Amigos de Paradores
 

Which paradors would you recommend in western/eastern Andalusia and Extremadura?
Thanks,
RTT

Extremadura:
Parador de Cáceres, Jarandilla de la Vera, Trujillo, Plasencia, Zafra, Mérida, Guadalupe (in this order).

Andalusia:
Parador de Úbeda, Granada, Mazagón, Antequera, Carmona, Jaén (in this order).

Ubeda and Baeza are lovely.
http://geneura.ugr.es/ubeda.html

It depends of what you want to do once there. I like to visit the town and surrounding countryside, so my choice would be Jarandilla, with access to all La Vera region; or Plasencia, with access to Jerte Valley and nearby Candelario and Coria.
In Extremadura, the choice should be Caceres, but I have not been there. The Trujillo, Guadalupe or Zafra would be good for a night stop to visit the town.
In Andalusia, I prefer Carmona monumental city, Parador in an old Palace; same with Ubeda; and then Antequera, monumental city but the Parador is a modern building.
Granada Parador is difficult to get.

Forgot to mention Malaga Gibralfaro Parador, if you want a big city by the seaside. The Parador cannot be better located.

even if you do not STAY at the malaga parador.. you must go up there for a drink overlooking the town.( and bullring, josele?)

I love Paradores but I do it the other way, first I choose the place (town) I wish to visit and then the Parador. In as much as I enjoy been in paradores the mere stay in a parador, for me, does not justify going there.
In that general area I recommend Guadalupe, because Guadalupe and its famous monastery is a jewel, Ubeda because Ubeda and Baeza are fascinating small cities,
Granada because it is inside the Alhambra, Placencia is a nice parador but I did not enjoyed that much the town of Placencia, Trujillo and Caceres because both next door cities are fantastic,
Jaen is a little different, the Parador in itself is lovely because of the view and location on top of a clift, same with Carmona....I have never been in the Parador in Malaga but I take lincasanova 's word ....

Arcos is a modern parador but I loved it and the views from some of the rooms are wonderful.

While I loved the city of Caceres, the rooms in the parador, at least the one we had, are not as lovely as those in some of the others we have visited.

Jarandilla is fantastic..located in a castle.

I must add that I agree totally with
ekscrunchy, Arcos is very nice and the view from the superior rooms is very panoramic and exciting. True some of the rooms of the Parador in Caceres are not ideal the same goes with the Parador in Ubeda. It is easy to figure out that Paradores that were urban palaces cannot have ALL the rooms with views . On the other hand Paradores built on top of hills do, like Jaen, Carmona, Arcos...
in Lerma although it was a palace, the proportions of the Palace were enormous, so powerful was the Duke of Lerma the former owner of the palace, and many rooms have great views, also because of its location, in town but at the same time it is located at the edge of an elevation .

http://www.parador.es/castellano/par...selparador=105

Thanks EVERYONE for ur recs.
RTT

I tried to drive to the Arcos Parador, but could not get to it, despite signs pointing the way. Some approaches had "do not enter" signs, others the road was so narrow I scraped the sides of the car on buildings. Looked for a taxi in town, could not find one. Finally gave up and went to the parador in Ronda.
Paul