10-Day Family-Friendly Vacation to Spain & Portugal

View of São Jorge Castle in Lisbon, Portugal

What to expect on this itinerary

On this 10-day adventure through Spain and Portugal, experience some of the very best that these countries have to offer. Wander through the charming streets of Sintra and stop to listen to the melodies of Fado music as it drifts through the air. In Barcelona, gape in amazement at the glorious church of La Sagrada Familia. From the beaches of southern Portugal to the traditional Spanish center of Madrid, on this tour, your family is sure to make memories that you will cherish forever.

Countries Visited

Portugal, Spain

Places Visited

Lisbon, Albufeira, Barcelona, Madrid

Suggested Duration

10 Days

Customizable Itinerary

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Day 1

Lisbon – Sunset at Torre de Belém

You will arrive at the airport in Lisbon and meet your private driver at baggage claim. From here, you will be transferred to your accommodation in the heart of Lisbon’s oldest neighborhood of Alfama. Once you have had time to get settled and freshen up, you will meet your personal guide in the hotel lobby to begin your private tour of the city. On your tour, you will visit Lisbon’s most iconic sites as you stroll through the charming neighborhood. As the sun begins to slip below the horizon, you will be led to watch your first sunset in Portugal at the infamous Torre de Belem.

What's Included:

Transfer
Accommodation
Tour
Day 2

Lisbon – Day Trip to Sintra and Cascais

Day 3

Lisbon – Pastries and a Fado Show

Day 4

Albufeira – Portugal’s Southern Coast

Day 5

Albufeira – Enjoy the Beaches

Day 6

Albufeira – The Infamous Praia da Rocha

Day 7

Barcelona – Hot Air Balloon Ride

Day 8

Barcelona – Highlights of the City

Day 9

Madrid – Flamenco Show with Tapas

Day 10

Madrid – Departure

Trip Highlights

  • Delight in a wonderful tour of Lisbon and sample the local pastries, which are sure to be a family favorite
  • Prepare to be completely enchanted by the charming cities of Sintra and Cascais on a full-day excursion from Lisbon
  • Discover some of best of Portugal’s Southern coast when you spend the day soaking up the sun in a private yacht
  • Explore the best beaches in Portugal as you traverse the southern coast on a scenic train ride, traveling from Albufeira to Faro, which is a popular destination for families
  • Indulge in the unique opportunity of floating above Montserrat in a hot air balloon
  • Uncover the age-old secrets of world-famous La Sagrada Familia and roam through the enchanting Park Güell
  • Marvel at a world-class Flamenco show that is accompanied by a delicious dinner of regional tapas
  • Venture to Madrid’s vast Parque del Retiro as your family glides along the picturesque lake on rowboats

Starting Price

$6,800 per person (excluding international flights)

Your Zicasso trip is fully customizable, and this sample itinerary is a starting place for your travel plans. Actual costs are dynamic, and your selection of accommodations and activities, your season of travel, and other such variables will bring this budget guideline up or down. Throughout your planning experience with your Zicasso specialist, your itinerary is designed around your budget. You can book your trip when you are satisfied with every detail. Planning your trip with a Zicasso travel specialist is a free service.

What's Included

  • Accommodations
  • In-country transportation
  • Some or all activities and tours
  • Expert trip planning
  • 24x7 support during your trip

Your final trip cost will vary based on your selected accommodations, activities, meals, and other trip elements that you opt to

4.9

Verified Traveler Reviews

Based on 1164 reviews

Spain, Portugal Luxury Travel Review: Porto, Lisbon, Algarve, Seville, Barcelona, Museums, Cathedrals, Food Tours, 2-Week Trip
We spent two weeks in Portugal and Spain visiting five areas: Porto, Lisbon, the Algarve, Seville, and Barcelona. The trip was great; well planned and with no issues. All of our tour guides were wonderful. Our tours consisted of museums, cathedrals, food tours, city tours, and wine and sherry tastings. We also received several restaurant suggestions in every area we visited and all of them were fantastic. We would highly recommend the agency we used to anyone traveling to these countries.

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Review: Luxury Trip to Spain & Portugal, Lisbon, Nazare, Granada, Barcelona, Madrid, Cordoba, Segovia

Overall, the trip and our travel agency were great. With one exception, all of our guides/tours  were good to excellent. Our tour guide in Segovia was the best (I apologize for not being able to remember her name at this point, but she was fantastic!). Our tour of the palace in Madrid was the worst tour, mostly because it was a large group and the guide had to do both the Spanish and English versions. In the future, I would not agree to that sort of tour - it wasn't worth it.

All of our private drivers were good. The best was our driver from Grenada to Seville. It was nice that on at least some of the longer drives, the drivers spoke excellent English and thus were able to tell us about the areas we were driving through. And every one of the drivers arrived on time.

The hotels were as expected with two exceptions. The hotel in Seville gave us an upgrade and we had one of the nicest hotel rooms we have ever stayed in in an European city. The hotel itself was also the nicest of all the ones we stayed in. On the other hand, our room at the hotel in Madrid was one of the worst. The room (301) was small (though the bathroom was  nice), had one window high on the wall that faced a brick wall (so no natural light), and was apparently situated just above the hotel rubbish bins. By the end of the day, the room stunk! The hotel has a good location, but there is no way we would ever stay there again. The locations of all the Spanish hotels were good. The hotel in Lisbon was not a great location and would not stay there again for that reason, though the hotel itself was very nice and had great public spaces.

