Hello. I am new to this forum so please excuse any community related faux pas that may occur. If price were not the biggest factor, least auxiliary travel time or most interesting auxiliary travel being a bigger factor how would you do the following. Honeymoon planning involved here. We have settled on Paris for a week and Bilbao/San Sebastian and/or Bayonne for 5 days. As we have to use some of our allotted vacation days for the wedding and related activities, we are looking to ease the travel time to/from locations. As the trip is still many months away and airline pricing so fickle I have waffled between the following ideas.
- Buy round trip Boston-Paris (any of the major airlines based on best fit for the outbound flight timing wise) and round trip Paris to Bilbao (Germanwings/Air Berlin style low cost European provider to be determined).
2.One way Boston to Paris, one way to Bilbao, drive or train to Madrid or Barcelona then one way to Boston.
I have traveled by bus in Spain before (early 20s, budget was key) and you get what you pay for. Train or rental car to Madrid looks viable on paper, but kind of wastes a day. Flying back to Paris also essentially eliminates half a day. I have not been able to find a "Bilbao to Boston" return trip that doesn't make us connect through Paris, Madrid or Barcelona anyway.
Any thoughts?