Our Guide to Road Tripping Through Spain & Portugal

September 10th, 2022

Spain & Portugal

Sasha & Eric Hathaway

Day 1: Faro to Cadiz 

After 2 long travel days and an overnight stay in the city that never sleeps, we landed in Faro, Portugal. Both of us exhausted and no longer taking each other’s shit we decided it best that we keep our mouths shut and just figure out how to get to a place we could sleep. We picked up our amazing pop-up VW van that was decked out to the nines, and headed East toward the beautiful coast of Spain. Our first stop was Cadiz, which is a quaint fishing village on the coast. Exhausted from our lack of sleep, we grabbed a quick bite on the road, found a great parking spot along the beach (We used the app Park4Night for the whole trip, which was a great way to find some hidden parking spots), and checked in for the night.

Our Spain Itinerary

Day 2: Tarif, Estepona, Malaga 

After waking up to the sound of waves, a fresh cup of coffee, and a morning walk on the beach we were ready to take off. Unfortunately we opted out of exploring the town of Cadiz, which I regret because from everything I’ve read, Cadiz seems like an awesome fishing village filled to the brim with tapas bars and sherry wine. However, the towns we hit on our way to Malaga, did not disappoint. Our first stop was Tarif, which is widely known for it’s world class kite surfing. Steering clear of the crowds and tourist zones, we drove up a narrow winding dirt road that led us to a stunning view of the coastline and was a perfect place to perch for lunch and a get in quick hike – which I was clearly not dressed for but stunning none the less. We then continued to a small town called Estepona which we quickly stopped into for an espresso and cake to curb the effects of the jet lag we were very clearly feeling. Estepona felt like a small replica of Venice Beach, CA but in Spain. Packed full of every style of person you could think of, clothing somewhat optional, and countless bars/café’s it made for a very interesting people watching experience. In need of some good Spanish cuisine we spent the night in the magical downtown Malaga and of course polished off 2 bottles of wine and the best/most expensive Paella we’ve ever had. 

Day 3: Rhonda, Grenada 

After 3 days I thought I’d finally learned to embrace the #van-life, but that was a short lived experience. We ended up accidentally sleeping in until 11am and were deathly hungover from the wine, so had an extremely late start to the day but we made the most of it. We started with an hour drive to Rhonda, which is a MUST SEE if you’re everyone around the area. Down below the village, there’s a small hike which gives you elite access to the views of the mid-evil city, and worth the short trek. After a quick stop there, we headed to Grendada. The mountain town of Granada is stunning and houses the famous Alhambra - more on that later, and also has the smallest streets I’ve ever seen. We managed to get the van stuck on a one-way which we didn’t think we’d make it out of. However, with the help of some locals we slowly inched our way out trying not the damage the brand new van. 

Day 4: Granada & Cordoba

Waking up in the middle of a field, literally, we had 2 goals: get outside to hike and walk through the Alahambra. We tacked the first goal with ease after finding a stunning hike, which passed through towering mountains, quaint streams, suspension bridges, and even required some via ferrato skills. However, due to my severe lack of directional knowledge we completely missed the Alahambra. The Alahambra is one of the most well known tourist destinations in Spain and with my absolutely fantastic navigating skills I managed to walk us 7 miles around it and through the streets of Granada, yet somehow never made it to the entrance! However, from the pictures online and the views from the streets it was absolutely stunning, along with the rest of Granada. After a quick bite to eat, and of course a glass of midday wine we headed off to Cordoba. On the drive we decided we needed to see at least one Flamenco show, which did not disappoint and is an absolute must in this region! Full, tired, and danced out, we made our 5 hour drive back to Portugal to finish off the rest of this adventure.

Our Portugal Itinerary

September 15th - 16th: Nazare

Anybody who’s interested in surfing recognizes the name Nazare. Well known for its near hundred foot waves during the right season, it’s a big wave surfers dream. After spending close to 3 months learning to surf in Panama and Peru, and watching the amazing documentary 100ft wave, Nazare was top on our bucket list for Portugal. Although the waves sadly weren’t pumping, we ended up finding the best camping site yet and got to see the exact spot where surf legends were made, which made the stop entirely worth it. However, I will definitely be back during big wave season! Although tempted to spend another night sleeping on the edge of a cliff overlooking the North Atlantic, as we figured we would never find a spot quite as good as this one, we continued to charge up the coast in hopes of getting out of the van as soon as possible.

September 16th-17th: Praia de Pedrogao

Quickly realizing van life was not for us we decided to drop the van off one day early, but we still had to suck it up for one night. So where do we decide to go? The place with the Sexiest lifeguards I’ve ever seen, I mean seriously they all looked like they were plucked out of an Abercrombie & Fitch poster. So I of course spent my whole afternoon and morning walking the beach, working out on the beach, reading on the beach, and spending as much time as I could soaking up the beautiful views. After some nice R & R we headed to Porto to finally get out of the van and into our own space. 

September 17 - 20th: Porto, Portugal

Drunk off port at 2pm, broken down scooters in the middle of nowhere, a glimpse of solo traveling, and a pub crawl the night before our 6am flight made for a fascinating 3 days in the lovely northern town of Porto. Once we finally dropped the van off, we couldn’t have been more excited to go explore. We ended up renting bird scooters - which did breakdown 45min outside of the city leading to a very uncomfortable 2-person scooter ride, but ended in a fantastic Port tasting leaving us happy and very buzzed. 
After spending the last week stuck in a van with my dad, I decided I needed to get away for a few days which led me to staying at a funky social hostel called Pilot Design. Although I spent a week solo traveling through Cusco, its always a shock walking into a hostel by yourself and getting out of your comfort zone to meet people. Luckily, hostels are almost always super social and you can meet people within minutes. After another day of exploring the city, a beautiful sunset, and fantastic meal we were ready for the pub crawl. I had an early flight the next morning (had to be up at 5am) to Turkey so I was planning on going home around 2am. But, 4 clubs later and way too many drinks I found myself back at the airbnb at 4:45 and barely making it to the flight on time. To say the least, that was not a fun travel day.