mikelg

I´m a big fan of hotel Urgoiti, although on the outskirts of Bilbao it´s very well communicated, the place is wonderful (it was moved stone by stone from near my hometown and reconstructed on the present spot). I had a brunch there about two months ago and it was excellent. From there you can easily get to Bakio and San Juan de Gaztelugatxe and the coast.

Although I´m a big fan of Laguardia as base for La Rioja, it´s very true that the atmosphere in Logroño is perfect for tapas and outing.

JulieVikmanis

Mikelg, thanks for your info on Urgoiti. It looks like Saiaz may be full and we will likely book there.
lvs, the hotels I'm looking at booking are all recommended in Maribel's guides where you will find more info on them.
My husband isn't so sure of my answer on Salamanca. He reminded me of all the wonderful places to see (including an art nouveau museum that I really enjoyed--fantastic exterior as well as interesting exhibits) and said you'd need to get up pretty early in the morning to have enough time to do justice to Salamanca and then move on to Leon.

Revulgo

lvs, here's some recommendations:
Hotel San Antonio el Real, Segovia
http://www.hotelsanantonioelreal.com/

Cochinillo (roast suckling pig) in Restaurante José María, Segovia
http://www.rtejosemaria.com/cochinillo.asp

Hotel Las Leyendas, Avila
http://www.lasleyendas.es/english/index.html

Tapas in Avila: Mesón Gredos, Calle de los Comuneros de Castilla 4. Closed on Sunday.

Tapas in Salamanca: Mesón Las Conchas, La Rua 26
http://www.mesonlasconchas.es/

Parador de San Marcos, León
http://www.paradores.es/en/tratarFic...do?parador=102

Tapas crawl in the Barrio Humedo, e.g croquetas in 'El Rebote' or morcilla in 'La Bicha', both in Plaza San Martin. The Barrio Húmedo, literally the Wet District of León, is a reference to the large number of bars where "get wet inside your body".

A lunch in Oviedo (Asturias): fabes con almejas (kidney white beans with clams) at Casa Conrado
http://www.casaconrado.com/

Hotel Conde Duque, IMO the best location in Bilbao.
http://www.bestwesternhotelcondeduque.com/eng/index.htm

mikelg

you probably know this web page already, www.nekatur.net, for cozy accommodation at unbeatable prices, and all of them quality lodgings in farm houses.

In Bakio, close to Palacio Urgoiti, let me recommend two places

www.eneperi.com
www.zintzirierrota.com, a former grain mill

cruiseluv

Regarding Salamanca , IMHO, it is the type of place that it is very special to stay overnight. The color of the Plaza Mayor at dusk and later , with the soft lamps' light, is much more beautiful that in the middle of the day (especially in the summer months).

In Leon, if you stay up late, go to the Cathedral. Around midnight they turn on the lights inside and it is beautiful to see from the outside.We were there a few years ago, hope they still do this.

lvs

Thanks for all the hotel suggestions. I've got my work cut out for me. As Julie is already finding some hotels full for June I best get on this right away.

Thanks Julie for the link to your report. I will skip the water view at Villa Rosario unless that's the only option. Everything goes up in price in July, especially the air fare! Because of work that is when we can get away.

I was condsidering the Londres in San Sebastian for ease of walking around the city and dinner without a parking hassle, but I'll reconsider once I look into the other recommended hotels. Since we'll be on the water in Ribasedella perhaps it won't matter so much.

Linda

Egbert

I would want to stay in San Sebastian at least 5 nights , then hit all of those towns on kimhe's list, maybe staying in Getaria and Lekeitio, visiting the others.

lvs

OK I still need to resolve a couple of things.

1. If we stayed over in Salamanca as suggested it would necessitate reducing a day somewhere else. We could leave Salamanca early the next morning and then visit Leon during the day but not stay over, and then continue on to Ribasadella. Does that make better sense? The other option would be to eliminate our first night in Alcala de Henartes (as nice as that sounds) and head straight to Toledo.

2. If we did stay in San Sebastian (or somewhere near there) for our 5 nights, is it easy enough to get to Getaria and Lekeito on a day trip? Is the Basque region large enough that we should consider 2 locations, breaking it up to 2 and 3 nights?. If so, then what makes the most sense for 2 and 3 nights? We don't have additional days allocated to the region, although we will be heading there after our stay in Ribasedella so enroute we could stop at the Basque towns furthest to the east.

3. Madrid hotels - I've read a lot of reviews and there are so many to choose from. Anyone ever stay in either Hotel Intur Palacio San Martin or ME Madrid Reina Victoria? They were on some recommended lists but not on a lot of forum sites.

Thanks again,
Linda

jubilada

Getaria and Leketio are both very close to San Sebastian.

Egbert

Euskotren or the bus will take you to Getaria in 25 minutes. Lekeitio a bit longer. San Sebastian or Bilbao are the main places to stay in the Basque country. Anything else would be quite sleepy in my opinion, not really for me because San Sebastian is just off the charts in the summer. The Basque country is beautiful and tranquil though so if you like quiet and like to get to bed early I'm sure staying outside of SS would be a great experience.

mikelg

Egbert, in July, August and September there are festivals (fiestas) everywhere that last until dawn in many cases. And most of them run for a full week. So even in small towns you may find the local festivals going on...and music won´t go down until 3 or 4 in the morning. You may find some info on http://www.turismoa.euskadi.net/s11-18805/en/ or fiestas.net.

kimhe

ME Madrid Reina Victoria used to be the traditional bullfighters hotel in the center of Madrid. Reopened in 2006 as a hip, designer hotel. The location is as good as it gets and you would most likely have all the comfort you want, but I think there are lot more charming hotels around. Check out maribelsguides.com regarding accomodation in Madrid. She covers it all, updated spring 2009 (and she has many good things to say about ME Madrid Reina Victoria).

