OT: Honeymoon in Spain

Well I've never been to Spain . . .

It's year 6 of Harbaugh, the honeymoon is over. 

J/K, OP. Congrats on the wedding and hope you enjoy Spain. In my experience with European travel , you'll have a better time staying put in one or two locations and exploring them a little more thoroughly than trying to hop from place to place . It's less stressful and you can dig into the culture, cuisine, and everything else at least a little more. I understand the FOMO with feeling like you may only visit a country or region once but unless you've got some particular sightseeing goals I'd advocate for less is more. 

I haven't been to Spain since the early 70's, so I don't think that I can help you.  I was actually in both Madrid & Sevilla.  I remember it being an incredibly beautiful country with excellent olive oil & cerveza.  Seeing a live bullfight was unforgettable as well.  And the afternoon siestas are the way everyone should live their life!  Everything shut down from about 2 to 5 or so in the afternoon so that they can rest.  Then back at it until late in the evening.  I don't know if they even do that anymore.  I am anxious to read some of the responses as well.  Congratulations and best of luck on your trip.  What a fantastic place to go on your honeymoon.

I'll be arriving in Madrid on a Sunday at 8:29a local time and leaving Friday night, but have fun on your little "trip"

A 4 day tour that hits 4 cities? You’ll spend all of your time on a bus! I would do a day trip(s) to Toledo or Segovia or both and 2 nights in Granada or Sevilla. Both are reachable by high speed train. Don’t spread yourselves too thin

All we did on our honeymoon was have sex.  Pretty much constantly.  Never even left the resort.

Best vacation I've ever had.

We went to Barcelona and Madrid last year. I would recommend checking out the palace and the main park downtown. Both were really great. I forget the names, but there are also a number of cool plazas. Obviously, the Prado is also a must see.

Also, not sure if this applies, but we stayed in Barcelona for most of our stay and did a day trip to Madrid. We left first thing in the morning and came back late at night and we didn't feel too rushed. Definitely think Barcelona might be a place to consider for you as well.

Hope your trip goes well!

I'm not familiar with Madrid/Sevilla, but my wife and I spent two weeks in Europe on our honeymoon and we spent all two weeks in the following locales - Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Cinque Terra, Amsterdam.

I would echo the comments about not spreading yourself too thin. Like I said, we had 15 days to explore basically four areas and it still wasn't enough. And we had a significant travel delay that cut our time in Barcelona short by a day-and-a-half. We were traveling during the major volcanic activity in Iceland and our flight from Paris to Barcelona was canceled. We had to scramble and got the last tickets on an overnight train, which was subsequently delayed in the middle of the night due to cows deciding to camp out on the tracks.

Europe is (IMHO) best seen on foot, and if you're a like-minded traveler, I shudder at the prospect of spending 4 days on a tour bus or in lines at major tourist spots that tour companies tend to frequent. We enjoyed the time on the train seeing the French countryside, which we otherwise wouldn't have. But we were bummed because we had to forego a lot of the lesser-known sights in Barcelona we planned to see due to effectively losing two days.

You can realistically see 3 cities on that time frame: Madrid/Cordoba/Sevilla. If you take the AVE (high speed rail) from Madrid to Sevilla you hit Cordoba along the way. I would recommend you take the train down to Cordoba, hop off and explore the city for the day, only the actual day, and then hop back on for the last train to Sevilla. Spend no more than two days in Sevilla and stay near the cathedral. Here's an Air BnB that is across the street from it and prime area for exploring: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19189101?adults=1&source_impression_id=p3_1579120277_1VhvB%2B7ylIcYBHxN 

Warning: if you don't get your tickets for museums/attractions in advance, you are screwed. I would recommend the private walking tours that include the VIP tickets to museums and sites. If you don't do this, you will stand in line forever and never see anything.

For the canary islands, Tenerife is the biggest/cheapest but also the MOST touristy and the food is not great - serves british expats mostly. I would explore other islands that might be quieter. Having said that, you can get a very nice "all inclusive" hotel right by the beach. I stayed in this one 20 years ago and the hotel, while super cheesy, gave us a suite with our own balcony pool overlooking the property/ocean: https://marenostrumresort.com/en/hotel-cleopatra-palace/rooms/suite/

Enjoy!

If you can hit Basque country do it.  San Sebastian (a/k/a Donostia) is a hidden gem -- well to Americans at least; you'll run into people from the Commonwealth however.

The pinxtos (tapas) are amazing and dirt cheap along with the beer -- try the local Keler 18).  The people in Basque country are crazy friendly.  I found it to be safe -- I slept on the beach one night (couldn't find my room) and there weren't any bums, pickpockets, or cops hassling me. 

Spanish is the second language in that part of Spain so communicating with my 2 years of HS and 2 years of college Spanish, rather than having immersed, conversational skills, was a breeze. 

