HappyTrvlr - This is the first time I've seen El Grove mentioned here. Fabulous seafood, and they have a Seafood Festival in October which we want to attend when we revisit.

Cowboy...Now there are some great suggestions. Well expect the best wine bit ;-)

Emily the time of year is important so that we can hopefully give you some ideas about local festivals.

I know one or two other semi regular posters will have some great tips too. Lets hope they see this thread.

riberasacra.. I knew the "wine ranking" is a touchy subject :-)
But only Rioja and Priorat carry the highest label DOCa.
But to be fair, I would not say that Priorat is that type of wine you casually drink at any occasion. It has a really distinctive flavour (and quite some alcohol).
The surrounding Montsant DOC is less pricey and while still having the distinctive flavor also has more "lighter" wines, more for "everyday use".

In fact, a travel route based on DOCs, and visits to the respective wineries (and lots of tasting!), will also take you into many regions of Spain where few tourists go. And will cure the visitor from the ongoing perception that your choice was limited between Rioja and Sangria :-)

DOCa is all very well but Torres wines are not grown in either area and Ribero del Duero is not a DOCa. So a bit like only having a list of luxury cars but excluding Rolls Royce and Bentley :-)

**Rioja and Priorat carry the highest label DOCa.*
What do you mean? They are the only areas allowed to use DOCa. However if a wine comes from these regions and is not bottled in that region then they cannot have the this label. But having these labels does not necessary mean they are 100% the best.
Read what Gerry Dawes has to say about the bigger Bodegas here in Spain:
http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2012/...drinking-seven
Here is what he has written about the wines form the area I live in:
http://www.sommelierjournal.com/arti...&articlenum=71
It is a bit out of date as there are only a few wine areas in Europe which are allowed to be called viticultura heroica and as yet no other Spanish region has made the grade.
http://www.cervim.org/en/heroic-viticulture.aspx

Lots of great tips here.

In the south, I have a very soft spot for Antequera, some 30-40 mins driving North of Málaga city. Population some 40 000, and a fine little town to experience Andalucian everyday life and culture.

Antequera is known as "the heart of Andalucía" or "the crossroads of Andalucía". Almost right in the middle of the Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, Málaga rectangle. Here you'll find dolmens (some 5000 years old burial chambers), Roman baths, a Moorish Castle, Gothic churches, Renaissance fountains and Baroque bell towers. Antequera was the first of the Granada emirate towns to fall to the Christians in 1410.
http://www.andaluciacoastandcountry....era-spain.html

I love the terrace in the corner of the peaceful square in front of the Real Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, the first partly Renaissance-style church in Spain (built 1514-1550). Up here it's totally peace and quiet. Next to the recently excavated Roman baths beneath and looking up on the 13th century Moorish alcazaba/fortress. Great views over unique landscapes (the spectacular Torcal limestone mountain etc.). http://www.wild-about-travel.com/201...ing-antequera/

Good ideas in "A tapas tour of Antequera": http://www.andaluciacoastandcountry.com/tapaspain.html

To further add to the debate of great Spanish wines, the following regarding Vino de Pago is from www.winesfromspainusa.com. You'll note that of the 13 DO Pagos, 3 are located in Navarra, within 30 minutes drive of each other; Pago de Arínzano, Pago de Otazu and Prado de Irache.

Navarra, outside of the Fiesta de San Fermín, tends to be off the beaten path for most visitors to Spain.

Spain’s Wine Quality Ladder (http://www.winesfromspainusa.com/lea...quality-ladder)

emily, many, many years ago DH and I did a tour of northern Spain starting by crossing the Pyrenees from France and ending up at Santander to catch the Brittany ferry back to Plymouth, and home.

As far as I can remember, we stayed in San Sebastian, Burgos, [wonderful cathedral but our car was broken into] Valladolid [fantastic museum of polychromic sculpture] Salamanca, [magnificent plaza mayor] Avila, Leon, and somewhere in the picos di europa where there were a lot of hunting dogs with numbers tattooed on their sides! we also ate lots of interesting things, including pickled sea urchin which even copious amounts of fino couldn't improve.

None of these places are exactly off the beaten track, but they aren't exactly on it either, and there are many most interesting things to explore roundabouts.

annhig, Mrs Bilbo and I did a similar trip in a TVR many years ago (nearest garage with spares, Paris) we got all the way to Santiago in two weeks. I still think the Picos was other worldly. Mrs Bilbo got out of the car to chase a cow with a crumpled horn off the road and ended up being chased by the thing. One big lump of the true cross up there too.

Hold on the TVR had a crumpled horn?????

ribeirasacra - I think it was the cow who had the crumpled horn!

Near the Portuguese border there is a town Alda de la Ribera where there is a fabulous boat ride through a canyon.

Take a look at my blog on my home exchange in Salamanca. I went to a lot of out of the way places:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...pain-2013.html

The TVR had a crumpled oil pan after I skid parked it on a man-hole cover when driving down a gravel road nearby.

I thought a cow with a crumpled horn was an object from fairy tales

Please:::: If I carry on about your TVR we will be going off topic...and I will show how Green with envy I am too.
I have been around the area of Verin, Galicia and into Chavis Portugal. Whilst this is off the beaten track I have to admit I did not find anything that endeared me to the area. Has anyone else?
Yes I know about the hot spring baths and several fortified buildings.

I have visited my grandparent's' villages in the Basque areas of Navarra. One of my cousins has a casa rural- an old house converted to two very nice apartments in my grandmother's village. It is right on the Camino de Santiago. My grandfather's village is I even smaller and more remote. This is in the Erro area, between Pamplona and the French border.

I have also spent time with other family in Lleida and visited wineries:

http://www.spain.info/en/que-quieres...del-segre.html

Interesting! We've been in the village of Erro a number of times over the years. It's a nice little farming village. We have friends from Valcarlos, which is as close to the Pays Basque you can get before crossing into France.

***It is right on the Camino de Santiago***
So it is not off the beaten path then?

That's 'trodden path', hardly beaten. No tourist, just pilgrims.

My cousin was a sheep herder in Nevada in the 1960's and went back home to marry and start a family. He practices his English with the pilgrims!

I suppose the area around Erro could be considered off the beaten track, I can only think most tourist would be there for the spectacular views, food, and trekking. Unless Robert has got some secrets?
Is Erro on the Camino Frances?