Spain/Portugal for honeymoon

Hi everyone,
FH and I are trying to plan our honeymoon but had a bunch of questions. How much in advance should we book it to get a good discount?
We're planning on going for 12-14 days to spain/portugal. should we go through a tour or on our own? what cities are must-see's - as we want to see madrid, barcelona, sevilla, lisbon, etc. but don't want to kill ourselves. how many days in each city? we're planning on going at the end of october - how is that weather-wise.
Thanks all!

I think it's going to be tough and a lot of traveling to do all the cities. Spain is very big and you'll land in Madrid. Barcelona is all the way up top near France and to then go all the way down to the South of Spain to Sevilla is too much. I would recommend saving Barcelona for another time. It's very out of the way. A lot pf people with pair Barcelona and France together as a trip.

I would recommend going to Salamanca. I lived there for 6 months and it's a great little city and not far from portugal. I would say start in madrid and then head down to the south of spain sevilla, granada, cordoba are all great places to go. then head back up hit salamanca and then over to portugal. That might work better. fm if you want more details I'm very familiar with Spain.

Also I wouldn't spend too long in Madrid. 2-3 days is sufficient. south of spain is better. are you into beaches? what do you guys like to do b/c places in Spain are so different if you tell me your into museums, beaches, site seeing etc...

There are pros and cons to tours. Do you speak Spanish? Tours are great b/c it takes the stress out of traveling around. There is so much history in Spain and I would say you'd learn a lot more going on the tour than just wondering around on your own. With the tours your on their schedule so some times you feel like you don't want to leave a place but have to.

fm me for more details...I could go on and on!

good luck!

The previous poster had a lot of good points. I studied in Salamanca too! And I've been all over Spain. It's a great idea for a honeymoon.

I have to disagree with one thing - Barcelona is the COOLEST city, like EVER, and I would go there over Madrid in a heartbeat. Sevilla is gorgeous too but so hot in the summer you'll want to die. Salamanca is an interesting recommendation - I don't know, I've never been there as a tourist, but there isn't really much to do except wander the markets/streets and sit in the (admitedly lovely) Plaza Mayor. No beaches, and some public pools that you have to buy tickets too, if I recall. If it's at all practical in terms of booking flights, I'd see about flying into Barcelona and doing fun, active stuff there - museums, boat tours, hiking, etc - then, from Barcelona to Lisbon for gorgeous beachy-ness, and back home from Lisbon.