AP6380

I figured that I'd re-post under a better, more specific title. I've also incorporated some previous suggestions.

This is a VERY preliminary itinerary for my 1st Spain trip, hopefully in mid-June. One consideration is that I love spending about half my time on beautiful, preferably undeveloped beaches while spending the other half sightseeing.

3 nights Seville

1 nights Arcos or another white village???

3 nights Tarifa: or is there another Costa de la Luz town that you recommend? The one consideration here is that I want to hire a private guide and go to Morocco for a day, and I know the ferry takes out of Tarifa. I know this is not the most recommended thing to do on this site, but it seems like with a private guide it could be a very good experience. So I would think that I would need to be at least a 30-45 minute ride to Tarifa to do this.

I also have a habit of liking to "dip my toes" into other countries while traveling, especially when I'm so close. Are there any towns in Portugal that are close to the Costa de la Luz that are recommended?

3 nights Nerja

2 nights Granada

3 nights Barcelona: I know Madrid goes better with this itinerary, but at this point I'd much rather visit Barcelona. After Barcelona I will be flying to Italy to see family for a week.

Any thoughts on alternate towns, beaches, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

ter2000

We stayed in Conil de la Frontera earlier on this year (do a search under my name for a report) and really liked it. It's pretty touristy, but mostly other Spanish people seem to holiday there. There are some nice bars and restaurants, and a lovely long sandy beach. However, be warned, the wind did not drop for the whole ten days that we stayed there, making lying on the beach an impossibility, although it was lovely for swimming. There are no trips to Morocco from Conil, but it's only a 20 minute bus-ride from Arcos, so you could do it as a day-trip. DH & I stayed in an apartment, which worked out very well, and there were a couple of supermarkets nearby.

Overall we really liked it and would return there.

ter2000

Oops sorry - minor correction. It's a 20 minute drive to Vejer not Arcos. I'd say that Vejer would be quite a nice place to base yourselves as well, but it's very small and you could comfortably tour it in a day (with a nice lunch in the middle!).

anna_h

We checked out of Tarifa after one night because I couldn't stand the constant battering by the wind. Conil had a much gentler wind and is about 40 mins drive to Tarifa. A closer alternative to Tarifa and much quiter than Conil would be Zahara, about 20-30 minutes away I think. Conil was lovely though, restaurants and bars good, mainly Spanish tourists although quite a few Germans in our hotel.
Nerja will be very busy in June. Almunecar is a Spanish town a little further down the Coast, I certainly preferred it.
Portugal is close to Seville but our hire car was only insured for Spain so we didn't venture over the border.

AP6380

Thanks for the ideas. I was curious if the winds in Tarifa would be a problem, it sounds like I would be better off staying nearby.