22 Days in Spain & Portugal
Rick's Favorite Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Madrid and check into your hotel (2 nights).
Day 2: Sightsee Madrid.
Day 3: Pick up your car and drive to El Escorial palace and Franco's monumental Valley of Fallen on your way to Segovia (1 night).
Day 4: Enjoy Segovia before driving to Salamanca (1 night).
Day 5: Sightsee Salamanca, then cross the Portuguese border and head for Coimbra (2 nights).
Day 6: All day for Coimbra.
Day 7: Visit Batalha and Fátima on the way to Nazaré, where you'll spend the afternoon and sleep (1 night).
Day 8: Enjoy the morning in Nazaré, then visit Alcobaça on the way to Lisbon (3 nights).
Day 9: All day to explore Lisbon.
Day 10: Using Lisbon as your home base, side-trip to Belém and Sintra.
Day 11: Drive early to Évora, then continue to Portugal's south coast, the Algarve. Sleep in Salema (2 nights).
Day 12: Enjoy a free day for the beach, and consider a side-trip to Sagres.
Day 13: Head east across the Spanish border, winding up in Sevilla (2 nights).
Day 14: All day for Sevilla and the night for a flamenco show.
Day 15: Follow Andalucía's Route of White Villages to the hill town Arcos de la Frontera (1 night).
Day 16: See Arcos, then head south to Jerez (sherry bodegas and horse shows), and on to Tarifa (2 nights).
Day 17: Use Tarifa as a home base for a day trip into Morocco.
Day 18: Visit Gibraltar (the Rock, views, cave, and ape den) and drive along the Costa del Sol to Nerja (1 night).
Day 19: Spend beach time at Nerja, then move on to Granada (2 nights).
Day 20: All day to enjoy Granada and visit the Alhambra.
Day 21: Drive through la Mancha to Toledo (1-2 nights).
Day 22: Spend the day in Toledo. Sleep again in Toledo, or move on to Madrid for another overnight or a late flight home.
While this itinerary is designed to be done by car, it works by train and bus (7-8 bus days and 4-5 train days). For three weeks without a car, I'd modify it to start in Barcelona and finish in Lisbon. From Barcelona, fly or take the night train to Madrid (see Toledo, Segovia, and El Escorial as side trips); take the early, direct train from Madrid to Granada (leaving around 8:25 a.m.); bus along Costa del Sol to Tarifa (day-trip to Morocco); bus to Arcos, Sevilla, and Algarve; and take the train to Lisbon. This skips Coimbra and Salamanca and assumes you'll fly open-jaw into Barcelona and out of Lisbon. If you're taking the train from Lisbon back to Madrid, you can sightsee your way in three days (via Coimbra and Salamanca) or simply catch the night train to Madrid.
For lots more information, check out our best-selling Rick Steves' guidebooks — or join us on one of our free-spirited Spain & Portugal tours!