A good option in San Sebastián would be the more moderate but ideally located Pensión Alemana, 50 mtrs. from La Concha beach and in the middle of everything (close to both the seafront hotels Londres and Niza):
http://www.hostalalemana.com/ingles/index.html

JulieVikmanis

We all have our favorite little places and we all want everyone else to like them as much as we do--that's kind of what this site is all about. But none of us can do them all--at least when we're trying to shoehorn 50 good ideas into 10 or even 20 days. Something has to go. lincasanova offered one of her favorite spots--Alcala de Henares. Because it sounds like the kind of place we love, I jumped on her idea and we were off sending you east when your next destination (Toledo) is West. This one is a call you'll need to make based on how early in the day your flight lands and how much sleep the driver typically gets on the flight over (I'm assuming you're coming from the US) If you arrive early and the driver expects to be reasonably rested, just follow your earlier plan and go to Toledo. If you arrive later in the day and the driver isn't a good plane sleeper, head to Alcala.

Next several of us got going on how lovely Salamanca is--and we were off again. There are oodles of lovely towns in Spain, but you can't do them all. If after doing some reading about Salamanca (in addition to the urgings we've already provided you) you really think you want to see it and you can reasonably get to Toledo on your first night, see it with the day you've "saved" on that end of the trip. If so, I think you still have another decision re: Salamanca--whether to give it its own night or make it a day trip from Avila where you'd increase your time from 2 to 3 nights. Here you're trading off the wonders of Salamanca at night painted by cruiseluv against the wretchedness of one more night of packing and unpacking. Salamanca is only 1 hr and 15 minutes 105 km from Avila and the distance to Leon from Salamanca to Leon is only 1/2 hour and 63 km less than it would be from Avila. The choice is between beauty and ease, factoring in about an additional hour and 45 minutes of driving total for the extra day onto Avila option.

Driving time from Avila or Salamanca to Leon is 3 or 2 and 1/2 hours respectively. Leon to Ribadesella is another 2 hours 10 min. So doing that in a day is an option but to my driver it wouldn't be a very good one--and then there is the option to stop in Oviedo (of Vicky Christina Barcelona fame) enroute, which would pretty much be foreclosed if just see Leon enroute from Salamanca/Avila to Ribadesella. But it is doable, and might be the way to go to add Salamanca in. The other option is to drop Salamanca or trade Avila for it. Everything is a choice.

i hope this is making sense and that you're finding it helpful. Again, one of the best things you can do at this point is get yourself a good map, especially one where you can see the whole route laid out and then go to the Viamichelin.com site to calculate the distance between all the points you want to stop and those you want to stay, so you can see how much driving vs. sightseeing time would be available if you do this vs. that. Spain is a vast country with lots of wonderful places to see--but lots of vast openness to get through and over between one sight and another.

The Viamichelin site is helpful also to your decision about whether to stay all 5 nights in San Sebastian or to break the Basque stay into two parts. The distance from Ribadesella to Bilbao is 2 and 1/2 hours, 211 km. From Bilbao to San Sebastian is 1 hour, 99 km. If you expect to spend a lot of time in Bilbao at their museums, you might want to schedule some time near there before moving on to San Sebastian. Otherwise your options are to see the city and as much of its museums as you have time for on your drive from Ribadesella to San Seb.--or to use your driving day to see some of the seaside villages along the Cantabrian coast and see Bilbao on a day trip from San Seb. Of the Basque towns discussed, all are closer to San Seb than Bilbao, so once you've made your decision about how you want to approach Bilbao, the rest is easy.

Short answer, everything you want to see including Bilbao is within day trip driving distance from San Seb, provided you don't mind an hours drive each way. As I explained, we're looking at the same decision and I finally decided to let hotel availability be the deciding factor. If I can get the hotel I want, we'll do all 5 days in one place, otherwise we'll do 2 near Bilbao and 3 near San Seb. 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Advantages and disadvantages to both options.

ribeirasacra

lvs
Ref your point 1. Whilst I appreciate you have limited time I will think you will find visiting Leon for say lunchtime will be a disappointment. By that I mean you discover you should have allowed more time.
Salamanca to Ribadesella is about a 5 plus hours on a Autovia (highway) without stops. That makes for a long day viewing only the dash of your car.
I don’t know what you are expecting in Ribadesella, but personally I would look for a more charming location on the coast.

mikelg

Julie, it may be a bit tiring and stressing to drive for an hour on the VERY curvy A8 highway for someone that may be used to straighter roads...moreover after a full day visiting places.

So it may be a sound idea to stay three nights in SS and getting from there to the French Basque Country (as we name it, Iparralde, The North) and then two nights in Bilbao so you can see the coastal villages from there and maybe the Rioja region.

It really depends on how you feel about driving for one hour after a long day.

JulieVikmanis

Thanks mike. I'm starting to think that the 2/3 plan will be the best for us.

lvs, the hotel in Hondarribia that we're looking at is Jaizkibel not Jaizibel as I earlier spelled it. It's quite modern so you may or may not want to check it out as a possibility in the San Seb. area if you choose not to stay in town.

kimhe

When in the San Sebastián area, I very much recommend you to stay in town. I would have felt it to be a real downer to leave the pintxos/tapas/café scene in San Sebastián to drive/bus to quiet Hondarribia at night. San Sebastián is unique.

JulieVikmanis

Oh, Kimhe, now you've done it. Reawakened a question I had almost settled for myself. Town or country? Always a tough one. Do you feel the same about Bilbao?

kimhe

He-he, it's a tough one, but I'm seriously taken by the atmosphere in both Bilbao and San Sebastián.

mikelg

Both are small cities, walkable and full of life. Town.