Message: Hi Bob --

I was on this site a few weeks ago and saw that you really like Peniscola. Can you (or anyone else out there) recommend a hotel? Ideally, we would like to be on the beach, but if something charming is not on the beach that is great too. We're already in Madrid and will be driving there tomorrow morning.

Thanks,

Dawn

Dawn, We did not actually stay in Peniscola but at the Parador about 10 miles up the coast--I would need a map to find the name--I think B-something.
We did eat in and explore peniscola and loved it. Good luck !

Hmmmm ! I sure hope that title does not get misunderstood.

Just looked closely at the thread's title. LOL!

Hi Bob,
Don't you wish we had the accents and tildes back?

WDB,
I think the Parador Bob refers to is in Benicarlo (with accent on the o); it's a modern one.
See it here-
http://www.parador.es/english/parado...?selparador=17

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ah.ha!

You can find info about Peñiscola and Benicarló on www.castellon-costaazahar.com

Thanks for all of the replies. Bob, the Parador you referred to was booked solid so we ended up staying at the Hotel Papa Luna on the beach.

Okay, Bob, it seems like you have been everyone from Spain through France through Italy, so you should be able to speak authoratively on this subject: The little village of Peñiscola is indeed nice, but I am beginning to despair that I am never going to find the kind of coastal village that I am looking for. The strip of hotels along the beach is pretty, well, tacky. And the water, while pretty, was sooooo cold and the wind was pretty strong too. Maybe I have seen too many movies or something, but I am hoping to find a small town on the beach, where there are no ugly huge hotels, but tasteful, small, fit in with the traditional architecture of the village, hotels; where the sand is white and the water blue/green and clear (see your foot prints in the sand when you are up to your neck in the water); where the water is warm (like the Caribbean) and where the weather is warm (I froze near Cadiz last August (I don't want to wear a sweater the minute I step out of the sun or go out at night)). The places I have seen in Spain have the pretty village and then the strip of monstrosities nearby. And a you couldn't get me into the water even if my life depended on it. I will be heading from Spain to Italy in mid June and was hoping to find what I am looking for in Sardinia. Am I dreaming? My daughter says to give it up and that outside of maybe Greece, there is no place between Madrid and Italy (north of Venice) that is nice, small, and on a beautiful warm beach.
I welcome anyone's views on this subject.

Dawn

Dawn, I am afraid I share your daughters opinion. First, there is the $$ thing. All of the best beaches have been over-developed--it is called greed.
And, the Med in general is much colder water than you may think. I have found some beautiful beaches--Sperlonga, Forte dei Marmi, Tossa de Mar, Taormina are some. But, I was preceded by a few million others and the big boys built their tacky monuments to greed. Now I live 200 yards from the ocean in FL and swimm in the ocean often. But the only isolated beaches I have found with decent swiiming in Europe is the Greek Isles. Good idea--you are 30 years late.