3-4 weeks in France, Spain & Portugal in 2025

Greetings Maggots, My wife and I are thinking of a 3-4 week trip in 2025 from the last week in Sept to mid to late October. Plan is to fly into Paris for 3 nights and then move on to Lyon for two nights before going to Montpellier for two nights. Are there cities in between these we really need to see and for how long IYO?
From Montpellier we will take a train to Barcelona. We can likely be in Spain for a week to 10 days before moving on to Portugal. Any itinerary suggestions for Spain and Portugal would be greatly appreciated as we have not been to those countries yet.
Being in our mid 60's we mostly like to walk around, go on tours, visit museums and we appreciate very old architecture and Old Towns.
I hope to see a few responses and thanks for your time.

Foix and carcassone are interesting. The second is touristy though.

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Hard to go wrong in Catalunya, north of Barcelona. Many beautiful villages, restaurants, monasteries

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I think that sounds like a good time frame for it to not be too hot, 3 countries in one go is a lot

Paris is grand,

you probably wana see Barcleona, Madrid, in spain,

Lisbon if you go to porto take the cruise up river

I've done a few of the free walking and they are worth doing, you find them on-line, you meet usually a well spoken grad student in a local square , easy to spot cuz he will have an open blue umbrella, he gives you an educational tour for a couple hrs and you tip him 5 euro.

I loved Seville and Cordoba. You can get to them by train. Toledo is a great day trip from Madrid.

I lived in Spain for 4 years. Barcelona is the one place in Spain I have zero desire to ever visit again. That place sucks, I’d much rather go to Madrid. Sevilla and Granada are must visit cities. The white villages near Granada are beautiful but will be almost vacant that time of year. San Lucar de Barrameda is the best seafood I’ve ever had and where manzanilla is made. San Sebastián and Haro are also awesome. Coast in Cantabria and Austurias is really nice and not as heavily visited. Porto and the Douro region are really nice. English is much more widely spoken in Portugal than Spain.


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My 60's brother and his wife are there in the middle of a 3-4 week trip your talking about. They are doing it with rental cars and AirBnBs along the way. In Seville now. 40,000 year old cave paintings in Ronda yesterday. He FB posts cool things to see every day.

That's a proper timeframe! Nice. I've absolutely loved my time around Sevilla and the entire Andalusian region. I still remember the smell of brandy driving through Jerez with the windows down. El Puerto de Santa María by Cádiz was sure neat. Where Christopher Columbus took off from.

Now for something WAY less on the typical tourist's radar than the typical Barcelona and Madrid was Zaragoza in the Aragon region. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and allowed me to see a very different side of Spain. Seafood by the ocean. Kickass beef in the North. Carne sal (where they serve you plates of raw beef for you to cook on a bed of hot molten salt in a cast iron skillet) absolutely blew my balls off. No matter where I was though, the food was off the chain.

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Such a great country. It’s been a few years since I’ve been but highlights for me included the Pyrenees, San Sebastian, Picos de Europa, Madrid, and more. Got into the Prado museum in Madrid for free. I can’t remember why, if it was a certain time of the day or day of the week maybe. Also really enjoyed my time in Salamanca and Santiago de Compostela. We hiked in the Pyrenees (Pirineos) in late Sept so the alpine hiking can still be good but that may not be what you’re after plus the logistics are a bit more involved.

I’d really like to go to the southern part of the country, such as Sevilla, Granada, and the Sierra Nevada. Whenever I get to go again I may be limited to July and I’m not sure if Andalusia is such a great idea that time of year??

I think OP’s timeframe is pretty ideal. Most of the country should be good to go

Figure out how to visit Sagrada Familia without waiting hours in line. I don't know what the current situation is but it may involve making reservations ahead?
Seville and Granada--again, figure out the best way to see the Alhambra ahead of time. The same applies to museums in Paris. We like the flamenco in Seville.
In Paris St Chappelle is beautiful late in the day with the sun coming through. The Marmottan is a good way (or was, it's been a while) to see Impressionists without the Orsay crowds.
France, Spain and Portugal in one trip is a lot of traveling--it would be easy to spend a week (or a life) in Paris alone.
Getting around Spain we used planes, trains, and buses--look at all the options to see which is the best deal and most convenient for each leg.

