Hi all,<BR><BR>My fiance and I are researching southern Spain as a honeymoon destination for April 2003. Is it silly to go to southern Spain before the real beach season begins? Or are there plenty of wonderful things to do besides laying around on a beach? <BR><BR>We are considering Mollorca and Estepona (Las Dunas) and a few other places, combined with time in Seville, Granada and maybe even some of Portugal. We have two weeks.<BR><BR>Many thanks.

it is NEVER silly to go to spain, especially for a first time - frankly, if it's beach time you want, you'd be better off in the virgin islands or anywhere else in the caribbena, or maybe greece/turkey - spain has too much to offer to lay around on a beach (i spent 3+ weeks in december and ran out of time for my agenda: madrid and segovia (3 days), onto southern spain via granada (3 days), seville (3 days), valencia and barcelona (6 days) and just bumming around the andalucian countryside tasting all the goodies <BR>... I think you'll take one look at the beach and say bahhhh, let's go back to civilization

Thanks for your reply, Lili. We are not beach people normally at all. But we have been forewarned that after the craziness of our wedding, we will most likely be exhausted and will want at least a few days to decompress before charging ahead on an exhausting vacation.<BR><BR>So really what we want to know is where we can catch a few days of relaxation (and romance!) in southern Spain before heading out to see the sights.<BR><BR>Thanks!!!

Congradulations on your upcoming marriage.<BR><BR>I agree with Lili. If it's just beach you want, go somewhere else, but I think Spain is absolutely fabulous and has so much to offer.<BR><BR>Check out the guidebooks--Fodors, Frommers, Rick Steves are all very good to name but a few and several websites for Spain--okspain.org, spainalive.com, tourspain.es, spainlist.com, to name but a few, and you'll see that Spain has so much to offer.<BR><BR>We stayed at the Marriott Marbella and it was on the beach, and while the beach and pool were lovely, there was so much else to see and do in the area, we hardly saw the beach. <BR><BR>However, this was our 20th anniversery, not our honeymoon, so you may want to just "hang around" the room and beach more, but if it's just beach you want, as Lili said, other places might be better. It depends on you, but Spain is really fantastic.<BR><BR>

Just back from Southern Spain. I know I am way into the minority here, but I was not impressed. It is built up like Miami beach without a shred of atmosphere. There is so much building going on it is beyond belief. We counted 127 cranes from Marbella to Tarifa. Not attractive. And the resorts they are building look like Levittown. The shops at Porto Banus were either K-mart quality or Dior. The food was great and so was the music. The people were friendly and the weather was perfect, but this wasn't enough to make us come back again. In fact, we changed our flight out of Malaga to get us out of there early so we could spend a few more days in Barcelona. We stayed at Las Dunas in Estepona. The ocean view room that I booked in February actually faced the general direction, but one could not really see the ocean, though, one had paid extra to do so. The beach is non-existant. There is 5 feet of mucky, seaweed strewn sand. They have a raised platform with some lounge chairs on it, but the flies are so bad from the rotting seaweed that it is impossible to sit out there. Lunch buffet by the pool is $55 per person, or you can opt for the $19 hamburger. Concierge was great, but the rest of the staff appeared to be on vacation. Never saw more than 2 workers in a day. By the way, when you pull up with your rental car and bags, the valet most generously offers to park your car for you. Into the garage it goes. If you ask, you will find out that the parking garage is $12 per day, but if you park it yourself in the lot, it is free. They don't tell you that when you pull up. And, don't even get me started on the invasion of ants in the room. Skip southern Spain for romance. You will find more romance in Granada, Seville and Portugal.

Hello Brook, Forget the beach--that is not the best reason to see Andalusia. <BR>Paula did her 20th and we did our 40th in 1999---spending 2 weeks in southern spain as part of an 8 week trip. I would try to include time in Nerja and Ronda in addition to the obvious major cities. Seville and Granada are musts.<BR>That is a good time for Spain.

