Portugal, Spain & France in 10 days

[Liam]

Even though the same question has been asked many times in this area: "Any advice for a first-time visitor to Spain?" I must ask it as well because my trip is a little bit different. We know better than to try to tackle more than just a corner of Europe in 10 days. My sister lives in Portugal so we are going to start there, and then visit Spain and France. We'll be soliciting lots of advice, but does anyone have advice on what route we should take if we were to drive from Lisbon to Paris? A stop in Madrid, of course, but is there a particular coast of Spain that we should seek out? Would you take a route through the South & East of France or the West? We will be traveling in March.

[Legazpi]

If you're driving from Lisbon to Madrid and then onto France, then it'll be hard to see much of the southern Spanish coast. I guess you could go from Madrid to Valencia and up round the Mediterranean coast to Marseilles. That way you can take in Barcelona and maybe places like Arles and Avignon in Provence. This route probably has more cultural things, such a roman ruins.

Alternatively you could drive from Madrid up to Santander and drive through the Basque country up to Bordeaux, and then to Paris through the Loire region. This route is greener but probably wetter.

[parubin]

My itinerary would be something like :
Lisbon - Madrid - Santander - San Sebastian - Toulouse - Nimes - Geneva - Paris.

Two summers ago I did the same route by car (only that from Geneva I headed to Munich and Salzburg, coming back through northern Italy and France's Cote d'Azur).

It is a great drive !!

[switch007]

I personally wouldnt want to travel/drive that much.

How about seeing some of the lovely Portugal southern half, then some Andalusia highlights, then Toledo on the way to Madrid? Paris could be a dissapointing final stop.. (have you been before?)

[Legazpi]

It might also be quite difficult to hire a car in Lisbon and leave it in Paris (if that is what you are planning to do).