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Originally Posted by old goat

Figure out how to visit Sagrada Familia without waiting hours in line. I don't know what the current situation is but it may involve making reservations ahead?
Seville and Granada--again, figure out the best way to see the Alhambra ahead of time. The same applies to museums in Paris. We like the flamenco in Seville.
In Paris St Chappelle is beautiful late in the day with the sun coming through. The Marmottan is a good way (or was, it's been a while) to see Impressionists without the Orsay crowds.
France, Spain and Portugal in one trip is a lot of traveling--it would be easy to spend a week (or a life) in Paris alone.
Getting around Spain we used planes, trains, and buses--look at all the options to see which is the best deal and most convenient for each leg.

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Yeah I booked the Sagrada Familia on line and I think you wana check on line for anything your wana see

somewhere I was told there were > 70 museums in Paris

Guys, thanks so much for the replies so far. I will need to get a map and put your suggestions on them for me to plan how to get from a to b as I don't want to drive if I don't have to, as I prefer traveling by train.
We did decide that we are going to fly in and out of Paris, so we will do the initial 3 days there then fly to Porto and spend four or five days in Portugal before heading to Spain and eventually to Bordeaux and ? Before heading back to Paris.

Google "man in seat 61" - it's a train use website that's really helpful for sorting out Euro train travel.

I'll have Spain input in a couple of weeks, after we return - - going to Madrid, Granada, Córdoba, Seville. Definitely need to book Alhambra well in advance.

We decided to have a more leisurely trip by basing ourselves in Seville for 4 nights out of 8. Therefore we skipped Granada and the Alhambra. Cordoba was our consolation day trip and it was pretty freaking cool.

We just got back from Spain. I made some notes for you -- let me know if you want more info, have any specific Q's, etc:

Trains - man in seat 61 web site. Book in advance, like 45-60 days before trip. We used Renfe and Iryo, tourist class.

Airport - we flew in/out of Madrid Barajas. There's a metro station in the airport. Took a long time to collect luggage and exit airport on arrival. When leaving Spain, was pretty quick to get through security and immigration lines, but note it was early morning -- 8 AM flight, so we were at airport around 5:30 AM; did not check any bags on return flight home.

Language - if you speak some Spanish, it'll help. Google Translate, download offline language too.

Phone - get local data plan through Airalo. Cheap, works great. Use Google Maps to navigate, works well for guiding around Madrid metro and local bus networks.

Credit cards - AmEx some, Visa everywhere, tap to pay. Used very little cash other than bus. Use cards w/o foreign transaction fees.

Mondays - more restaurants closed.

Lunches - Mon thru Fri - menu del día in many restaurants - fixed menu, low price, drink, app, main, dessert. Sometime have to ask for it.

Madrid - metro very useful, goes everywhere, runs to airport. Got tourist unlimited card for zone A, buy at machine in airport and can use immediately (look for red "multi" on machine, machine gives option for English language too). We went to Reina Sofía museum for Dali and Picasso collection.

Córdoba - walk everywhere. Suggest 2-3 days. Check out Victoria Market for restaurants - many vendors and bars under one roof. The middle eastern halal place was especially good. Also recommend Restaurante Canadian for breakfast - cheap, good portions, good food. Golden Stack also good breakfast. Recommend seeing the mezquita and walking the old town. If have an extra day, take bus to castillo de Almodóvar west of town (€2 each way, easy, 30 min bus) - thoroughly restored, fun visit to castle on top of hill. (Was used as Highgarden in Game of Thrones too.)

Sevilla - train station to center of town is around 20-25 min walk, taxi is about $7-8€. Reserve tickets in advance for Alcazar (entrance includes phone guided tour - scan QR code after entering) and Cathedral + Giralda (timed access for Giralda tower, and ticket includes access to another large church well worth going to - Iglesia de El Salvador) - visit alcázar and cathedral on different days, both large.

Granada - reserve tickets long in advance for Alhambra complex - need to bring passport with when entering (enter passport number when buying ticket). Specific time for entry to Nazrid palaces, otherwise have rest of day at Alhambra. We spent about 4 hours at Alhambra, it's huge and amazing. There's a fantastic Indian restaurant in town called Thali Gastropub. Cathedral is worth visiting, there's a good audio guide you download to your phone at entrance. If old neighborhood is interesting to you, wander the Albayzin for a half day. If you get the "Dobla de Oro" ticket with the Alhambra entrance, this (about 6€ higher) includes entrance to several other historical sites - the most interesting are the Palace of al-Horra and Casa del Chapiz. This Dobla ticket is valid on day before Alhambra visit, day of, or day after.

