mcaffeefam

Hi there,

Our daughter is doing a travel abroad program and will be living in Nice, France and Seville, Spain. She will end her program with a week in Lisbon.
My husband and I would like to fly over a week before her program ends, do a little traveling on our own, then meet up with her and have her show us her stomping grounds in Spain and France for another week before heading home.
I am paralyzed with indecision as far as where we should go! Flying into Paris is the most affordable option from PDX, from what I can find, but I just can't seem to make the logistics work, based on where our daughter will be.
Any suggestions on the best way to spend 7 days, before we have to connect with our daughter in Portugal? I've always wanted to see Paris, which is why we are even considering that, but is it crazy to try to fit that in? We've never been to France or Spain, so we don't know where to begin!

Thanks for any help!

janisj

Just quick (2nd half kick off just happening )

Flying into the cheapest place can often be a false economy when you figure in the time/cost/inconvenience for getting to where you actually want to be . . .

mcaffeefam

You are SO right! Thank you for that perspective!

HappyTrvlr

It sounds like you should fly into Lisbon for this trip. You could fly from 1, home to Paris and transfer to Lisbon. Or 2,stay in Paris a few days, then go to Lisbon to meet your daughter.
Two of our favorite travel experiences were when we visited our kids on their European study abroad experiences.
Or two, you could fly into Madrid, do a few day trips such as Toledo and Segovia. Then fly into Lisbon and explore the city with her as your guide. You will with her then fly to Sevilla. And after Sevilla, fly to Nice.
On your way home, fly with her from Nice to 3, Paris and either continue on a flight home or, better yet, spend several days in Paris before flying back to PDX.

Sarastro

1. Fly to Paris, stay a week.

2. Fly from ORY to LIS. Buy tickets as soon as you can. Transavia, Vueling, and TAP all have service from ORY, cost should be about 50€ per person. ORY is much easier to use and definitely closer to Paris than is CDG.

3. Spend time with your daughter, then fly home.

bilboburgler

Travel is not my favorite way of being on holiday

So I would forsake Paris for another time

I would either,,,,,

Fly to Porto and take time to enjoy northern Portugal in your very short holiday
or
Fly to one of Madrid or Barcelona, and enjoy a holiday in one of those regions before taking a train to Lisbon. Madrid alone has two world class museums, some fantastic palaces, very approachable local culture, great food etc etc

Trains are not like planes, they are far nicer. Depending on the class you travel on you can take a picnic or dine reasonably well, you get great views and you can chat to your neighbours while being able to walk about. Train travel is what plane travel ought to be like, civilised.

seat61.com

Maribel

Just a note that there is no train from either Barcelona or Madrid to Lisbon. The Madrid-Lisbon overnight train was discontinued during the pandemic with no plan to reinstate it.

bilboburgler

ah, thanks Maribel sad news

mcaffeefam

Wow, this is such a helpful group! Thank you for your insight. I do realize it's a very short time that my husband and I have before we connect with our daughter. I think we will try to narrow our scope. Too bad about the train to Lisbon though! That would've been a great idea.

I appreciate all of your insight!

bilboburgler

You'd have to link three to make it work https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Madrid/Lisbon#r/Train during the day

just to check

https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/qu...176.1674496781

MichGuy

If you haven't been to Paris I think you should go. You could make that your entry point for the trip. After that, why not ask your daughter what she wants to see? She might want to show you the places she's been (Nice, Seville, Lisbon) or she might want to go somewhere new (western France, Alsace, Switzerland).

Alternatively, if your daughter didn't get a chance to spend time in Paris before your trip, all of you could wind up there and fly home from there. You could start the trip somewhere else and meet up.