Lessons learned & Tips : 90 day Spain & Portugal and Bordeaux Trip

[bearkeley]

Just got back from our 3 months in Andalusia, Portugal, Northern Spain (Galicia and Basque Region) and Bordeaux and thought we’d share some tips for those planning something similar. Hope it helps!

1) Used Chase Sapphire, Marriott and Hilton Points for a majority of our hotel and AirBnB stays except for approx 14 days.
- Chase offers bonus points for AirBnB at times so worth looking into it
- Marriott has apartment rentals thru their Homes & Villas Brand. As of today, we don’t recommend it. You get better guarantees with AirBNB or VRBO

2) We leased a brand new car from Peugot instead of renting a car - saved about 50%. Non EU residents are eligible. Checkout Auto France. Seemed too good to be true when we first did it. Suggest you book now for next year (easy to cancel). Get the smallest car you can….A lot of narrow streets.

3) July and August is the peak season in Europe. Higher room rates (so book early), warmer temps (we had heat waves so make sure you have AC in your rooms) and a lot of kids! (Not something we are used to since we normally travel when kids are in school.)

4) WINE: Buy wine from the region you are in versus waiting until just before you leave the country. Much cheaper and chances are, you won’t see it again.
- Bottles of wine at restaurants (Spain and Portugal) are better deals than by the glass…you can bring it home if you don’t finish it.
- Wine by the glass in restaurants / bars can be cheaper than those at wine tastings so consider doing tastings at bars with pinchos or tapas vs wine tours
- Douro Valley - if you go, highly recommend taking the train from Pinhao to Pocinho and back. River cruises like Viking, etc cruise on the Douro…the train runs right next to the river…probably one of the best train rides we’ve taken
- Try Vinho Verde!

5) FOOD: Try the local specialty wherever you are. Paella for example is better in Valencia than in Galicia. You get free tapas in Granada, but not in most parts of Spain. When eating Pinxtos, order whatever is made to order vs what’s on display

6) Phone: For 20 Euros, you can get a SIM card with a lot of data and free calls. Note that many EU cellular vendors will onLy accept EU credit cards to recharge your account via the phone or online. You can go to one of their stores if you want to pay with a card, or use Xoom / PayPal to do it. Much easier

Hope this helps!

 

[Sojourner]

2) We leased a brand new car from Peugot instead of renting a car - saved about 50%. Non EU residents are eligible. Checkout Auto France. Seemed too good to be true when we first did it. Suggest you book now for next year (easy to cancel). Get the smallest car you can….A lot of narrow streets.

Great tip, thanks! Probably never would have thought of this. Definitely will look into a short term lease for our next 3+ week trip.

4) WINE: Buy wine from the region you are in versus waiting until just before you leave the country. Much cheaper and chances are, you won’t see it again.
- Bottles of wine at restaurants (Spain and Portugal) are better deals than by the glass…you can bring it home if you don’t finish it.
- Wine by the glass in restaurants / bars can be cheaper than those at wine tastings so consider doing tastings at bars with pinchos or tapas vs wine tours

Totally agree with these tips. Also, buying bottles directly from the wineries can be a good approach, and many places are very generous with extra pours if you strike up a good rapport with the staff.

6) Phone: For 20 Euros, you can get a SIM card with a lot of data and free calls. Note that many EU cellular vendors will onLy accept EU credit cards to recharge your account via the phone or online. You can go to one of their stores if you want to pay with a card, or use Xoom / PayPal to do it. Much easier

Definitely. Getting a cheap local SIM is the first thing we do at the airport on the way to pick up our luggage.

 

[whatnot]

Great tips!
We are planning a trip to the Bordeaux, France. Do you have any favorite restaurants, wineries or Airbnbs you can share.

 

[bearkeley]

Great tips!
We are planning a trip to the Bordeaux, France. Do you have any favorite restaurants, wineries or Airbnbs you can share.

Restaurant Melodie and La Brasserie Bordolais but for a quick and affordable meal for two at 20 Euros, checkout l’echoppe de Halles by Cite du vin.

We took a couple of small group tours in Margaux and St Emilion through A La Francais. It was ok…good to see the regions but you visit 2 wineries. However, what we really enjoyed was their tasting class. Very good info, exercises and a lot of wine!

 

[Bamaman]

Short term leasing a car is best done if you're traveling and leaving from France. AutoEurope can arrange it, and you can also lease directly thru Peugeot and Renault. It's economically viable for trips of 3 weeks or longer.

One plus is that you can have other drivers for the car without having to pay extra. And you can take the car to some Eastern European countries that most rental companies prohibit you from taking their car into. And the collision insurance that comes with it is better than what you would get by paying extra at a regular car rental company.

I've not checked the rates recently, but the regular car rental rates in Europe are up dramatically since the supply of cars worldwide is not good.