I'm going to Spain (and hopefully Morocco and Portugal) in December for 3 weeks. Is there a way to find reasonably priced flight into Spain (and back to Canada from Portugal)? Are there any 'can't miss' places people would recommend trying to see?

If you're going to Morocco, do not do the day trip to Tangiers with the "tour" - they just drag you around to shops and pressure you to buy stuff. Gibraltar is really cool, definitely worth checking out.

You can fly to Marrakech or fez for less than $100 from Barcelona. Marrakech was amazing was there in May, can't wait to go back. 5 days wS enough. Lisbon is my favourite city (so far) in the world. See if you can fly to Barcelona via klm. Flights within Europe are cheap

I would fly to london and then take ryan air to spain and on the way back catch ryan air from porto to london as well.

klm flies direct to/from Amsterdam on Tuesdays. We just booked through to Malaga in Costa del Sol area. In December you may want to stay in that area and the Algarve, Portugal for the weather (southern regions). Lisbon is a lovely city to visit. I like Trip Adviser website and you can ask questions of people who live in the area.

Where abouts in Spain do you want to go? Barcelona is cool, anywhere down the coast. Seville?

If you're going to do what Szymon suggested, make sure you leave lots of time between flights (as in a day or two) or good trip interruption insurance. A $4000 mistake I made, when our british airways flight from Gibraltar was delayed for 7 hours and we missed the check in for our flight from London by 15 mins. Of course this was before the days of online check-in.

Go to Bilbao. It is incredible! We spent 5 weeks in Spain a few years ago and loved it. Also look into local festivals in each place. Rick Steeves books on Spain were really good too

Im leaving Edmonton on Sept 11th for 5.5 weeks to Portugal, Spain, France, Monaco and finally Italy. What I have found is it's expensive and inconvenient getting anywhere from Portugal and also expensive. Im renting a car from Lisbon driving to the Alarve (Lago, Faro, etc) so I can explore the beaches at my own leisure and then driving myself to Seville. From Seville Spain I fly vueling airline for 60.00 USD to Barcelona. Rail is very expensive so i have found vueling, ryan iar and easy jet offer much cheaper rates but keep in mind getting from the airport to city centres etc can be costly if there is no rail service right from the airport. Too bad your waiting until December, I need a travel partner if even for a portion of the trip
have fun annd ressearch research research......

Portugal is by far the best bang for your money,i would just go there and visit lisbon, porto and the algarve,use the bullit train.

With all due respect Paul the train to et into Portugal is very expensive unless Im not looking at the right sights? 200 euros plus...

Diane and Paul are both right, train into Portugal is expensive and isolated from Europe but what Paul said, Portugal is a fraction of the cost of Spain once there

cost me only 75 euro from lisbon to algarve for 2 of us

Yeah, it's cheap but I think she means train from Spain to Portugal, which I would just fly TAP

yeah cheaper to fly to spain

I paid €21.50 for first class alagarve to Lisbon

Its real expensive Which is why Im renting a car driving to see all of algarve at my own leisure and do the next 2 hr drive to seville. Then seville to barcelona its a 60.00 flight

Diane, if you mean train within Portugal is expensive, you are looking in the wrong Place

We were hoping to rent a car for much of the trip and do a loop either starting in Spain or Portugal (whichever is cheapest) and possibally rail or flight depending on convinience, availability and cost

We wanted to see Barcelona and Gibraltar for sure, my mom did the el camino trail and I think we'd like to try that. We like travel and unique experiences so we're open to ideas (we enjoy less 'touristy' places). In the 3 weeks, we'd like to do a loop either Spain, Morrocco, Porto or vice versa and fly back to Canada

Go to Marrakrch, stay in a riad

In Spain: Seville (go if you appreciate tapas and flamenco), Granada (Alhambra, Moorish influence, and a Turkish bath), Ronda (romantic little town overlooking a beautiful valley and a relaxing stay that is a little less tourist busy). Also, Gibraltar was mentioned - you should go there, but you probably don't need to be there more than a half day - stay in La Linea for cheaper accommodation. Happy travels!

Has anyone been to Madrid? Thoughts or opinions on whether it's worth making a priority

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No Marc within Portugal rail is inexpensive but it's a lot to leave Portugal to get into Spain.

If your in Portugal check out Faro beautiful city.

Madrid is nice. It's a very large city with lots of historic buildings and some nice parks. Also, if you like museums and art galleries, there are plenty there. If you need to travel by Madrid, take a day to look around. I liked some other cities a bit more (previously mentioned).

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