Hi folks. New to the Fodor forums but read several helpful threads and have a few questions specific to my itinerary. Any suggestions would be welcome. I also apologize for the length!

DH and I are planning to visit Spain + England for 2 weeks at the end of Feb/March for a delayed honeymoon. I travel about once a year and spent 7 weeks in London back in 2006. Have never been to Spain or Cornwall, though, and DH has never traveled outside the US (blank passport, all ready for stamping!).

Some interests: enjoying the great outdoors off the beaten path, scenic drives & train rides, good/new foods are all great; also, museums, historical sites, anything I can photograph. Not as good: bars, vineyards, bus tours. We're on a moderate budget and plan to budget some nights and less on others to make the trip a little more special.

Tentative plans (nothing booked yet):

Depart to Madrid (overnight, arrive Sunday AM) then through to Valencia, 1 night
Euromed train to Barcelona, 2 nights
?? to Paris then Eurostar to London
?? to Penzance or Plymouth, rent car, drive around Cornwall, 4-5 nights
Possible 1-night trip to York depending on how tired we are
Last 5 nights in London, maybe 1 day trip
Fly out from London

I'm looking for advice on destinations in Spain and for the two ?? items above. This is still very flexible and open to a complete overhaul.

We have limited time in Spain and are not attempting to see everything. Valencia is on our itinerary specifically bc we'd like to see the City of the Arts & Sciences (well, and eat paella!). We think we have time for at least 1 more city, possibly a brief 3rd if we're passing through for a meal or train change. Does Barcelona make sense, or would Madrid or San Sebastian be better? Or skip Valencia for a more logical route?

Really wanted to try the Elipsos Trenhotel sleeper from Barcelona to Paris and EuroStar to London (one of DH's only requests). Unfortunately the Trenhotel does not run on nights that fit the itinerary. Is it worth the time sink to take the train during the day, or better to just fly to Paris and catch the EuroStar that way?

And last but not least...Cornwall! We'd like to take the train or fly one way, then rent a car and meander our way through Cornwall/Devon/Wiltshire over 5 days. Does anyone have experience and can give advice whether it's better to take the train or fly? Is the train route scenic or will clouds do just as well to save time?

[Aside: We realize Feb/March isn't the best time to visit the region weatherwise (it really hurt to cut the Lake District and Isle of Skye!)... We intended to go to New Zealand but after trying to piece together a trip decided to wait til we can cobble together 3 weeks off to go.]

Thank you for reading, and look forward to your replies!

It looks like you have only three nights in Spain. Really not worth it for such a short trip. And I don't understand why you have "?Paris" in there between Spain and London. If you do decide to go to Spain plus England then you should fly directly between the two. Check easyjet.com - they fly from many Spanish cities to many in the UK. Taking the train all the way from Barcelona to London (with a different train the second half of the trip) may sound like fun but it will eat up an awful lot of time.

But really I think that if you want to do Spain you should take at least one night each from London and from Cornwall so you have at least five nights in Spain. And if you want to do Barcelona and that area then fly to Barcelona, not Madrid (you might have to change planes but that's not the same thing, you would be ticketed through to Barcelona).

Not sure how great the weather will be in Cornwall in February. I've been to London and surrounding areas in mid March many times and usually found the weather quite pleasant (when it wasn't raining) - the beginnings of flowers, green grass,etc. But I think the Cornwall area is more of a summer destination so some tourist things may not be open. Also, although I've never been to that area, my understanding is that it does take a good amount of time to see and to get around.

Why did you choose the specific areas you chose? If there is no specific reason I might suggest the following: fly to Spain and spend about a week in one area - Andalucia is great in March, you could do a couple days in Seville and Granada with perhaps a day trip to Cordoba. OR - do the Barcelona area and include Valencia and perhaps a couple days north of Barcelona (even southern France). Then go to England (I would fly, but if you really want to do the train thing at least allow a couple days) but just do London with day trips and skip Cornwall for this trip. There are a huge number of days trips you can do from London so a week there is not at all too much.

If you click on my name it will take you my trip reports (scroll down) - I have done a lot of March trips to both Spain (4) and England (lost count) and wrote reports on most of them. You might get ideas about what is doable in a week or two (most of my March trips are about 8 days so you could easily do both countries as long as you pick one area of each). My photos of all those places are at: http://www.pbase.com/annforcier

I would certainly split my time evenly between Spain and England or just concentrate on Spain. Isabel gives some good suggestions.

