What's your opinion?

[lilybug]

Thinking that two extra days in Barcelona and two in Lisbon will be enough pre and post cruise. Those of you who have done this, I'd be interested in your opinion.

Thank you!

[Turtles06]

I have visited both cities and I guess it depends on what you mean by "enough." Enough for what? There is certainly enough to see in and around both cities to keep you occupied for more than two days. (For example, we spent nearly three days pre-cruise in Barcelona, which enabled us to see a great deal of the city, but there is much we could not fit in and we did not, for example, visit Montserrat.) But certainly you could also have two very full and interesting days in each.

 

Might I suggest that, if you haven't done so already, you do some reading up on both cities and get a sense of what is of particular interest and importance to you, so you can gauge how much time would be "enough" (or come back and ask more specific questions here). Other factors to consider, of course, are the expense (Europe is not cheap), as well has how long your cruise is and how port intensive. You might be pretty tired by the end of a long and/or port intensive cruise, and two days of additional touring at the end may well turn out to be "enough" (even if you don't think ahead of time that they will be). We tend to enjoy the pre-cruise touring a bit more for that reason. Also, do you think you would ever return to either city?

[pris993]

Two days in each city are a start. We have spent several days in LIsbon and as much as 5 days on one trip to Barcelona. We have visited Barcelona about 5 times in the last 10 years. Love both cities.

 

For us, it is about expense, we can only afford so much. We do assume we will return and have many times to a number of great cities in Europe and the Mediterranean.

 

Read about each city, figure out what you would like to see and how much you can afford and how much time you have and take it from there.

 

I do agree we have found we need to pace ourselves on a Mediterranean cruise. I recall arriving in Barcelona so exhausted from a cruise that we began in Istanbul... that we slept for 2 days at the hotel Arts in Bareclona.