Good Beach in Spain
Jul 31st, 2004, 08:25 AM
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Good Beach in Spain
Hi everyone, I'm planning my honeymoon for second week of Oct. and I hoping to go to Spain, France and Italy for 3 weeks. I'll have about a week in Spain and would like to go to the beach for little R&R. Any recommendations? I have 0 knowledge of where to go in Spain so any suggestion on best beach for R&R and enjoy the ocean in the month of Oct in Spain, I'll appreciate it... In Spain I think we are going to spend maybe 1-2 days in Madrid, 1 day in Seville, and maybe 1 day in Barcelona. So we only have about 2-3 days on the beach. I'm open to all suggestion and would love any insight and tips. Maybe someone can tell me how I should plan my week in Spain? 
I appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Joe
I appreciate any help.Thanks,
Joe
Jul 31st, 2004, 08:28 AM
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The croisette (my term) at San Sebastian is splendid, lots of golden sand, lovely town, very picturesque. However, sitting with a load of oily corpses isn't my idea of the naff "R&R", you make it sound like "S&M", again something that doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. Beaches are always too busy, forget them, they're more fun for walking on, not sitting on.
Jul 31st, 2004, 09:27 AM
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We've been in southern France for the last two weeks and just returned from a two day side trip to the Costa Brava north of Barcelona. I highly recommend that area. We stayed in a tiny town, Tiramiu, with a pretty small beach. We liked it because it's less crowded and touristy than the others. It's between Llafranc (which is bigger but looked very nice as we drove by) and Begur. That whole section of the coast is very pretty with lots of rugged little coves that you can hike to or boat to, as well as official beaches and resorts. Can't compare it to any other parts of the Costa Brava or other coasts in Spain, as we haven't been, but we would definately return to this area.
Jul 31st, 2004, 09:30 AM
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Joe, It's unfortunate that your first reply came from m_kingdom2, who is notorious for his/her snide and uninformative comments, which most participants in the forum choose either to ignore or to laugh at.
In any case, San Sebastian is on the northern coast of Spain, and it would certainly not have beach weather in mid to late October. About the only coastal area in Spain where it might still be possible to swim would be on the Costa del Sol in the far south of Spain. You will have to be careful, though, in choosing where to go. If you type Costa del Sol into the search box, you will probably find many posts that offer helpful hints about pleasant and uncrowded places (which is more than I can do, since I am not a beach person).
Also, I have to apologize for having garbled my reply to your message "Honeymoon in Europe"; in the course of writing it, I somehow reduced your three weeks to only two. In three weeks, you probably can do Spain, France and Italy, but it will be terribly rushed.
In Spain, please don't think of doing Madrid and Seville and Barcelona, particularly since Seville and Barcelona are at opposite ends of the country. Fly into Madrid, stay there 3 days (the first will be largely lost to jet lag), spend 2 days in Sevilla, and 2 days somewhere quiet on the Costa del Sol. It will still mean quite a bit of travel, even though there are, as I recall, very fast trains between Madrid and Sevilla (you can look them up at www.renfe.es).
Even if you only go to three places in each of the three countries, you will have to travel on nine days and stay in nine different hotels. I'm very much afraid it will not give you the relaxation that, as you say, you will probably need after the wedding.
Please do think about reducing your plans to two countries and three places in each -- or two places in each of three countries -- for six travel days and six hotels. That is still more than most experienced travelers on this forum would suggest.
And do look into discount airlines at www.whichbudget.com, to reduce your travel time as much as possible. Flying with some of the European discount airlines can be as cheap as taking a train, and sometimes even cheaper.
In any case, San Sebastian is on the northern coast of Spain, and it would certainly not have beach weather in mid to late October. About the only coastal area in Spain where it might still be possible to swim would be on the Costa del Sol in the far south of Spain. You will have to be careful, though, in choosing where to go. If you type Costa del Sol into the search box, you will probably find many posts that offer helpful hints about pleasant and uncrowded places (which is more than I can do, since I am not a beach person).
Also, I have to apologize for having garbled my reply to your message "Honeymoon in Europe"; in the course of writing it, I somehow reduced your three weeks to only two. In three weeks, you probably can do Spain, France and Italy, but it will be terribly rushed.
In Spain, please don't think of doing Madrid and Seville and Barcelona, particularly since Seville and Barcelona are at opposite ends of the country. Fly into Madrid, stay there 3 days (the first will be largely lost to jet lag), spend 2 days in Sevilla, and 2 days somewhere quiet on the Costa del Sol. It will still mean quite a bit of travel, even though there are, as I recall, very fast trains between Madrid and Sevilla (you can look them up at www.renfe.es).
