bwhizz

Hi Everyone,

So my wife and I are expecting our first in November and are planning a baby moon in late June/Early July and looking for some suggestions. We’re thinking Portigal or the Balaeric Islands (7 Days).

Top of of the list:

Balaeric Islands - where should our home base be? Majorca? What activities can we do?

Lisbon, Portugal. Don’t even know where to start my resesrch.

Must haves:
beaches, good food. Some nightlife (nothing crazy), lots of pretty scenery and a bit of history. I’m ok with air bnb or a couple hotels as our home base. Doesn’t have to be one hotel for 7 days but we don’t want to do hotel hopping from city to city every day!

looking to book flights ASAP.

My my wife will be 5.5 months pregnant so nothing unsafe or with a lot of walking.

HappyTrvlr

You need to consider the heat during those months, nothing is worse than to be hot and uncomfortable while pregnant.
Look at beautiful San Sebastian on Spain’s northern coast. It has everything you are looking for with cooler temperatures than many other locations. Nice beaches. Great food. Interesting culture in the Basque region with easy day trips to charming villages in Spain and France.
I love Lisbon but it has steep hills and no beaches. Save it for another time.

BigRuss

Sounds like you're looking to fly and flop. Are you in Europe or do you live in North America? If the latter, consider not going to Europe - long flights are not fun for preggos, so said my better half.

danon

What HT said....forget Lisbon , the southern Spain I really hot in the summer.

bwhizz

Thanks all.

Any my other recommendations on where to go?

janisj

As BigRuss asked -- where are you fling from? That could make a big difference where we might recommend. Also are you planning on flying Business or in Coach? IME that would make a huge difference re how long a flight would be bearable.

I personally wouldn't go pretty much anywhere in southern Europe while pregnant due to the heat. If you can travel earlier it would be better temps-wise.

bwhizz

my apologies. We’re flying from Toronto Canada. We were thinking Switzerland but WAY too expensive

danon

For northern Spain :
from TO you can fly direct to Madrid or Barcelona ( and change to flight to S. Sebastián or
Santander ) Makes for a long day..but getting to a beach town directly from TO would be a problem.

The North is popular with Spaniards in the summer.

PalenQ

Not only Switzerland way too expensive but in November very dreary - not sure any beaches in November will be that nice.

janisj

>>Not only Switzerland way too expensive but in November very dreary - not sure any beaches in November will be that nice.<<

November? The baby is due in November . . . not the trip . . .

(why did you think we were talking about the heat?)

ribeirasacra

loads of women carry babies during the heat all over the world!

Odin

I would have thought Lisbon a good choice for late June/early July. The real heat doesn't start until mid-end July thru August. Even places like Cyprus are bearable late June. You can stay in a hill location with easy access to beaches, towns and historical sights with pleasant temps, such as this modest but well regarded / well located hotel. English spoken everywhere and good hospitals. There are loads of hill resorts like this in Greece/it's islands and Cyprus that offer cooler temps and access to beaches when you want them.
Paradisos Hills Hotel & Retreat

bwhizz

Thanks again everyone!

This is very helpful.

I've narrowed it down to 3 Options and am now looking for some feedback:

1) 8 Days in San Sebastian (day trips here and there TBD) - Not sure what there is to do here, but feel that 8 days is way too long for one spot
2) 8 Days in Portugal - Fly into Lisbon and spend 4 days there and 4 days in Porto (skip south portugal altogether)? Yes it's hilly, but we don't need to walk everywhere. I can look at hiring a driver or organized tours
3) 5 Days Portugal, 3 days San Sebastian - will we have time to relax?

ToujoursVoyager

We went to the Maldives for my babymoon (traveling from the USA). Tolerance to travel and overall stamina vary greatly for one woman to the next. In Europe, Switzerland is nice in June /July and I think you can budget yourself if that is the country you want to go to. But when I think of Switzerland, I think of hiking, which your wife might not be up to. Italy is always a favorite of mine. Look a the lake region (Como, Lugano, Orta). You could pair it with Tuscany or Venice.

jpie

Another idea is to fly into Bordeaux and split your time between San Sebastian and the beaches on the Atlantic in France, near the dune du Pilat for instance-very close to Bordeaux. The beaches on the French side are really nice all the way up to La Rochelle and it would be a lot less driving than trying to split between Portugal and Spain. We have a family home near Royan and that is only about 1 1/2 hours from Bordeaux. There are also lovely little Basque villages like Sare that are nice to explore as well. Another advantage is that the area is much flatter than Portugal. Bordeaux is easy to explore and has a terrific tram system. And it is easy to connect through Paris or London.

www.dunedupilat.com/en/

Visit Bordeaux | Official website for tourism in France

danon

From SS you could visit Bilbao or places on the French side

another option - if you prefer two locations - Barcelona and SS ( both beautiful)



btw...Lisbon is not right on the beach and it is extremely hilly

bwhizz

Sooo I booked the flights...

Plan is to visit Porto and Lisbon.

Arrive Porto June 30th - stay 2-3 nights: What activities/sites should we see? I want to do a Duoro river cruise if it's not too boring
Train Porto to Lisbon July 3: Stay 2 nights - What activities / sites should we see?
July 5, 6th and 7th: Veg/beach days.... Where should we go? is Cascai any good?

Also looking for good hotel recommendations in each place... 5 star preferred as my wife will need a quiet and comfy place to sleep, but also want the location to be very central

StCirq

Now that you've decided where you're going, it's time to hit the books and the internet and make your own decisions about what you want to see and do there. There is no shortage of good guidebooks, and every town and city (and village for that matter) has a website these days. Spend time with your wife perusing and making choices about what would suit YOU two.

PalenQ

For that itinerary take trains between cities where cars are useless and you have little time to mosey between those cities. Book trains at www.cp.pt - Portuguese Railways site - discounts if book early enough to get them. Good info trains: www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Cascais is a nice enough beach but I'd suggest heading by train to Lagos or Tavira or other Algarve area for some of best beaches in world.

ribeirasacra

hotel recommendations means using Booking.com
Use the filters to find your idea of good.