Hi all,
My partner and I will be doing a 3-week road trip of spain and spending about 3 nights in the Rioja before heading up to San Sebastian. The plan is to do a tour of bodegas and such over that time, and seeing the following places - just wondering if anyone has advice as to which places would be best to stop for the night and any hotel recommendations?

-Logrono
-Najera
-San Millan de Cogolla
-Santo Domingo de la Calzada
-Haro
-Briones
-Elciego
-Laguardia

thank you,
Jessica

We stayed in Haro, if you dig back a year you can see my visit report. Don't stay in the outskirts like we did, but there is a nice looking converted monestry close to the centre that looks fine, and more to the point easy walking into the centre of town.

Logrono is bigger but Haro has a certain oldie worldie charm and some fine bodegas.

I was very pleased that I chose to stay in Laguardia, and I offer my wholehearted recommendation of the Erletxe B&B, which still gets great reviews
http://www.erletxe.com

For more info, check my trip report -- just click on my screen name to find it.

Regardless of where you stay, you'll need to have reservations if you want to visit any of the bodegas in the Rioja. There are none that I am aware of that accept walk-ins. There are a few that have opened the wine bars for tastings, but you should check the hours.

David Moreno accepts walk ins no problem http://www.davidmoreno.es/ but you might have to listen to the old buffer sing.

Certainly you hotel will help organise stuff.

From Bodegas David Moreno:
Please fill in the form to arrange a visit to Bodegas David Moreno. Receive an e-mail of the confirmation of the reservation.

Enquiries can also be made by telephone 941 367338

Robert, from actual physical evidence, .... drive in, walk up and say hi. But as I say your hotel will do any bookings you want.

I wouldn't put Bodegas David Moreno in my list of must stops, but if he allows walk-ins, great, but it's very unusual for the Rioja.

Nor would have I, the area down by Haro railway line is more my usual stamping ground, however, despite the slightly disneyesque environement I found the wine to be pretty good, the tasting (only in Spanish) was interesting (after 35 years in wine education I learnt a new thing!) and a genuine pleasure of a visit.