Rent a bike for the day and pedal around town.  Go in the summer and taking surfing lessons.  Checkout the art museum.  You won't be disappointed.

Like others have said, YMMV with tours.  Spain is a safe, modern, country so you'll be fine with picking a couple of places and going on your own rather than with a tour company.

Congrats and have fun wherever your adventures take you!

If you can get to Barcelona do it...one of my fav cities. 

I was in Spain for a week last fall for a bike tour.  I started in Seville and ended in Granada.  But I only had limited time in each.  I would definitely check out the Plaza de España in Seville.

Along the way, I spent a couple of days in Ronda.  While the town is much smaller, the scenery (including the New Bridge - Puente Nuevo) was impressive and I had some great meals there.  Might be worth a side trip if you can swing it.

What kind of tours do you mean? Are these like city walking tours and museums? Because then I'd definitely do self guided and download a free audio tour from the internet.

If you're okay taking risks, one thing I've done is not book any tours until you get to the location. You end up paying a lot less because you can haggle with them and they are trying to fill spots last minute. Downside is it can be a little stressful for certain people being a foreign country with no real plan of action and you may not get first choice if theres a tour that tends to sell out frequently. Of course this only works if you were willing to spend some time finding deals, like if you stayed 4 days and wanted a 3 day tour. Use the 1st day for shopping for tours and for souveniers. 

It's hard to give real advice without knowing what kind of travelers you are and what you like to do. I think the advice to limit the number of cities you visit is solid no matter who you are, but which ones and what you should try to do there depends a lot on you. I would never book a tour at all myself. Among other reasons, if this is a once in a lifetime trip for you, you should eat in the very best restaurants you can manage to book yourself. No tour group is going to get you into a better place than you can find online yourself.

Also, since you are apparently connecting before a redeye, I don't think you should plan on getting much of anything done on day 1. (If you can sleep enough on the trans-Atlantic flight to stay awake until late in the day once you're there, you can get yourself on a normal-ish schedule for the rest of the trip by sleeping 10-12 hours in a row that first night.)

For me, Toledo and Barcelona are the Spanish cities that left very clear impressions. I still clearly remember parts of them from a trip I took there in 1997, when I was 13. (I also remember the Alhambra and Gibraltar, but neither of them really did much for me, and I don't suppose you'll be able to orchestrate accidentally finding yourself in the midst of a raucous midnight celebration of a big La Liga win no matter where you go.) Since then I've only been back to Barcelona, but after two repeat visits as an adult, I still think it's a great city to visit. (I am a little wary about political instability in Barcelona, though, if you are sensitive to that.)

Madrid is an amazing city - vibrant and full of culture. Spent a lot of time there myself and really enjoyed it. The Palacio is worth a visit, Plaza Mayor as well. If you like museums, Musee de Prado is a wonderful pace to walk through. The nightlife is amazing, and some great spots would be The Guitar Bar (locals pass a guitar around and sing, bar is known for a very long lineage of sangria), The Mona Lisa Bar, Cafe Central (Plaza del Angel) has some fantastic live jazz. Great restaurants for tapas or other local fare are all over. There is also a double decker open air bus tour that is really fantastic for what it is. So many sculptures, monuments, etc that for all the time I spent there, never saw them all. Happy honeymooning - have a great time!

Congratulations — and good choice going to Spain. The MGoGang has given you some good comments. Definitely be careful about trying to hit too many places. One, 2, or maybe 3 are best.

You're flying into Madrid. I echo a few other suggestions:

• Barcelona is great. (I've never been to Madrid but family that's been to both prefers Barcelona.) MileHighWolverine has the list: Sagrida Familia (amazing in itself, it's even better with a tour), Gaudi's Parc Guell, Los Ramblas, plus there are great — and small — museums: Picasso, Dali, Miro. (I swear there's something in the water: the weirdest of the modern artists seem to come mostly from Barcelona.) Look up Monserrat online. It's an abbey high in the mountains, a day trip from Barcelona. Though it's traveling to another place, it's like a mini-vacation to rest during your trip: get on the bus, chill on the way, walk around this amazing ancient place, then doze coming back.

• Also: wander. While you definitely want to see the stuff tourists see — there's a reason everyone goes to the same things — it can be fun to see what else you might find. One personal favorite: I like to see plays in languages I don't speak, and Barcelona has a big complex of large and small theaters. And don't forget Barcelona FC, soccer in the stadium built for the Olympics. (It's near the Miro Museum, which few foreign tourists get to.)

• Granada is great too. There's the Alhambra, which is impressive, and for flamenco, google the one/s in caves, a more intense experience than flamenco on the streets or in theaters, intimate and — though you probably won't need it on your honeymoon — sexy.

P.S. If it doesn't upset your travel plans, I'd suggest more time in Barcelona than in Madrid. (If you've been to New York City: it's like the difference between funky Greenwich Village and more corporate midtown Manhattan.)

But if that complicates things, go for what's uncomplicated.