Family Trip to Spain - Need Advice

[None]

Hi. Never been to Spain, but my wife and I are taking my 10 year old
son there in late June 2005. We'd like to spend some time in Barcelona
and Madrid, but then want to get off the beaten path, so to speak, and
maybe spend a few days here and there, perhaps on the coast. Our travel
style is non-hotels (e.g., B & B's, villas, etc.) if possible. We were
thinking perhaps Valencia, Granada, etc., but don't know what other
smaller towns might be worth visiting. We'll probably combine train
travel with car rental, depending on the itinerary.

I realize this is kind of vague, but if you have suggestions on places
to see, lodging, etc., it would be much appreciated.

Thanks. Terry.

[John Zumsteg]

My favorite smaller towns in Spain are:

-Segovia (stay in the old part of town)
-Toledo (crowded with tourists during the day, so stay a night or two
so you can see the city when they've left in the evening);
-Trujillo (not much to see here, which is why we like it so much)
-Vejer de la Frontera (one of the "white villages" of the south -- no
tourists here)

I think you can pick darn near any small town and enjoy a day or two
there. It's easier to feel part of the life of Spain in the small
towns and villages. I highly recommend picking one or two and giving
it a try.

John

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 19:04:59 -0800, None put fingers to keyboard and
tapped out:

[Nick Worth]

HI Terry,

I'd like to second two of John's choices - Toledo and Trujillo.
Toledo is a "must-see" when in the Madrid area. On one day, my wife and I
took a bus from Madrid to Toledo, spent the day doing the tourist thing and
then rode the bus back to Madrid. It proved to be one of the hilights of our
last trip to Spain. Next time, we're going to do as John suggests and stay
for a day, or two. John and some others on the list can direct you to some
great accomodations there.

As for Trujillo, it's to the west of Madrid in the Extremadura region ...
Connie and I both really loved our brief visit there. There's a castle on
the hill overlooking the town and lots of great streets and paths to walk
around. And there's the storks! When we were there - in June a couple of
years ago - there were storks nesting on all the chimeny tops in the town.
They were fun to watch.
When we visited Trujillo, we stayed about 9K outside of town at the Finca
Santa Marta. I highly recommend it. You can find them on the web. Also,
there's a Parador in Trujillo, but I haven't stayed there, so I can't vouch
for how nice it is.
One caveat is that you will want a rental car if you're going to stay
outside of town like we did.

Finally, I know they're not off the beaten path, but I also love Seville,
Granada and Cordoba. And if you'd like to tour the bodegas and drink some
sherry and watch the famous Spanish horse show, try Jerez de la Frontera.

And feel free to ask as many questions as you wish here. The folks in
this group are a friendly bunch and love to share their experiences and
knowledge of Spain.

Hope this helps a little,
Nick Worth

[Gianfranco Spiteri]

I can agree with John on his list, was in Toledo, Segovia and Trujillo last
September and they are all wonderful. Toledo is packed with tourists but the
cathedral and the town itself are wonderful to just walk about and John is
right in the evening there's nobody around!
Trujillo is a quiet town, and its nice to explore on foot, walking up to the
castle and admiring the views from the top of the hill. And the plaza is
great in the evenings in summer! Segovia is great, especially if you can get
a room at the hotel infanta Isabel with a view of the plaza!
We also went to Caceres, which is a bit west from Trujillo, very nice old
town as well, beautiful buildings in the old part. ON the highway from
Plasencia to Caceres you can also take a detour to see Garrovillas, which is
a cute typical Spanish village with a beautiful arcaded plaza mayor and all
the arcades and buildings are askew!!
We also stopped for a couple of nights in Jarandilla la Vera, a nice quiet
village in the Sierra de Gredos (if I remember correctly), great for some
relaxation in the parador (and excellent food), beautiful scenery around in
the mountain passes...
Another place we stopped at was guadalupe - in September they have the
village feast which is quite nice to see, also great for the scenery.
Last place we visited was Oropesa, nothing special about the village, except
for the castle which is part of the parador (which has an excellent
restaurant!) but we used it as a base to see some other places like
lagartera for buying some lace and talavera de la reina (an industrial town,
but well known for the ceramics they produce)
When I have some time I should write a detailed report, but feel free to ask
directly on the places we visited. I would suggest getting the Michelin
green guide, it helps a lot with choosing which places to see...
Cheers
gianfranco

-----Original Message-----
From: John Zumsteg [mailto:jzum...@DirectionsConsulting.com]
Sent: 25 December 2004 20:47
To: trave...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [travelspain] Re: Family Trip to Spain - Need Advice