CONDE NAST TRAVELER names 18 best "hidden towns" in Europe. Numbers 1&2 in Spain!!
 

Villajoyosa, south of Valencia.

And in second place, on the same coast of Spain: Ares del Maestrat in Castellon.

Spain has yet one more on the list of eighteen: Castro Urdiales.

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/villajoyosa-spain-hidden-gem-europe?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=cnt&utm_mailing=CNT _Daily_PM_042524&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9c79f24c17c6adf38d497 &cndid=30133571&hasha=11f1c13bf393291d9aafef46d278 05c2&hashb=b82765c8aebd4ae34a7f106661465e7f7530c1d 5&hashc=1d7417b334a077ccfe409906a470838ced0c0eab02 efcc40ef272d1b2830acf9&esrc=IDCONDENAST_REGGATE&ut m_term=CNT_Daily

Same link, but shorter:

https://tinyurl.com/4urm3h7r

Side note: Georgia is not in Europe. They do not consider themselves Europeans.

Thanks for the much better link.

I missed the Georgian town, but it's hard to believe that the magazine could make such a mistake!! They need a new fact checker.

Interesting choices in Spain.

I wouldn't have voted for Castro Urdiales since there´s somewhat of an urban spill there now from Bilbao, a construction boom of high-rises. Not exactly hidden.
I would have voted for San Vicente de la Barquera further west on the Cantabria coast instead. Or Llanes or Ribadesella in Asturias.

Haven't been to Ares del Maestrat.

We looked at property in Villajoyosa but although houses there are a better value, Villajoyosa sits 1.5 hours from Valencia and a half hour from Alicante. James Edition sends me daily listings for it, like these.
https://www.jamesedition.com/es/real...lajoyosa-spain

Interestingly, Villajoyosa has a large Russian & Ukrainian community that I wasn't aware of until this happened...
https://english.elpais.com/internati...lked-into.html.

Fascinating!

What impressions did you get of the town, Villajoyosa?? Restaurants mostly oriented towards tourists? I looked just quickly at the restaurant and nothing stood out. Did not see any Repsol recommended ones but I looked only for a couple of minutes....

And the second town???? Must look online and do some reading, but honestly, how does the magazine even come up with this stuff?? And who necessarily needs a "hidden" town??
And what does that even mean??

Dènia is considered the dining capital, not Villajoyosa. The Costa Blanca is also heavily populated with German expats or second home owners.

I haven't the slightest idea how Condé Nast comes up with these listings. "Hidden town"???, I have no idea.

We loved staying in Getaria (just south of San Sebastián) a couple of years ago. Scenic fishing village, Great food and my husband went paddle surfing and I went to the Balenciaga museum.

Getaria is fabulous, truly charming and very friendly. Not "hidden" because of the fame of Restaurante Elkano, the "turbot" temple, the Balenciaga Museum and its being the home of Elcano the navigator and Cristóbal Balenciaga the fashion designer. But it´s one of my very favorite Basque fishing villages.
It does have one wonderful deluxe, and petit hotel, the Iturregi, and several lovely B&Bs, like the San Prudenzio, surrounded by txakolí vineyards. (Drinking a Bizkaia Txakolina, "Its Mendi 7" right now since I'm in Bizkaia rather than Getaria).

Garai, a pristine pueblo of 318 inhabitants in the Durangaldea of the Bizkaia province, east of Bilbao, might qualify as a "hidden village". It does have one truly lovely place to stay, the Oar Cottage, and 2 fine gourmet restaurants. It's certainly not known to foreign visitors.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...df692e8ca.jpeg
Oar Cottage, Garai, Bizkaia
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c4c10d711.jpeg
Views from the village of Garai-the "balcony of Bizkaia"
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a18e2aeed.jpeg
Village complete with sheep, horses, donkeys, 9th century necropolis, 16th century church.

Yes, not hidden but a lovely much smaller alternative to San Sebastián. We certainly enjoyed the turbot-there were grills outside every restaurant with the fish in all its grilled glory.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...9dbbd630f.jpeg

Yum!

Wuppertal, Germany is on this list? LMAO

Wuppertal?? Do tell us!!!!

I adored Getaria; the Iturregi is one of my favorite hotels anywhere!!
Balenciaga Museum...oh, my!!!!!
Elkano..yes, indeed!!

So now we have Garai to put on the "future list!!!"

The reason Wuppertal is so "hidden" is that Germans don't find it attractive at all. It's an industrial city with a population of about 350,000. Worth seeing is the von-der-Heydt-Museum (art museum), a ride with the suspension railway is nice and you might enjoy a walk through the 19th century residential areas. That's it.

That's kind of funny, Ingo!
Gives me now even less reason to pay attention to those "secret gems!!"
This forum has better information than that magazine.

I find these articles interesting, if nothing else. I do wonder how they come up with them.

I have to disagree that Georgia isn't in Europe and they don't consider themselves in Europe and that's a big mistake on their part. that would be news to the officials and politicians, as well as embassy staff. As for where it is, of course it is in the middle of Europe and Asia and is transcontinental. I don't think of places east of the Black Sea as Europe, but they do want to be, same as Armenia, actually, they want to call themselves Europe also. I don't even think of Turkey as Europe.

Georgia is in candidature for the EU and one criterion is that you are in Europe. But they applied to be in it, they want to be European.

https://commission.europa.eu/strateg...enlargement_en

This is their embassy webpage in the US
https://georgiaembassyusa.org/country-info/

which says --
Georgia is situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. The country regained its independence in 1991, declaring its aspiration to join the European and Euro-Atlantic world and to regain its place in the European family to which Georgia has always belonged.

We have a Georgian restaurant where I live, I really like their food. One of the best restaurants I experienced in Warsaw is Georgian, also.

Of course Georgia wants to join the European Union! They'd love to join NATO too.

In International sports competition, they compete as Europeans as well. So does Israel.

All fine but no one is going to tell me (except Fodor's) that Turkey, except for the small part near Erdine, is in Europe.

Obviously Israel is not in Europe.


I've always thought of the former USSR, including Georgia, as within Asia. I like the Georgian khachapuri breads but was not overwhelmed by the Georgian meals I've had in New York. But who knows whether a Georgian would consider them to be good..that's the question as I see it. I've no basis for comparison.

Signed, a geography major from an era when boundaries were boundaries

eks,
There is an excellent Georgian restaurant in Madrid, Nunuka, that's getting great reviews from the gastro press.


In fact, Georgia had a major, important stand at Madrid Fusión this January It´s the first time I've ever seen its presence at MF

I have been to both Georgia and Armenia. And I have been to Georgian restaurants in the US.

My three weeks in the Caucuses were the best three weeks of food discovery of my life.

In Georgia, my great meals were at guest houses. In Armenia, the food was spectacular throughout.

Georgian restaurants can come close to the experience in Georgia when it comes to the essentials of pickled vegetables, pkhali, katchapuri. In the US, you will probably miss out on the array of vegetable salads.

I did eat at a Georgian restaurant in DC with a Georgian. According to her: "walnuts, peppers, eggplant, what's not to like?"