Honeymoon itinerary help

[Leah in JP]

Hey everyone! So glad I found this site!!

Anyhow, I am planning my honeymoon for dec. 29-jan 13. We are flying into Barcelona on Dec. 30th and departing (flying) to madrid on the 3rd, and staying there until the 7th, at which point I would like to explore the Rioja and Basque regions by car. Any suggestions on itinerary? I have a travel book and I guess I'm just feeling overwhelmed on where to go and what route to get there by. Oh, and we'd planned on flying back to Boston from Bilbao, but our flights are not booked yet.

Help!

[Ben]

You have to include a tiny medeival walled town on a hill called Laguardia. It's right in the middle of the Alaves part of La Rioja and almost every bar in the tiny village has it's own bodega. This means amazing wine in label-less bottles accompanied by delicious tapas - going at this time of year will mean you have the whole place to yourselves, and the locals of course. There are some amazing places to stay there too, including a castle built into the city walls. Ideal for one night.

From there I would drive cross country to San Sebastian, my favourite town in Spain, probably good for two nights, and just 100 km or less from Bilbao.

Logroño is meant to be very nice as well for tapas - another La Rioja town that might fit in on the way. Do try to stay a night in Laguardia though, it's a real secret ...