Wow. Thanks for your responses, everyone. So it seems that maybe Seville, Granada, Nerja and Ronda are the way to go? (We are thinking that we will tackle Madrid and Barcelona on another trip.) And then maybe a few days in Portugal ...

Brook: If you're not a "lay around" type normally I doubt your honeymoon will be any different. I went for three weeks to Italy the day after I got married and we never slowed down, nor did we regret chosing Europe as our honeymoon destination. Some people like lazy vacations, others don't. Here is a link to my trip report of Spain and Portugal, to give you an idea. http://www.markandmonica.com/Travel/iberia.htm<BR> Your latest itinerary sounds good to me.

Monica, your travel itinerary was incredibly helpful to read. Thank you so much for posting the link!

Ellen, in reference to your advice to Brook, you advised her to "Skip southern Spain for romance. You will find more romance in Granada, Seville and Portugal." You had me laughing out loud with such idiotic remark. Where do you think Granada and Seville are located? You are the type of tourist that does little research, travels cheap and then comes back talking pure trash thinking they are the Rick Steves of the Midwest. <BR><BR>....but my favorite really was--"Just back from Southern Spain. I know I am way into the minority here, but I was not impressed. It is built up like Miami beach without a shred of atmosphere. There is so much building going on it is beyond belief".- If you only visit this forum for one day, you would had quickly LEARN which cities are tourist traps and to stay away from. To characterize Southern Spain as having "no atmosphere" is the most comical remark I have read on this forum. Please stay out of Europe. We certainly can do without your type.

<BR>Dear Brook:<BR><BR>I don't know when Easter will be in 2003 but I'm assuming it will be in April.<BR>During Semana Santa (week before Easter), half the population of Spain goes on vacation, getting hotel reservations in many places can be very difficult even if you started booking many months in adevance, and many popular tourist destinations such as Seville are VERY crowded. Another April festivitiy in Seville is the Feria - same caveats as Semana Santa.<BR><BR>I am not as big a fan of Nerja as many posters on this board, but it is a nice enough little beach town (full of British tourists and ex-patriates as are many Costa del Sol towns). The beaches there are not sand but pebbles and gravel. Frankly, I agree with some of the other posters on this board - as much as I adore Spain - if you want a gorgeous white powder sand, turquoise water beach, go to the Caribbean. <BR><BR>You can however relax at the parador in Nerja which has glorious views of the Med and a very nice pool to lounge beside (maybe it will be warm enough to take a dip during April).<BR><BR>You might consider looking up some of the other paradors (www.parador.es) in less-travelled locations in Andalusia as places to "relax" for a few days before starting a hectic sight-seeing tour. Some of them have pools, too! <BR> <BR>Andalusia is a wonderful place for a honeymoon - if you want romance, try staying at the Parador in Granada and wandering around in the gardens and palaces at night when you have the place to yourself. But make your reservation for there TODAY.

My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Estepona in late May 2002. We loved it, but here are some caveats to be aware of. By late May, it was plenty hot, but the unheated outdoor pools were still warming up, so it hadn't been that way for a while. Also, the mediteranean in Estepona that time of the year is pretty cold - and there are places where the beach is more rocks than sand. We're beach people, but spent all our time by the pools (heated was preferred) because it was closer to the bar and nicer and warmer than the beach.<BR><BR>That said, we loved the Kempinski Hotel in Estepona. Really a top notch hotel with wonderful service and great food. They have a honeymoon package with champagne, flowers, chocolates, and the whole thing. I don't know anything about Las Dunas.<BR><BR>If the weather's cold, Ronda, Marbella, and Gibraltar are close. Sevilla and Granada are a few hours away, but worth the trip. We did two weeks- a week on the beach and a week traveling- and it was great. Enjoy yourself.

