, we did just that as a Monday was the only day we had for a day trip outside of Madrid and we went to Segovia instead of Toledo just because we could see things in Segovia on a Monday. I have never been to Cuenca, so I have no advise for that.
Portugal is really quite nice and if you have a chance to go to Lisbon, I would recommend it.
3
stevegerms
It takes about 5 hours to get to Granada from Madrid by train, longer by bus so if you mean by '1 day', 1 night then you really don't have much time to see much at all - a quick whizz round the Alhambra (assuming your tickets are already booked) and that'll be about it.
An overnighter in Cordoba is fine but one night in Sevilla is nowhere near enough.
What I'm getting at is that I think you are trying to pack too much into 2 weeks. Its not really long enough for the Spanish bit never mind Portugal. Really, you could spend the entire 2 weeks between Barcelona and Madrid and, including sidetrips, not exhaust all the possibilities. The only thing you're going to exhaust with your planned itinerary is yourselves!
4
gawkabout
Only 1 day in some of the world´s most fantastic places. What a shame!
Does that count waiting for a train etc.?
Then why bother?
----------------------
THE MOST VALUABLE TRAVEL IS DONE WITH THE EARS.
Give yourself time to have a conversation or two.
And relax. And absorb something besides stress.
5
lukkyfrog
totally agree- you're trying to squeeze too much in! what are the most important places to you?
6
tony_b
BigJon, I don't see any travelling time in there. Now, unless you have one of those time machine thingummyjigs, you're going to have to factor that in. Even Cordoba to Seville - the fastest journey - takes half a day door-to-door. Does that come out of your Cordoba day or your Seville day?
Read posts #1 and 3 carefully - they are absolutely correct. Too much, too quickly, too rushed, too exhausting, too superficial. Either do Spain, or do Portugal, but not both.
Pro tip
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