Honeymoon- France and Spain?
 

Hello all. I am hoping for some help/ input on planning my honeymoon. I am looking to go for about 2 weeks in early sept (9/7/14 for 11-14 days) to Spain and France. However I am very overwhelmed on trying to make a travel plan. I was thinking to fly into Spain-- no idea where to start and fly home from Paris. Any input, advice or good books/references to start me off in the right planning direction would be much appreciated. Thank you!

It would help if you could give us info on

1) your interests
2) your budget
3) what you expect in terms of amenities

ditto nytraveler!

Double ditto!!!

Sorry! I am new to this and it didn't occur to me to include any of that!

So....
Budget $3000 (not including airfare to Europe)

Interest- ARTS, food, local culture, sightseeing (would love to get some beaches in and Versailles/Paris if logistically it can be worked in).

Amenities- haven't really thought about this one. As long as hotel is clean/updated it will work. (I hope to be out enjoying the sites, rather than in hotel room.). Wi-fi would be nice and perhaps a splurge on a nicer hotel for a few nights, as it is our honeymoon.

Also we are in our early 30's. Not really looking for nightlife. Cafés, people watching, and admiring all of the history would be ideal.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I missed anything. I appreciate the input/help!

Also we are open to traveling by train, renting car or flying between Spain and France.

In 2 weeks you will be rushed off your feet. You might concentrate on just one place with surrounding area..
Spain---Madrid, Segovia, Avila, Salamaca,surrounding small towns, back roads..or Barcelona, Sitgres (beaches)Monsarrat,
Costa Brava, wine country, wandering around.Driving.
France---Paris, north (to Normandy) or south(Loire Valley)east to champagne country, after all it is a celebration.Driving---Train to Southeast of Paris then driving to Spain(Basque areas of FR and SP) Stay in San Sebastion or thereabouts and soak up all the food, wine and sun you can handle. Return car to Fr. as drop offs are $$$. 3,000$ will do it but probably just. BTW buses are good in Spain but don't know about France. Get a map, check out distances, and then play it by ear. Even throw a dart..You will not go wrong where ever you go.

assuming 2weeks --$3000/€2200 will only be

. . . oops hit submit by mistake

will only be a little over €150 a day. Semi doable - but not w/ car rentals/petrol and lots of moving around.

If you find rooms in the €100 range (there are cheaper places of course but don't expect uber nice or 'updated') only leaves about €60 a day for everything else. That is VERY difficult.

If you cut back to 11 days you get up to about €200 a day - more doable . . . but still not w/ a car/petrol/tolls etc.

Your budget is quite low for 1.5 to two weeks.

Ok great! Thanks for all that info. I will start looking into those areas. Is $4,000 more realistic? Or more?We certainly have time to save more-- I don't want to be worried about money while there!

What dollars? We use the € here. Dollars can come from one of many many countries.
If you are on a budget then do not move around so much less travelling saves on costs.
Stick to one country.
Slow down and see more.

Beautiful Sevilla could be ideal for a honeymoon. The undisputable queen of the cities in the south of Spain (Andalucía) with tons of Roman, Christian, Jewish, Moslem and Gitano history and culture. A major world centre after the "discovery" of America in 1492. Fabulous tapas bars, restaurants, theaters, museums plus all the famous sights (Cathedral/Giralda, Reales Alcazares, Torre del Oro etc. etc):
Short intro: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/sevilla.htm
Sevilla, "a way of life": http://www.spain-holiday.com/blog/a-...-andalucia.php
Video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnV7IkZU-OY

Fly directly to Sevilla, or 2,5 hours from Madrid with the high speed AVE train, city center to city center. And 1,5 hours with bus/train to Cádiz and the coast where you'll find some of the finest beaches in the country: http://www.spain.info/en/reportajes/...do_el_ano.html

Sevilla celebrates the 18th edition of the Bienal de Flamenco from early september to the beginning of october next year. The greatest flamenco artists in the world perform in theaters around town every night for more than a month. An excellent chance to experience this beautiful art so important for Sevilla and Andalucía in general.
About the 2012 edition:
http://www.flamenco-world.com/magazi...2012/index.htm
Promo for the 2012 edition: http://vimeo.com/20552887

Thanks! Sevilla sounds amazing! Will look more into that. Thank you everyone for all the info/advice. I really appreciate it.

$4000 (assuming US$ ) and 11 days is a MUCH more doable budget. That gets you up to approx €260 a day. Your money will go farther if you don't travel around so much. A couple of locations would be good.

Yes US. Ok thank you for all your help!

Agree that you're going to need more than $3K - that would by squeezing every penny in the cheapest hotels, lots of picnics and not too many sights.

$4K is better - but won;t give you any splurge hotels (for those figure at least $400 to $500 per night in europe).

I think yuo really need to read some guide books and decide hat YOU want to do/see, what weather you want (south of Spain is fascinating but hellishly hot in summer) and activities (Paris doens't have beaches - but you could combine with the south of France - one place - not a bunch.

Plenty of nice hotels in the best location in Sevilla for some 130-150€. For example Hotel Adriano Boutique: http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/adriano-sevilla.en.html

And also many much more affordable places available. I've been very happy at basic hotel standard Hostal Museo in the central and local atmosphere San Vicente/San Lorenzo area, some 45-70€/night. http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/hostal-museo.en.html

Some of the best tapas bars in town at the door step of Hostal Museo.
Eslava:http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletapas/2008/02/eslava/
Azotea: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletap...ory/la-azotea/
Bodegas Dos de Mayo: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...Andalucia.html

Save more money.

Seriously.

$3k for a honeymoon is nada - you will blow more than half of that on mid-level hotels.

Think $5k as a start point.

Thanks everyone! You've given me a great starting point on budgeting/saving and narrowing down where to go!

FOr a budget, you can estimate an amount per day, excluding your airfare and then maybe any long distance train or local flights, and build it up from there. Because that isn't too hard, depends on the level of hotel and restaurants you like.

FOr for a fairly "nice" hotel, and once you throw in "updated", I would count on 175-200 euro per night, at least in larger cities. YOu know that is the most expensive period of the year for hotels in many big cities in both US and Europe, so don't count on bargains in mid-September. So that is US $300 just for the hotel. I would count on 50-75 euro per person for food/drinks per day, and that isn't splurging at all. So that would be maybe another $200 a day minimum, plus then a little extra for local transportation and sightseeing. So now maybe US$600 a day without the major transportation, or $4200 per week.