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Portugal, Spain Tour Review: Lisbon, Sintra, Seville, Madrid, Barcelona, 12-Day Vacation

Our Zicasso tour agent organized an incredible trip to Portugal and Spain, which included the cities of Lisbon, Sintra, Seville, Madrid, and Barcelona. She engaged experienced and knowledgeable tour guides in each of the cities, which made our trip enjoyable. We were able to learn about the culture and history of each of the cities from our tour guides.

She secured reservations for four-star hotels, in-country transportation, tickets to museums, and entertainment, all of which were wonderful.

We have many beautiful memories from our trip, thanks to our agent. She was resourceful and responsive before and during our trip. We would recommend this tour company and would use them again for travel to Portugal and Spain.

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Review: Spain Vacation, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon Andalusia, Merbella, Local Food & Wine

Great trip! We had great hotels in good locations to be able to explore the cities we visited. It was well planned and the travel company took care of everything including a flight issue we had going from Madrid to Lisbon.

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Travel Review: Luxury Vacation to Spain and Portugal, Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian, Lugo, Bilbao, Porto, Lisbon, Coimbra
Overall, we were very pleased with the service provided by our Spain and Portugal travel agent Senora Redondo. After outlining our preferences, she put together a very comprehensive and detailed itinerary and made all of the arrangements involved down to the last detail. The hotels were generally conveniently located and all were clean and provided efficient and attentive service. The Astoria in San Sebastian and the paradors in De Fuente de and Ribadeo were our favorites. In Santillana del Mar we would have chosen the parador outside the restoration since we prefer visiting real places not overrun by tourists. The other hotels were good overall, but we had great difficulty finding them. Directions from primary roads with good maps or a GPS in English would have been much appreciated. In both Lisbon and in Santiago del Compostella, our rooms were below street level, noisy and lacking privacy unless windows remained closed with curtains drawn. We found the room in the Hotel Inspira Marta cold and austere, like a gray and white concrete prison cell. In addition, the electronics were so complicated that we needed lessons to operate the lights. Senora Redondo arranged for three city tours. Our half-day city tour in Barcelona was disappointing and quite inefficient. The tour started late and our guide was equally disorganized. His explanation of the sites was cursory at best, and he spoke English rapidly and with a thick accent, which made him difficult to understand. Again we wasted hours visiting a restoration instead of authentic sites. We would have preferred an on/off city tour. On the following day we traveled with another company to Gerona and Figueres, which was far better, much more professional. Our guide was efficient, knowledgeable and well spoken. We had a similar positive experience on our Madrid city tour. Our favorite stops were Barcelona, Gerona, Figueras, San Sebastian, Debu, Bilbao, Comillas, Cudillero, Fuente de in Picos de Europa, Rebadeo, Lugo, Porto, Coimbre, Lisbon and Madrid. We visited other towns and cities, but ended up eliminating several of the suggested stops listed on our itinerary as the trip became too hectic partly because we spent so much time finding our way without good directions. Overall, we would give this Spain and Portugal travel agency and especially Senora Redondo a brava for a job well done and would recommend them to friends interested in traveling to Spain and Portugal. We loved our trip. We hope our comments will be helpful.

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Review: Retirement Vacation in Spain & Portugal, Lisbon, Sintra, Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Ronda, San Sebastian, Seville, Granada

This travel company organized a 3 week trip through Spain and Portugal for my wife and me in late September and early October. We couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

We started in Barcelona (side trip to Montserrát) and worked our way to San Sebastián (and Bilbao), Madrid (and Toledo), Granada, Málaga, Ronda, Sevilla, and then to Lisbon (and Sintra, Casçais, Estoril). Our travel company arranged 4 star accommodations and activities for us at each destination. The hotels were mostly boutique style - smallish and well appointed, with excellent service and very nice rooms in great locations.

Each stop included a private guide for 3-5 hours, longer for the day trip excursions. These proved to be the difference maker. The private guide experience has so many intangible benefits. It allowed us not only to see the sights but to learn about history and culture and people in a more intimate way. The guides were all high integrity people — punctual, professional, thoughtful, and knowledgeable — and most of them were born and raised in the city or region we were visiting. They looked out for us and took their time to ensure we were having a great experience. They offered recommendations on how to spend the rest of our time in the city and places to eat. We never felt rushed or burdensome. Our stupid questions were met with patience. We laughed a lot and learned a lot. 

It was clear that our travel agency was staying on top of our travels and reconfirming arrangements with service providers ahead of us as the trip unfolded. With the dozens and dozens of detailed arrangements, pretty much everything came off without a hitch. That said, you can often tell the character of a company in how they deal with things that go wrong. We had one minor hiccup in Sevilla when a service provider failed to arrange a horse carriage ride for us. The provider was incredibly apologetic and offered us a meal in the way of making amends, which we accepted. I emailed out travel agency that evening to make them aware and was surprised the next day when our travel agency had booked another carriage ride for us. This minor incident spoke volumes about this company and the quality of the providers they do business with. 

We are eternally grateful to our travel agency and team for making this a trip of a lifetime. Thanks!

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Customizable Itinerary

This is a sample itinerary to inspire a personalized trip designed with your travel specialist.

28,000+ Verified Traveler Reviews