Hi Reddit, I’m [M22] planning our first trip to Spain and Portugal with my girlfriend [F21] from December 20 to January 7. We are from Montreal and we love Spanish & Portuguese culture, music and food. It’s a little dream coming true for us, but we have some issues planning this trip. The cities we absolutely want to visit are: Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba, Ronda (the white villages), Lisbon, Sintra and Porto. We would like to focus on architecture and culture but we would also taste the nightlife for one night or two. Plus, we are not renting car so we’ll be taking buses, subways, trains and flights. Here is our itinerary until now:
December 20, 02h00 PM: arrival in Madrid. We will be visiting the city for the rest of the day (we’ll be back to Madrid at the end of the trip) and taking a bus or a train to Barcelona all night.
December 21 to 23: Barcelona. We will be leaving to Granada December 23 by night.
December 24: Luckily we found the last tickets to visit Alhambra in December!
From 24 December to 2 January we want to visit Andalucía. As the tickets for the Alhambra are already purchased, we will be starting our journey from Granada and we will end it in Sevilla. Actually, from my researches, the best way to reach Lisbon from southern Spain, is to leave from Sevilla (correct me if I’m wrong). We absolutely want to visit Cordoba and some other Andalucía’s typical towns like Ronda and the white villages around. We will be leaving for Portugal on the 1st of January by night (and arriving January 2 in the morning). From January 2nd to 4: visit of Lisbon, Sintra and around (any ideas?).
January 4th: I found a 10 Euro flight tickets to get to Porto with Ryanair (isn’t great?)
January 4 to 6: Porto and around. We found a cheap flight (Ryanair again) to be back to Madrid at 8h30 AM. We might spend the rest of the day in Toledo or Madrid. January 7th: We will be leaving for Montréal from Madrid.

• What do you guys think of this itinerary? • What should we add/cut to this itinerary? • What are some must do/eat at those places? • What is the optimal order (to waste the least time travelling inbetween) in which we should visit Andalucia (Granada, Cordoba, Ronda, Malaga, Sevilla) from December 24th to January 1st starting from Granada and finishing by Sevilla? • What are some must do during Christmas and New Year in Andalucía?

• Some first time traveler’s tips? Warnings? Thank you very much !