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Originally Posted by old goat

<snip> The Marmottan is a good way (or was, it's been a while) to see Impressionists without the Orsay crowds.

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Yup. Marmottan is an excellent suggestion. Not sure if they still have it, but when we were there they had what is, IMO, the greatest impressionist painting I've ever seen - Impression, Sunrise.

What was neat about the Marmottan was that because it was empty you could look at the painings close up and farther away. You could see how a perfectly accurate figure of a person or a boat when seen from a distance was a few strokes of black paint. Impressionist paintings, at least the earlier ones, are a lot less impressionistic when viewed from a normal distance rather from the distance of a crowded museum.

On a very slightly related note--the statues on top of St Peter's in Rome are perfectly proportioned viewd from the ground. If you go up to the roof you can see how distorted they are in order to look right from the ground. And the backs aren't finished, only the fronts you see from the ground.

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Originally Posted by old goat

What was neat about the Marmottan was that because it was empty you could look at the painings close up and farther away.

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Not sure if it has gotten bigger since we visited, but it was a wholly manageable sized museum. You could spend a few hours in it, see most everything, and still have time during your day to do other stuff.

I'm not a huge fan of the monstrous Euro museums...

Everywhere I turned in Madrid they were running the "charge as USD" scam. Even the ATM. Don't fall for it. Instead, use a card with a good exchange rate and low or no foreign currency charge.

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Originally Posted by riser4

Everywhere I turned in Madrid they were running the "charge as USD" scam. Even the ATM. Don't fall for it. Instead, use a card with a good exchange rate and low or no foreign currency charge.

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I don't think it's a scam, but it's a poor conversion rate for the customer. Always use the credit card in local currency. All the credit card companies will get a better exchange rate than you can get. Never use a card with foreign transaction fee.

I also recommend opening a bank account that reimburses all ATM fees, no matter where in the world. I use Schwab for this, but there are several.

These would fit the travel tips and hacks thread as a general international travel tip.

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

I don't think it's a scam, but it's a poor conversion rate for the customer. Always use the credit card in local currency. All the credit card companies will get a better exchange rate than you can get. Never use a card with foreign transaction fee.

I also recommend opening a bank account that reimburses all ATM fees, no matter where in the world. I use Schwab for this, but there are several.

These would fit the travel tips and hacks thread as a general international travel tip.

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I file it under "scam". They are taking advantage of people who don't know.

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Originally Posted by liv2ski

Greetings Maggots, My wife and I are thinking of a 3-4 week trip in 2025 from the last week in Sept to mid to late October. Plan is to fly into Paris for 3 nights and then move on to Lyon for two nights before going to Montpellier for two nights. Are there cities in between these we really need to see and for how long IYO? From Montpellier we will take a train to Barcelona. We can likely be in Spain for a week to 10 days before moving on to Portugal. Any itinerary suggestions for Spain and Portugal would be greatly appreciated as we have not been to those countries yet. Being in our mid 60&#39;s we mostly like to walk around, go on tours, visit museums and we appreciate very old architecture and Old Towns. I hope to see a few responses and thanks for your time.

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Sounds like a great trip! I found this site helpful while planning https://gowithguide.com/France Might be useful for you too. Enjoy the planning!

I will bookmark this, as plans have changed. Thanks for the suggestions, maybe we can use them down the road, as life is in a big stage of flux for us at this time and trips to Europe will be on the back burner until later in 2026.

My wife is sending me real estate listings for the Roses area of Spain and talking about Golden Visas. She thinks that the proximity to the Pyrenees will entice me. Consider me enticed.

Everywhere I turned in Madrid they were running the &quot;charge as USD&quot; scam. Even the ATM. Don&#39;t fall for it. Instead, use a card with a good exchange rate and low or no foreign currency charge.





i am betting plastic is accepted more places than ever before





suggest displaying the flag of the 51ststate somewhere like the savy backpacking Americans did in the 60 and 70 so with the trump fucking up the wrold Americans will be hated once more