Honeymoon Trip: Beach Stop in Portugal or Spain?
 

My fiance and I are planning on European honeymoon trip for next July (2011). He is big on beaches, and I'm big on culture and architecture. We are compromising by spending some of time laying on the beach, and some of our time in Paris. I spent a semester abroad in Rome, and have lots of experience with trains and budget airlines (woo ryanair!).

We are thinking somewhere in Portugal or Spain for our beach trip. I have read some posts about the Algarve coast in Portugal and San Sebastian and Tossa de Mar in Spain. I was curious if anyone had any recommendations for beaches in these countries? Possibly hotels or resorts too. I know the beaches are going to be crowded in July, but maybe there is a small town where the beach won't be completely overflowing? We are looking to spend about 200-250 euro/night on the hotel.

Thanks in advance for all your help, and sorry for the long post! Just wanted to share all my info!

ttt

If it were my honeymoon I would spend it in San Sebastian. The best beaches in Spain are along the north coast.

The North is less hot, but not less crowded .

Santander has some lovely beaches ( but,it is not a small town)

I do love San Sebastian, but the Bay of Biscay is the Atlantic and is really cold to me. I would choose Barcelona and the Costa Brava.

For a smaller, though not a village,scenic town, Hondarribia, is about 20 minutes from San Sebastian, located on the French border. There is a large beach plus a five minute ferry ride across the river to Hendaye France offers more beaches.
We stayed there after reading www.maribelsguides.com and enjoyed it very much.

We walked around Praia D'El Rey Marriott Resort in Portugal ,north of Lisbon. Nice beach, lovely resort.

Thanks everyone! After doing some research last night, I think I've narrowed it down to Barcelona and the Costa Brava. That way we can spend some time on the beach, and then head to the city. I was concerned about the cooler water and temperatures in the north. I don't mind hot, I've vacationed in Phoenix AZ in July!

Any recommendations for anywhere on the Costa Brava?

HappyTrvlr - Thanks for the link to Maribel's Guide. I'll definitely be going through that, it looks like there is some interesting info!

Well, Barcelona has beaches, too.
If you like you can stay as close as 2 minutes walking distance from the beach, e.g. in the mid-priced Best Western "54" hotel or the (very) upscale "W" hotel. Or get an apartment in that neighborhood called Barceloneta.
Which can be quite nice in summer after some sightseeing in the hot city. Or for a morning swim.

Technically not on the Costa Brava anymore, there is Sitges a few kms south of Barcelona. IMO one of the nicer beach resorts, with a charming old town and hardly any mass tourism high-rises as on the Costa Brava. Sitges is some 30-40min by train from BCN with appr 3 trains per hour.

We stayed in Tossa de Mar years ago---I think the hotel was Reymar---somehting like that--right on the beach.

The beaches in and around Barcelona don't compare to the North coast especially for clean water. La Concha and Ondaretta were the perfect temp. last July.