marbella spain
 

My wife and I taking a 2 wk honeymoon to europe from the United States. One wk will be in Marbella spain and the other week is to be determined. Our week in Marbella is 7/11-7/18. We will have another wk in europe either before or after our Marbella trip.

Possible destinations from Marbella are:
1) Croatia - We loved croatia. We had a day trip in Dubrovnik from a Mederittanean cruise a year ago and have been wanting to go back. Possibly stay in Brac - one of the islands and take day trips from there. A friend of ours had a wk honeymoon and stayed on HVAR.

2) Southern France - suggestions are welcome. We did a day trip To Marseille last yr.

3) Balearic Islands - Spain.

Any thoughts on this?

Thank you all

I always enjoy going back to Avignon and can recommend it. There's plenty to fill a week in and around the area.

Balearics? Our favourite island is Mallorca, in particular the town of Pollenca in the North.

I've only done a day trip to Dubrovnik as well, but evidently it impressed you more than it did us!

Rubicund - thank you for your insight.

We did love Dubrovnik w/ the city walls and the gorgeous landscape. I have heard great things about the lake region - Plitvice as well. The thought of renting a car and traveling for over 4 hours does not entice me however. Is it worth taking a day trip and spending a night around there? should we stick to just the islands and perhaps spend a night on anther croatian island?

as far as France is concerned, I have been aching to go back there. i really would love to be in a little village with walking distance to cute wine shops, bakeries, restaurants and away from any tourist hustle. I would love to stay in an old French farmhouse with vineyard views. Being immensed in the culture would be ideal - with us attempting French & hopefully the French being being accomodating and assisting us. What specific locations in Southern France do people recommend? would gordes or Lourmarin be appropriate?

Mallorca would be where we would spend the most time, were we to choose spain island option. i also heard Formentera is worth visting.

Did you rent a car on any of your trips?
Thank you again!

If you like Dubrovnik then you will like the trio of Split, Trogir and Brak. Any one of which will be much nicer than Marbella which is a bit, garage owner/retired gangster with money/sheik avoiding the heat in the gulf sort of place.

Like Rubicond, I can recommend Polenca and some (but not all) of the monestries in the area for lunch/supper. The whole NW ridge is fine walking/bike riding with swooping descents to the plane below. You may also like to take the little train into Palma, taste wine in Binesallem and visit the glass blowers/pearl makers on the East side. A good place to rest. Yes I'd hire a car.

I've just translated your dates and July would not be my choice for any of the sites you have, but I guess the wedding is set now... :-)

Other choices, assuming that you do not include the last week of July or into August you might like Corsica.

But you will need a pool and AC in any booking.

A better place to stay in France mainland might be somewhere up the Tarn valley, often surrounded by steep hills and beside a bubbling stream renting a Gite near a village makes for a good break in July. gite-de-france is a good site to work with, but you will find most village websites also have gites for rent direct to the public by the owner.

France sounds like a good idea, but I think your expectations are a little romantic. You've picked out two of the most touristed places, filled with English speakers, for one thing. So that's fine, but you aren't going to be mingling with the locals as a tourist for a week, nor avoiding tourists if you pick places like that. And real small villages don't have lots of restaurants, shops, etc., either. Larger places do, though. Gordes does as there are so many tourists there. So if that's what you want, it would work.

If you don't want tourists, you have to go to other places and if you don't know French, it won't be as easy. But you probalby don't need it that much, anyway, you can just point to things in stores or on menus. Lourmarin isn't a very convenient location IMO.