We're working on a 2 month itinerary to Europe and I am struggling to decide on Portugal or Spain

[Guest]

... we would have roughly one week, and would be travelling in mid/late August or early September.

Thanks in advance!

[Riana A.]

What are you interested in? That might help people recommend which country and a specific region to visit.

[Cathy]

That’s a tough one. I love them both. I might see where you’re coming from and transportation (cheap flight?) options. Perhaps northern Portugal (Lisbon and Porto and Douro Valley). Southern Spain and Portugal are hot at that time of year.

[Cynthia]

Whatever country you pick, make sure it’s coastal…it gets really hot in the interior.

[Diane]

I used to say that Spain was my favorite country as we fell in love with it on our two week trip there (especially Seville!)

That is until we visited Portugal last year. It truly blew me away more than any other European country I’ve been to. And also more affordable than Spain.

[Inge]

I liked Spain much better than Portugal, especially the food. In august I would go to the north or mountains. I loved San Sebastián and the Bilbao art museum.

[Dave]

In a week you can do two cities - so it is a choice between (a) Lisbon/Porto and (b) any combination of Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia… Spain is 5 times the size of Portugal - so there will be some travel time involved between cities.

[Guest]

I would recommend Spain over Portugal. You can go the mainland and then go visit one of the Balearic islands for the remainder of the time. I recommend Madrid for 1 day, Barcelona for 3 days and then Menorca for the remaining time. You get a bit of everything Spain has to offer Once you get to Spain, use Iberia or some of the budget European airlines for cheap flights around Spain

[Mary]

You're gonna have to pick an area. And definitely go in September instead of August if you can..

[Trish]

You could do both… we did Madrid and Portugal for 10 days.