Even if you only go to three places in each of the three countries, you will have to travel on nine days and stay in nine different hotels. I'm very much afraid it will not give you the relaxation that, as you say, you will probably need after the wedding.
Please do think about reducing your plans to two countries and three places in each -- or two places in each of three countries -- for six travel days and six hotels. That is still more than most experienced travelers on this forum would suggest.
And do look into discount airlines at www.whichbudget.com, to reduce your travel time as much as possible. Flying with some of the European discount airlines can be as cheap as taking a train, and sometimes even cheaper.
Aug 2nd, 2004, 12:50 AM
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Thanks to everyone for their postings they are very helpful.
Eloise, so according to your suggestion maybe I should skip Spain and go to just France and Italy? Or skip France? or skip Italy? What does everyone else think? I'm sure there's nice beach in other 2 countries (France & Italy), right? Or should I stick with Spain and skip some other country? Eloise is right for R&R after wedding we might be trying to cover too many countries... but I'm not sure which countries to pick in Europe... Any suggestion PLEASE...
Thanks,
Joe
Eloise, so according to your suggestion maybe I should skip Spain and go to just France and Italy? Or skip France? or skip Italy? What does everyone else think? I'm sure there's nice beach in other 2 countries (France & Italy), right? Or should I stick with Spain and skip some other country? Eloise is right for R&R after wedding we might be trying to cover too many countries... but I'm not sure which countries to pick in Europe... Any suggestion PLEASE...
Thanks,
Joe
Aug 2nd, 2004, 03:02 AM
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Hi Joe,
October is very late for beach time in Spain (specially of you are thinking of swimming). Your best bet would be the Canary Islands, and I don't think you would have enough time for that.
If you just want to walk in the beach and relax, then any place in the North would be great. Maybe San Sebastian or Santander would fit the bill. Lovely old fashioned beaches right in the middle of the city, good hotels and better food (and more important, real cities, not an empty summer resort, or worse even, a place full with pensionists
...). But if you decide to go north, I would drop Sevilla from the list.
Another place I like is Sitges near Barcelona. A lively gay scene, but also a nice little spot with fine beaches, interesting restaurants and half an hour from Barcelona on a very frequent train ...
Rgds, Cova
October is very late for beach time in Spain (specially of you are thinking of swimming). Your best bet would be the Canary Islands, and I don't think you would have enough time for that.
If you just want to walk in the beach and relax, then any place in the North would be great. Maybe San Sebastian or Santander would fit the bill. Lovely old fashioned beaches right in the middle of the city, good hotels and better food (and more important, real cities, not an empty summer resort, or worse even, a place full with pensionists
...). But if you decide to go north, I would drop Sevilla from the list.Another place I like is Sitges near Barcelona. A lively gay scene, but also a nice little spot with fine beaches, interesting restaurants and half an hour from Barcelona on a very frequent train ...
Rgds, Cova
Aug 2nd, 2004, 05:34 AM
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For a "beach resort" trip in October, you are going to want to be further south than ANYwhere in Europe.
Think Florida, Mexico or the Caribbean.
There are plenty good reasons to go to Europe in October. I don't think that going to the beach is on the top ten list of those reasons.
The leading reasons to go to France, Italy and/or Spain have to do with an interest in French language and culture, Italian language and culture or Spanish language and culture.
When you make a comment like "I haxe [zero] knowledge of where to go to Spain", it suggests that you have done no reading about Spain. That would be a good place to start. Go to the largest public library or bookstore near you and obtain a good general guide book. Read it cover to cover, like a novel.
Whatever your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...
Best wishes,
Rex
Think Florida, Mexico or the Caribbean.
There are plenty good reasons to go to Europe in October. I don't think that going to the beach is on the top ten list of those reasons.
The leading reasons to go to France, Italy and/or Spain have to do with an interest in French language and culture, Italian language and culture or Spanish language and culture.
When you make a comment like "I haxe [zero] knowledge of where to go to Spain", it suggests that you have done no reading about Spain. That would be a good place to start. Go to the largest public library or bookstore near you and obtain a good general guide book. Read it cover to cover, like a novel.
Whatever your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...
Best wishes,
Rex
Aug 2nd, 2004, 07:51 AM
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I would think Nerja may still have beach weather in mid October, since we were there in late March, and it was warm enough to laze on the beach, and wade in the water. Nerja is a very picturesque resort town a short drive from Granada. As with most Mediterranian beaches it is not really a fine sand beach, but tiny grey pebbles. It is spectacularly beautiful, however, especially the eastern end of town.
