Repost - I'm planning a surprise honeymoon (we got married last year). Neither one of us has been to Europe before and since it’s a surprise I can’t get my husband's opinion.

Here’s what I know: Barcelona is a must. We both like side trips, a general itinerary but no set schedules/tours. We like small inns/paradores, wine and are on a budget. BTW, we’re mid-30s.

In general, I thought we could follow the suggested 3-5 day itineraries in Fodor's mini-guides for Paris & Barcelona. Below is the draft itinerary I have in mind:

Day 1 – Oct 3 – Arr. 7:30 a.m. CDG, Recover from jet lag.
Walk around city, see Tour Eiffel.
Day 2 – Oct 4 – Paris
Day 3 – Oct 5 – Louvre (closed Tues., too much for Mon?)
Day 4 – Oct 6 – Paris
Day 5 – Oct 7 – Versailles then dinner and dancing.
Day 6 – Oct 8 – Paris
Day 7 – Oct 9 – OPEN
Day 8 – Oct 10 – OPEN
Day 9 – Oct 11 – OPEN
Day 10 – Oct 12 – Girona, Spain (if we drive, it's on the way)
Day 11 – Oct 13 – Barcelona
Day 12 – Oct 14 – Barcelona, dancing
Day 13 – Oct 15 – Figueres
Day 14 – Oct 16 – Barcelona
Day 15 – Oct 17 – Depart BCN at 12:35 p.m.

Basically I don’t know the best way to get from PAR to BCN. I know it depends on where we go those middle days. Is it best to go to MAD or focus on the wineries in Southern France? From what I've read it seems taking the TGV is a good option but I'd like us to be able to explore along the way. Time and money are concerns.

I'm extremely busy at work until the 27th and unable to do much research/planning for our trip. I'm starting to panic b/c we leave in less than two weeks!!! I don’t even have hotel reservations!! Can someone please help???

I answered your other post You just have to click on your name to find it.

You state that you're on a budget. What is your budget? The budget is a very important question in both Paris and Barcelona so that people know what to suggest. If you're hotel budget is only 100 euros/day, including the hotel tax, than you're choices are very limited in both cities, especially for a surprise honeymoon.

One important point you may want to remember. Dinner is generally the most expensive meal of the day in Paris. Lunch on the other hand can be a real bargain. In Spain lunch is generally the largest meal and usually the most expensive.

I think, at this point, you may have problems finding a suitable hotel in Paris.

Check out whichbudget.com for inexpensive flights between Paris and Barcelona. Funny, I'm starting to plan a similar trip for DH and myself (but for our 25th anniversary!) and have some of the same issues...whether to see the smaller villages in Southern France or go directly to Barcelona and do daytrips from there.

I will tell you that my daughter was just in Girona and Figueres and absolutely RAVED about them and I plan to go to both on our next trip.

We've stayed in the Paradores in Spain and they're wonderful and very reasonable--you can get 5 day cards which are good deals. Check them out at Parador.es. Also, you can get some good hotel deals with Petrabax.com and sol-melia.com.

What a great surprise!

nutrvlr724,

As kenderina said above you have answers on your other post - here's a link;

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34680526

Jim

for flights at good price one way.. www.vueling.com.

usually about 30 euros plus tax.

for round trips, www.iberia.com may have better scheduling for you.

congratulations and what a nice idea.

If your going to Barcelona why not stay in Sitges its 15 minutes south of the city and has a wonderful beach and mediteranean cafe style strip, its kinda like a key west of Spain, My wife and I always use it we hate the hustle bustle of the city and the beach is a big plus. Plus Sangria flows like water

Thank you all for the wonderful responses and useful information. Probably the biggest concern at this point is a hotel in Paris. Budget is low, about 100 euros/night. I'd rather spend more money on food. Just need a good clean place with a comfortable bed (only there to sleep). I will check out all the suggested sites. Looks like flying is the way to get from PAR-BCN.

P.S. Sorry all for splitting this into two posts. If anyone knows how to link them or just focus on one, please let me know. I just wanted to change the title to be more specific.

Dacia Luxembourg... liked it very much. Have stayed there twice, but I hear there are mixed reviews about it on Tripadvisor. It's the right price, an excellent central location 3-star in the Latin Quarter on St Mich Blvd near Sorbonne. www.dacia-paris-hotel.com

My other word of encouragement is to not stress out in planning. You already have smartt plane tickets (into Paris out of Barcelona). I would get a Paris hotel booked, but beyond that you *could* wait and figure out the rest after you arrive.

darn it, the hotel i suggested is more than you wanted to pay, sorry it's been a few years since i was there.

lol - thanks suze for the words of encouragement. I think that's what I needed the most. I checked out the hotel and it is a bit more than I wanted but I like the location so unless something else comes up, I may end up there. what do you think of my other question - fly Paris to Madrid or land travel to Barcelona? or just skip both and fly Paris to Barcelona?

How long's the train ride between Paris and Barcelona? And is an overnight train in a private cabin a possibility?

If that's not particularly of interest to you then I'd probably choose to fly and optimise your time in each of the two cities. Personally I'd skip Madrid only because I like to keep things simple. And Barcelona seems much more do-able to me since Madrid's larger and I imagine more hectic to manage (that said, realize I have never been to either!).

My Paris hotel was in your price range back when I stayed there -LOL.

I love posting and reading here on Fodors, but honestly when I plan my own trips I keep it *much* more simple than most people here seem to do. I have been to Europe 5 times now, and have yet to plan an itinerary, tour, or restaurant ahead of time.

Reading a guidebook on the plane ride over works for me (and honestly sometimes I don't even do that but wait to pick up free information and maps from the hotel lobby after I get there).

I got curious and checked a couple websites. It appears trains between Paris to Barcelona are available leaving in the evening arriving the next morning (~12 hour trip). There's the Elipsos Trainhotel with 1st or 2nd class seats or couchettes (4 people share a room with bunkbeds) priced around $150 to $200USD

(sorry to be such a blabbermouth on your thread, i'm home sick from work today and bored stiff)

suze - definitely not a blabbermouth. thanks for all the useful info. if we take the train, par-bcn, then it would be so we could stop in 1-2 places along the way. otherwise, i'm not sure it would be worth it. it would be much cheaper & time efficient to take the flight on ryanair (which IS .01 euro). then i'd have more $$ for a hotel in paris. your suggestion is looking really good right now. i checked the voltaire also, great views, but it's booked. also, the notre dame. i'm trying to read threads to see if there's any other suggestions. i'd prefer a quaint little bed & breakfast and from what i've read the latin quarter seems to be a good location and the crowd around our age (mid-30s). please correct me if i'm wrong.

yes that was my impression of the latin quarter, maybe even younger (than 30-ish) as i believe it is a student district.

i think the flight sounds like the best idea, unless you wanted to day train and break it up into several segments.

for quaint B&B i'm pretty sure you could find cheaper than my suggestion (which is a normal small hotel) but don't know of any myself.

at some point in planning (probably you're not quite there yet) i feel any plan is better than no plan waiting for the perfect plan (if that makes sense).

good luck, this post has brightened my day. oh and belated congratulations on your marriage BTW!!

suze - i'll probably do a search for a B&B, if I can't find one soon then i'll go with your hotel. once i have that i'll feel more confident about winging the rest. we can always go over our options on the plane. by then he'll know we're headed to paris.
thanks for the congratulations. it'll be a nice 1-year anniversary gift that he's totally not expecting. he'll be speechless to say the least.

have you seen this? there's a list of hotels in your price range in Latin Quarter. the post titled "Overwhelmed with Paris Hotel ..." and it's towards the end of the thread at the moment