Your travel plan from Barcelona to London then on to Cornwall eats up time and money. From Barcelona you may be able to find a flight to Southampton, Bristol or Exeter for easy access to Cornwall.

Given your interests, Cornwall's weather and gardens won't be at their best but still lots to do and gorgeous scenery.

I agree with the above. Pick one country because each is worthy of much time. Since you have an enthusiasm for travel, you will return. We travel with the thought, we would rather see a few palces well, than many places poorly,

You are moving too much and not taking into account how much time moving will eat up a two week trip.

Also do not be so cavalier about by-passing things on the beaten path, some are there because they are worthwhile.

OK -- your current plan is difficult to say the least.

Just a few of the problems:

• you won't have a day in Valencia - at least not a usable one. Not w/ all the travel/logistics and jetlag.

• You'll only have about a day and a half in Barcelona.

• Taking the train to Paris only to catch the Eurostar really doesn't make sense (yes, I know it is the DH's request-doesn't mean it has to make sense.)

• remember - 2 weeks really only leaves you about 11 days for actual seeing/doing after accounting for all the travel time.

So what to do? You really have two different trips here 1) Spain & France - or - 2) England and maybe Paris.

Either choice would make a wonderful 2 week honeymoon - just not all of it.

Oh - that should have said >> 1) Spain & maybe Paris <<

Thank you everyone for your wonderfully helpful replies! I needed someone to remind me that if I'm twisting my brain to find a logical route, it's most likely an exhausting and difficult one. Will take a break before reworking the list and come back with a revised version.

We're now leaning towards either:

2-3 cities over a week in Spain
Fly to London for the remainder

-or-

A train-based route, something like the following, except starting from Barcelona instead of Madrid and maybe skipping Bordeaux: http://us.railbookers.com/vacations/...tinerary-21059

Isabel, thank you for a lovely virtual tour of Europe! (also read your trip report from Barcelona and Carcassone -- what an experience flying with Iberia, and also to be locked in a church...!!). To your question -- we initially included transit through Paris to experience the Trenhotel and EuroStar. It incorporated train travel, DH's EuroStar request, a new experience (sleeper train), and gave us a way to move from one place or another without losing daylight (though costing as much or more than a hotel). But we realize we'd be tired and wouldn't get to see as much this way.

As for Cornwall, a driving/walking holiday through the green areas of the UK has been near the top of our list for a while now. We'd hoped that the first week of March would be getting warm enough in Cornwall at least. But per the recommendations we'll wait for a better opportunity when things are blooming and daylight longer.

Thanks again everyone!!!

OK, turns out I'm too excited about this trip to take a break! Does the following sound more doable?:

Fly to Madrid (via London), 3 nights
AVE to Seville, 3 nights
Walking tour rural Aracena, 3 nights
Fly back to London for remaining nights

Another question -- our Spanish is limited. Is it advisable to try driving (in Aracena)?

Thanks again!

Sounds good - as long as you just mean London and not Cornwall or etc in England.

Is it an organized walking tour - or are you just walking on your own?

The driving will be fine - I have lousy (virtually none) Spanish and managed OK

I'd swap out the 3 days in Arecena for an additional night in Sevilla and 2 nights in Granada. You could make a stop in Cordoba for a daytrip en route from Madrid to Sevilla. It seems a shame to be in Andalucia the first time and miss Granada. 3 nights in Madrid is still a little short especially as you may be jetlagged the first day. But if you only have 9 nights for Spain and want to visit Madrid & Sevilla then I'd probably sacrifice and have 3 nights in Madrid especially as the weather will be nicer in Andalucia. Other alternatives would be to split the 9 nights between Madrid and Barcelona or focus solely on Andalucia.

This is definately better then your first pass!

The Alhambra is one tourist destination that is worth seeing.

We have never been to Aracena but it seems like an interesting town.

janisj - Thank you! Yes, just London. Haven't decided re: Aracena (I realize now I actually mean Alajar); there is an organized tour through Inntravel that we might do, or another traveler on the forum did it on their own (with the help of a book): http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...de-aracena.cfm

Our main concern was driving w/o much Spanish, but if isn't a problem we might give it a whirl on our own.

CathyM and Golemtoo - Maybe we'll cut a day or two from the London leg to see more in Andalucia (especially bc if we do manage to return to Spain in the future, we'll probably focus on northern/eastern Spain). Off to look into it! Thank you!!