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| Toledo |
Leave Chicago at 4 PM on Saturday October 19. Arrive London at 5:55 AM on Sunday, October 20. Depart at 8:15 AM, arrive Lisbon at 10:55 AM. 13 hours of travel. I assumed you use miles and have maybe $100 in fees. My flight is $1,050 total.
Leave Lisbon on Tuesday October 20 at 9:55 PM. Arrive Seville at 11:55 PM. 1 hour flight plus a time change. The only flight is at 9:55 PM, which is good that we get a full day in Lisbon, bad that we get into Seville so late. This flight is $110/each on 10/22, jumps to $292 on 10/23 and 10/24.
We leave Seville on Thursday Oct. 24 and take the train to Madrid. There are 3-4 train options each day. The cost for a 2nd class ticket with no reservations is $110/each. It's a 2.5 hour ride.
We stay in Madrid until Monday Oct. 28. We can make a day trip if we like. We take the train to Valencia, again numerous options, assumed 2nd class no reservations. Cost is $106/each; 1.5 hour ride.
Spend two days in Valencia, depart for Barcelona on Wed. Oct. 30. 3 hour train ride, $66/each.
Stay there until Sun Nov. 3, fly home at 7:20 AM. Frankfort at 9:45 AM, depart 12:45 PM, back in Chicago at 3:15 PM. Another 13 hour travel day.
Approximately $970/pp; 34 hours of travel.
The train trips here are $282 total. I think we could do a 3-day travel pass for $236, so that would lower our cost by $50/pp. Booking reservations would add more, so would adding a 4th or 5th travel day if we want to do day trips.
Train Lisbon to Madrid
Leave Chicago at 4 PM on Saturday October 19. Arrive London at 5:55 AM on Sunday, October 20. Depart at 8:15 AM, arrive Lisbon at 10:55 AM. 13 hours total travel time. I assumed you use miles and have maybe $100 in fees. My flight is $1,050 total.
Leave Lisbon on Tuesday Oct. 22 at 9:27 PM, take the overnight train to Madrid, arrive at 8:10 AM on Wed. Oct. 23.
Stay in Madrid until Saturday Oct. 26, take the train to Seville.
Stay in Seville until Monday, Oct. 28, take the train to Valencia.
Stay in Valencia until Wed., Oct. 30, take the train to Barcelona.
Stay there until Sun Nov. 3, fly home at 7:20 AM. Frankfort at 9:45 AM, depart 12:45 PM, back in Chicago at 3:15 PM. Another 13 hour travel day.
Without a travel pass, this is about $1,150/per person. With the Spain-Portugal travel pass, it's just about $1,000 per person. You get a discount on your sleeper car on the Lisbon-Madrid night train if you have a travel pass. So, this is more expensive than the other option by about $100/pp, but you spend one less night in a hotel room.
Both options have their pros and cons. We can discuss.
I don't know if we gain much by this, but we could leave Chicago at 1:15 PM on Saturday October 19, connect in Toronto with a 2 hour layer-over, arrive Barcelona at 7:35 on Sunday Oct. 20. 11 hours 20 minutes.
ReplyDeleteDepart Lisbon at 9:50 AM, arrive London at 12:35 PM, depart London at 3:25 PM, arrive Chicago at 6:25 PM on Sunday, November 3. 14 hours 45 minutes.
Miles for you. $1,250 for me.
I don't know if that excites you, just to flip around our itinerary. It doesn't really matter to me if we start of finish in Lisbon.
I couldn't make this work leaving Friday night, Oct. 18. I almost found a flight that gave us a 12 hour layover in Vienna. That would have been awesome.
For the record, my flights 10/19 Chicago-London-Lisbon and 11/3 Barcelona-Frankfort-Chicago are $995 at the present moment. I believe they were $1,050 when I looked Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a bad price all things considered.
ReplyDeleteI kinda want to do Granada and Marbella too. We definitely need 4 weeks.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. But we don't have 4 weeks.
ReplyDeleteI really want to do Lisbon, but do you think we should just stick to Spain given everything there are you ok with Lisbon and one less spot in Spain?
ReplyDeleteIs that two questions?
ReplyDeleteOur trip would logistically be easier if we just did Spain. We could fly round trip to Madrid. Get a train pass, tool around Spain for two weeks.
However, I agree Lisbon seems cool. And it's unique, which we like.
I mean, it's six in one, half dozen in the other. Either we see Lisbon and 4 cities in Spain or we do 5 cities in Spain and no Lisbon. Either way, we won't see everything we want to see.
I'm not exactly sure where the airports are located relative to the city center, but it's an 80 minute flight from Madrid to Lisbon, we could do it as cheaply as $65. We could potentially buzz over there for a day if we want more time in Spain.
ReplyDeleteOr, fly into Madrid, rent a car, drive to Lisbon, hit a few spots in the Costa Del Sol, and return to Madrid in a week.
I want to spend time in Madrid and Barcelona, I'm flexible on Seville and Valencia, I just picked a few random cities that seemed cool.