Brook -- I spent my honeymoon in southern Spain in Sept. 2000. I can't tell you about weather in April, but I can tell you that we really enjoyed Andalusia for a honeymoon.<BR><BR>I agree that you should think about a relaxing locale for the first few days of your honeymoon. You will want to decompress. We stayed at Las Dunas and had a completely different experience than Ellen. We had a beautiful room with a balcony -- not beach-view, but garden view, which was lovely. The room was beautiful with a very luxurious bathroom. There was a fruit basket upon arrival and when we bought a bottle of wine, they quickly obliged with glasses and corkscrew. The staff was very helpful. We loved the poolside area (although the beach isn't much to speak of) -- cabana service, beautiful pool and fountain, great service, etc. From Las Dunas, we took a day trip to Ronda.<BR><BR>After relaxing there, we went on to Cordoba, Granada and Seville. We loved Granada and Seville. In Seville, we stayed at Casa Imperial and really liked it. Cordoba, was okay for a day, but not much more.<BR><BR>Let me know if I can provide any additional information.

Brook,<BR>Two weeks in Andalucia for yor honeymoon. You lucky things! You will not be disappointed.<BR>I completely agree with the visits to all those cities mentioned by the other respondees including the smaller places of Ronda and Nerja. I would also add Antequerra. This will be tiring.<BR>I note though in one of your own responses that the wedding will be somewhat frenetic and time to chill by a beach would be good for you.<BR>So here is the lecture...stay away from the Med. coast it is, as a previous writer said, a building site. Go instead to the Atlantic coast.<BR>We have just come back from 7 days walking along this coast from Tarifa to Conil de la Fronterra and the beaches are intoxicating and not at all crowded (sometimes even empty). There was (and still is, of course) even an ancient ruined Roman village to explore en route.<BR>And after the lecture here is a warning.<BR>If you do not stay at least two(2) nights (3 days) at The Hurricane Hotel, right on the beach just outside Tarifa, you will regret it for the rest of your lives and will have missed one of THE places to relax and do the honeymoon thing.<BR>Link: http://www.hurricanehotel.com<BR>another http://www.andalucia.com for general information.<BR>Getting too long now but just in ending; don't forget to kick back with a chilled bone dry sherry or two from Jerez but better still the drier Manzanilla from Sanlucar de Barrameda further along the coast.<BR><BR>Good researching,<BR>Tony

Hi brook--I will be in Southern Spain for a week this September. It's been 25 years since I spent a year living in Seville--but one of the most beautiful beaches I visited was Lagos in the Algarve region of Portugal. I think you should look into a few days tehre and then a great few days in Sevilla, Granada, etc.Maybe others have been. Congrats and good luck!

Brook,<BR>Congratulations and what a great honeymoon destination.<BR><BR>Early April will probably be too cool for the beach, plus the beach areas, especially the Med. are very built up ( although I enjoyed two days in mostly shuttered S'agaro a few years ago in early April--VERY windy and cool).<BR><BR>You've received great advice from all the posters. Do a search and see if you can locate posts by Maribel. She is our resident expert on Spain. <BR><BR>Have fun--it's lovely--don't miss the Alhambra.<BR><BR>M.

interested in cadiz - does anyone have any info?

Cameron - you are certainly entitled to your opinion, as I am mine. As for research, I did plenty. As for money, I spent plenty. I believe Las Dunas was $300 per night ++. Perhaps my wording about Southern Spain vs Costa del Sol was confusing, but really didn't warrant an attack from you. I consider Marbella and Estepona to be Costa del Sol. I was concerned about Estepona being a tourist trap, but the location was good for day trips. I considered Granada and Seville as Andalusia. I could be wrong. However, my opinion of romance on the Costa del Sol stands. Granada and Seville, however, were absolutely gorgeous at night, and strolling hand in hand after dinner was a pleasure. So, I will continue to go to Europe and take the good with the bad. If you have a problem with that Cameron, well, that's just too bad. Perhaps if you don't like differing opinions you shouldn't visit travel boards. I certainly wish some-one here had warned me of the non-existant beach & the $55 lunch at Las Dunas.