Luxury Spanish Honeymoon

• Pintxos in the Parte Vieja

  One or two at each bar with a local food guide, and a glass of txakoli, as San Sebastián does it.

• Bilbao, or the French coast

  A day out with your own guide: the Guggenheim and the old town, or Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

• The Real Alcázar

  Santa Cruz and the palace with a private guide, Almohad and Mudéjar Seville side by side.

• Flamenco for two

  A class for the two of you at the museum Cristina Hoyos founded, then its evening performance.

• The Alhambra

  The Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife with a licensed guide, then the view from San Nicolás at sunset.

• Córdoba, to end

  A last morning among the Mezquita-Catedral's double arches, with a private guide.

1. Day 4

   To San Sebastián, and the Parte Vieja

   A flight to San Sebastián, whose airport is 22 km from the city, and the afternoon on the bay: La Concha, more than 1,300 metres of sand, walked as the sun goes down, and one of our twelve treasures of Spain. In the evening, a pintxo route through the Parte Vieja with a local food guide: one or two pintxos at each bar, as the city does it, and a glass of txakoli.

2. Day 5

   Bilbao, or the French Basque coast

   A day out with a private guide. To Bilbao, for Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim, open since 1997, the Seven Streets of the old town and the new riverfront; or over the border, on request, to Bayonne, where the Adour meets the Nive, to Biarritz and the Hôtel du Palais, which began as Napoleon III’s villa for the Empress Eugénie, and to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where Louis XIV married the Spanish Infanta in 1660. Dinner at Akelarre, Arzak or Martín Berasategui, three MICHELIN Stars each; we reserve the table.

3. Day 6

   Into Rioja, and Laguardia

   South with your driver into the Rioja Alavesa, the wine country north of the Ebro in Álava. In the afternoon, Laguardia with a guide: the walled town on its hill, its palaces and the cellars beneath its streets, and the painted portico of Santa María de los Reyes.

4. Day 7

   A day among the bodegas

   Two bodegas with a wine guide and a driver: Marqués de Riscal at Elciego, founded in 1858; Santiago Calatrava’s Ysios below the Sierra de Cantabria; or the century-old bodegas of Haro’s station quarter across the river. Between them, a long lunch among a bodega’s barrels: potatoes Rioja-style, and lamb cutlets grilled over vine prunings.

Where you stay in San Sebastián

• Igeldo

  Hotel Akelarre

  A five-star house of 22 rooms on Monte Igeldo, every one looking out to sea, with Pedro Subijana's restaurant and an adults-only spa.

• Centro

  Hotel María Cristina

  A five-star house on the Urumea at the edge of the Parte Vieja, a short walk from La Concha, with two restaurants, a cocktail bar and river-view suites.

And in Rioja

• Villabuena de Álava

  Hotel Viura

  A four-star house of 33 rooms in stacked concrete cubes on the church square of Villabuena de Álava, with its cellar in an old underground passage.

• Elciego

  Hotel Marqués de Riscal

  Sixty rooms in and beside Frank Gehry's ribboned building, in the grounds of the Marqués de Riscal winery at Elciego.

1. Day 11

   By way of Ronda to Granada

   Across Andalusia with your driver, by way of Ronda. An official guide takes you over the Puente Nuevo, 98 m above its gorge and one of our twelve treasures of Spain, through the old town and to the bullring of 1785, one of the oldest in Spain. Lunch in Ronda, then on to Granada for three nights.

2. Day 12

   The Alhambra, and San Nicolás at sunset

   The Alhambra with a licensed guide: the Nasrid palace-city begun in 1238, its palaces, the Alcazaba and the gardens of the Generalife, the emirs’ country residence. It books up months ahead, so we reserve it as soon as your dates are fixed; it is one of our twelve treasures of Spain. At sunset, the Alhambra across the valley from the Mirador de San Nicolás, then dinner in a carmen, one of the Albaicín’s houses with a walled garden.

3. Day 13

   A balloon at dawn, a hammam and Faralá

   At dawn, weather allowing, a balloon over the cave country of Guadix and the Granada Geopark, about 60 km east, on request. In the afternoon, a hammam at the foot of the Alhambra: the baths at different temperatures, a traditional kessa on a warm stone, and a massage. A last dinner at Faralá, with one MICHELIN Star in the 2026 guide and flamenco with it if you wish; we reserve the table.

4. Day 14

   Córdoba, on the way home

   To Córdoba by high-speed train or with your driver. The Mezquita-Catedral with a private guide: a mosque founded in 786, a cathedral since 1236, a forest of double arches, and one of our twelve treasures of Spain. Then the Jewish quarter’s lanes and the Roman bridge, a last lunch in one of the old town’s historic taverns, then on to your flight home: the train to Madrid, or your driver to Seville or Málaga, whichever suits it.

Where you stay

• Centro histórico

  Seda Club

  A twenty-room five-star Gran Lujo house on the Plaza de la Trinidad, with a rooftop bar and a heated pool.

• Centro histórico

  Palacio Gran Vía

  A five-star Gran Lujo house of 38 rooms in the old Rodríguez-Acosta bank, facing the Cathedral, with a rooftop bar and a spa under a brick vault.