Spain & Portugal
 

We hear that Spain and Portugal are an amazing place to visit and would like to be able to take the train around the country to see different places over a 14 day period time with about 5 days spent in one location. Have not selected an airline yet either and am considering use of a Marriott travel package or Chase reward points. We would prefer a visit in Shoulder season and welcome thoughts about where to see and why and learn about any experiences in any Marriott property in these countries please/

The standard questions of what do you like to do? There are many different places in both locations, but only recommended based on your interests.

Training through each country is easy. Training between them, potentially not so much. A train from Porto to Madrid is an overnight train. Maybe perfect for what you want.

I hope you recognise that Spain and Portugal are separate countries?
Also, you are asking the same question in multiple different fora :td: this one from the Marriott forum https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...ns-please.html

Yes both Portugal and Spain are amazing countries to visit. Their shared and separate histories, cultures and languages are very interesting.

But you don't have any idea about dates - shoulder season is not a term that is used widely in Europe.

Nor do you have any real idea about where you want to visit or what you want to do when you get there?

Restricting yourself to a particular hotel chain will also restrict your options for places to visit - have you even looked at the places they have hotels located?

You could easily spend 14 days in Portugal let alone Spain.

You really need to do some basic research first.

I literally just booked this trip.

YUL to Porto

Lisbon

Faro

Seville

Cordoba

Grenada

Madrid

Barcelona - YUL

May 2019, taking trains or buses from city to city. 24 days in total, and very much looking forward to it. We will do a combo of small hotels and airBnB type accommodation. Packing carry on only backpacks, to enable us to manage public transit much more easily. Generally 2-3 nights in each city, 5 in BCN to finish, because we love BCN.

Marriott has extensive coverage of Spain with the AC Hotels brand. Portugal... much less so

As we have a dedicated Spain & Portugal forum, I'm going to move this thread over there. Please continue to discuss this topic in the Iberian folder.

stut
Moderator
Europe Forum

Your missing the point
 

Perhaps you are missing my intent. Having flown around the world more than twice as a Pilot and visiting over 80 countries, of Course I know Spain and Portugal are different countries. What I am attempting to learn [moderator edit] is a little about each country. [Moderator edit.] Apparently Marriott where i would be staying has a lot more properties in Spain than they do Portugal. Our interest are quite varied and we want to know more about travel in off season (or the end of high season) to each country and suggestions of places not to miss in Spain and Portugal as our research shows them to be quite beautiful.
I also was wondering about train service between the two as it does not matter if it is an overnight train or just a day trip train. We just want to know if we can get between them and if a car rental might be needed at any time.

Let me Clarify.
 

[Moderator edit.] I have done extensive research and now am trying to boil down to some specific from people who have visited both locations

Thank You and Agreed. Trying to find people who have stayed at some of those properties to find out about their experiences.

Training and Interests
 

Then you should have started by asking some specific questions. "Has anyone been to the Prado or the Gulbenkien? are they worth a couple of hours visit? What were the highlights you would suggest people saw" "Is an excursion to the Alhambra feasible from Madrid"

The Spanish and Portuguese rail system have websites so you canlook at the route maps and plan trips - easily researched.

Quote:

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So you can learn this would be the beginning before or after the end of High Season for Travel)

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Again these are quite vague concepts. For some destinations it is always 'high season' for visitor numbers and not related to weather.

People are trying to help you but please ask specific questions and don't be rude when people ask you to provide more information.

with 2 weeks, get a car. CP and Renfe have a decent network but much of the beauty of both countries are in the smaller sized cities and its much more convenient with a car. we've used rentals for most of our visits - rates are good and driving manner are very good

Another resource
 

Tripadvisor.com and forums on fodors.com and frommers.com often
cover information on itineraries/ favorite lodging and activities, and
offer current reviews, some more accurate than others imo, and
may be helpful.

If you want to cities you can do that easily by high speed train. RENFE has a site in English where you can book tickets. Get them well in advance - they can be cheap.

Barcelona-Madrid-Cordoba-Seville would be very doable by train.

And then rent a car or take a bus to go to Granada or Portugal.

Keep in mind Spain is a huge country by European standards. You could easily spend 2 weeks just exploring one region. Enjoy!