We are planning our honeymoon to Andalusia/Morocco for 2 weeks at the end of Sept - beginning of Oct. I'm trying to figure out the best route and am getting a little bit stuck, hoping someone might be able to offer some advice.

We're coming from NY, no flights booked yet. We want to visit Granada, Tarifa and Sevilla, then head to Marrakesh, Essoueira, and the Atlas Mts. Our itinerary is not set in stone yet though.

(As background, we've been to Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao and San Sebastian before, but never to Andalucia.)

Thinking the best way might be to fly jfk to Malaga, Marrakesh to Jfk.... (or should we fly straight into granada or Sevilla instead?) Not sure which order makes the most sense to travel between the 3 Spanish cities, but there is a ryanair flight from Sevilla to Marrakesh so might be best to end up in Sevilla last?

Thanks very much!
Michelle

A lot of travel here, I think fly into Malaga or Seville if easy enough, out of marakesh makes good sense. Note that you can haggle the taxi in Marakesh but not in Seville.

How much help do you want with this as you seem to be clear about objectives.

Any festivals live at that time of the year?

I would think that to avoid backtracking it would be best to fly to the southernmost destination first and work your up. Hence I would head out JFK-Marrakesh, then fly Marrakesh-Seville (explore)- head out to Granada (explore)-- fly out of Malaga-JFK.

What about Tarifa??? Other than the Ruins of Baelo Claudio and the beches around Bolonia, I don't get why Tarifa and not Cordova, Ronda, Jerez, Grazalema, Mijas,....?? Seriously...

Not stuck on Tarifa...just looking to get in a couple of days on a beach.

Thanks Viajero -- it might makes sense to start in Morocco...

I can't believe no one has said it yet, bet can I suggest you pick one or the other for your trip? You may like being on the go, and there is nothing wrong with that. But, as someone who has honeymooned and traveled every year since, you may not get two whole weeks to travel again for a while. Having that much time is such a luxury, and spending in one region is something you will treasure forever. Two weeks may seem like a lot of time, but once you start heading to the airport/train station every three days it shrinks. Especially since you mention hiking, just thought I'd throw that out there. You could easily spend 2 weeks in Andalucia and not see it all. Either way, best wishes!

Thanks yorkshire, that is good advice. Luckily we do get to travel a ton, and we are always up for the adventure of moving around a lot. But that being said, it might make sense to either pick one or at least limit our stops in each.

Scooter~ Yorkshire's right. Why not pick one or the other?

I'm in the process of planning a trip to Andalucia that originally began as an Andalucia/Morocco trip. The more I researched, I realized there was no way I could visit two countries in 2 weeks without skimming the surface. So I had to pick one. Morocco will happen the following year.

So, I'd pick one or the other. Slow down. Remember, this trip is not like the others you've been on. You'll have just been through a wedding! You will most likely be exhausted after it (after all the hub-bub ends and the adrenaline crashes) and will probably just want to take it a bit easy. Stay in each place a few days, soak it up, sleep in, book a hammam, and just relax.

Best wishes and have fun.

Malaga has nice beaches, not the best in Spain by far, but decent for late Sept-Oct weather. No need to complicate matters packing on to Tarifa, you can daytrip from Malaga. Better yet, if you are heading to Seville, sneak in a couple of beach days by heading out to la Barrosa Beach about an hour southwest. Surprise your spouse with a couple of days in one of Sancti Petri gorgeous resorts. As far as cutting out Morroco, just fly to Marrakesh and home-base to explore for 2-3 days. Things gets messy and time start getting wasted with every pack/travel/unpack event, so minimize those.