evergreen88

Hi all,

Looking for advice on this itinerary for late March (semana santa):

Day 1 (March 23): Arrive in Lisbon, Portugal at 3 p.m. (15-hour flight)

Day 2: Lisbon

Day 3: Lisbon to Malaga (via mid-day stopover flight)

Day 4: Malaga

Day 5: Malaga to Cordoba (via rental car)

Day 6: Cordoba to Seville (via rental car)

Day 7: Seville

Day 8: Seville

Day 9 (March 31): Depart from Seville via return flight around 3 p.m.

Should we add in Granada somewhere? Spend less/no time in Malaga/Lisbon? I hear Malaga is particularly neat during semana santa but have also heard great things about Granada. My only concern there is that Granada may be too cold. We are coming from the Midwest US so are used to cold but would like to have at least some reprieve from it during our vacation. We would prefer not to have to wear winter coats during the daytime.

I am booking flights with miles so have flexibility with regards to our original destination and stopovers. However, if we flew into Malaga or Seville on our original flight we would have to connect in Lisbon regardless, making the original flight longer and pushing our arrival into the late evening. This is the main reason why Lisbon is our first destination. However, we are certainly willing to make changes.

We are getting a rental car in Andalusia so that we can be flexible and don't have to rely on train/bus schedules. Luckily, most of the Andalusia destinations are within a 1-2 hour drive so travel time between those cities is less significant.

Neither of us have been to Spain or Portugal. We're both pretty active and enjoy good food, lively cultures, and exploring attractive cities. Open to any advice. Thank you in advance!

bitterproffit

I think you are trying to do too much. When will you get your afternoon naps in? I just got back from 8 days in southern Spain. 2 nights in Granada (I loved it). 3 nights in Torremolinos (a fun place to spend the weekend), and 2 nights in Malaga leaving the 8th day.
I think you will do a lot more hours driving than you think. Malaga to Cordoba will be more than 1-2 hours I think, I know your map says 1 hr 48 minutes. I took a bus that drove fast on the highway from Malaga to Granada. Google Maps says 1hr 31 minutes. Reality was 2.5 hours. Maybe skip a city. Maybe skip Cordoba, spend some more time in Malaga and then drive or take a bus to Seville. Or add another day to Lisbon. You are only giving Lisbon one full day.

You will come back. I didn't travel more than 80 miles the entire trip. The trip from Torremolinos to Malaga was basically a 45 minute commuter train trip. I found it very relaxing to have a nice breakfast, spend the morning and early afternoon touring, have a nice relaxing lunch at about 2-3, then take a nice nap. Get up around 6-7 have some cocktails and head out to the old town and roam around and have drinks and tapas or a small dinner around 9. It was delightful. Think about reducing the number of cities you visit.

JBord

I tend to agree. There are some cities on the itinerary where one could spend 4-5 days. Lisbon (and the surrounding areas such as Sintra) is not getting a fair shake.

I think my advice would be to focus on just southern Spain. As it seems the OP already has a ticket into LIS, maybe the better answer is to spend more time in Lisbon and then pick one other area (Porto, Malaga, or Seville for example).

OP - I haven't been to either in March, but I have been to Lisbon the last week of December and the weather was cool but comfortable. We were even able to enjoy a snack and drink outside a couple times. I was never cold wearing a sweater/sweatshirt and light jacket the whole time. I'd guess March is warmer.

ajeleonard

Drop Lisbon, add Granada

BeachRat

I always agree with the other posters about not trying to hit too many places, and to spend more time in fewer locales to get to know them better. Having said that, we are currently on a whirlwind tour of Andalucia and Extremadura before heading to Barcelona for a week, and we are loving it. Not the agenda we would typically do, but fascinating in its own way. We rented a car for the first week and driving between cities is a breeze (important: with proper navigation). Drive time between Malaga and Granada truly was right on 1:30 going a hair over the 100/120 km/hr speed limit most of the way. Be careful of parking rules within city limits however, or just find a garage.

In general, I don’t think your schedule is particularly hurried. You may not get a true feel of the cities you visit, but a few days at each is admirable. As for a Cordoba vs Granada, I can only say that a visit/tour of the Alhambra is truly memorable. It’s a stunning fortress of palaces and gardens.

Have a great trip, and don’t sweat your final decision. You really can’t go wrong in any of those locations.

evergreen88

That's our kind of trip!

evergreen88

Thanks for the advice. We will look into condensing the trip to less cities. We have not bought any tickets or lodging.

Lodging prices aside, what do you guys think of skipping Spain due to semana santa? We think it's interesting but have no inherent desire to watch the processions, etc. It was just a coincidence that it is occurring when we can travel. I seem to be getting the vibe from other folks that the cities are really not that enjoyable during the week. Others have even suggested taking Spain out of the itinerary and going to Portugal only.

JBord

Based on what you originally said you like, you'll enjoy both Lisbon and Porto. Maybe the castles in Sintra won't be your thing, but you can do it in a half day train trip if you really wanted to.

And based on the quote above, it might make sense to save Spain.

But while your original itinerary had too much, I think 9 days in Portugal might be a little much for me too. One thing I've done occasionally is to book a one way flight to a cool major city at the end of my trip, just to spend a couple nights there and then getting a nonstop flight back to the States. Considering that many of the cities on your list would require a transfer in Europe anyway, it's kind of the same thing but with a stopover somewhere like Paris, Amsterdam, or wherever.

So long story short, what about 7 days in Portugal and then a couple in another country?

evergreen88

That sounds like a good plan. Will look in to stopover somewhere on the way back; thanks.

Debating whether to visit Algarve or Porto in addition to Lisbon. Porto looks neat but it seems like the weather might be a little too mild. On the other hand, Algarve sounds a bit boring.

JBord

I think that's an accurate description of both places for that time of year.

Palal

Some thoughts on your plan:
- Either add 1-2 days for LIS or drop it entirely. You need at least 3 days to do the city justice.
- Any reason you're doing Malaga-Córdoba-Seville by car? If you want to see Andalusia, I'd skip Córdoba and do 1-2 smaller towns, such as Ronda. Overnighting in Ronda is also not a bad idea.
- I'm not a big fan of Málaga. 24 hours there is more than enough to see everything there is to see.

- Be aware - In 2018, Semana Santa (the week before Easter) is March 23-Apr 2 in Spain, when many are off work and nearly everyone is travelling. Expect things to be more crowded and more expensive. This is not so much the case in Portugal.

- Weather-wise - it depends on the year, but generally you can expect coastal areas to have enough sunshine to not require winter coats. If you're lucky, it may even be shorts & t-shirt weather. Seville is not on the coast, so the temperatures fluctuate a bit more.

evergreen88

Thanks a lot for the advice. We are leaning towards skipping Andalusia altogether due to Semana Santa. Just seems a little too intense/busy/solemn/serious for our vacation interests. Considering Malta and Greece now.

Palal

serious/solemn are not the right words to describe semana santa, but busy is.

IAN-UK

.. and miss out on the self-flagellation ?

evergreen88

yeah