sagan55

Hi all! My boyfriend and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in April, 2015, so we're just in the planning stages of a trip to one of these two locations. There are so many interesting things for us in both places that it's tough to decide. We enjoy culture as well as natural beauty. I'd love to hear of personal experiences, places you enjoyed in particular, and those that were a disappointment--and why. ANY info is welcome--thanks!

sandralist

Southern Spain is actually quite an extended area with quite a diversity of experiences to offer in April. It would help to know whether you are looking for urban fun or small town interest or if you are really interested in art history or contemporary European life.

It also makes a difference whether your travel time will be early or late April. I believe Easter falls early in April next year, and Easter is huge to-do in some parts of Southern Spain. For the Cote d'Azur, early April often means a lot of unpredictable weather, and even late April is no guarantee of beach weather (almost certainly too early for actual swimming).

You will get a huge variety of answers to your question about what people enjoyed and what diappointed them. I don't care for Barcelona and it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. I do however find much of the rest of Catalonia extremely interesting culturally and lovely scenically. I think Cordoba and Granada are fantastic destinations in Europe and Sevilla doesn't float my boat. The only thing that interests me about the Cote d'Azur is its art history. I think the Italian Riviera is much prettier and has more flavor.

Next someone will come along and tell you Nice is beautiful, Sevilla is a dream come true, Catalonia is mostly boring except for Barcelona, blah blah. I watch people take six answers from an internet board of mainly retirees and then spend thousands of dollars on a trip based on their "yays" and "yummys" and "yucks" and urgings that somebody else take their favorite sentimental trip. Not a good way to go about planning your 10th anniversary in my book unless you've got money and time to blow (which a lot of internet posters do).

mamcalice

This is nearly an impossible question to answer. We love both the Cote d'Azur and Southern Spain. It depends on how long you plan to stay. I don't really consider Barcelona to be in Southern Spain. If you are speaking of Andalucia, that would be lovely in April, probably a bit warmer than Southern France. Seville, Cordoba, Granada and the Pueblos Blancos would be nice for a 10-day trip.

However, if it were my trip, I would probably go to France. The food in Provence and on the coast is lovely and by late April the weather could be lovely as well.

It would help to know a little of your interests and how long you plan to stay.

sagan55

mamcalice,

Thanks for your input although I'm not quite sure what you mean about Barcelona because I never said anything about it being in Southern Spain. Maybe you misunderstood sandralist's post and why she mentioned Barcelona.

I'm new to this site and didn't know how to tag this for both France and Spain so now there are two threads. Please see the other thread because there are many responses and I give much more information about what I'm looking for, length of stay, etc.

Apologies for the confusion.

Christina

I'm not sure why the talk of Barcelona or Catalonia, maybe they didn't notice you said southern Spain.

I'd choose Spain. I like both areas, but I prefer to go to Provence in summer as I really enjoy the atmosphere there then (the lavender, sunflowers, etc.) None of that is blooming in April, I'm not even sure poppies are blooming then. By contrast, southern Spain would be too hot to go there in summer (for me), so I'd take the opportunity to go there in April when it is pleasant. Just find out some of the festival dates and how that might impact hotel costs or reservations (there is a big spring festival in Seville).

sagan55

Christina,

Thanks for your thoughts. I just wanted to let you know that I made the mistake of posting this thread twice. I'm new at this and couldn't figure out how to tag it for both France and Spain. If you care to, you can check out the other thread. There are a lot of responses, mine as well as others, so you'll get a better idea of what I'm looking for.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on Southern France. I've gotten wonderful feedback on Spain, but I could use some more on France. Thanks again.