Spain trip report: June 2013
Aug 31st, 2013, 02:27 AM
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Spain trip report: June 2013
Hi all,
I feel a little remiss not having posted this earlier - especially given the assistance so many helpful Fodorites provided in making it a great trip for us. But I would like to write a report about our semi-recent trip to Spain. We
spent a total of 14 full nights in Spain (not including our travel time to/from Sydney). Our itinerary was as follows:
Date: Night spent:
Thu, 30 May 2013 Fly from Sydney
Fri, 31 May 2013 Arrive Madrid
Sat, 01 Jun 2013 Madrid
Sun, 02 Jun 2013 Madrid
Mon, 03 Jun 2013 Toledo
Tue, 04 Jun 2013 Granada (via Consuegra)
Wed, 05 Jun 2013 Granada (visit Alhambra)
Thu, 06 Jun 2013 Seville (via Cordoba)
Fri, 07 Jun 2013 Seville
Sat, 08 Jun 2013 Seville
Sun, 09 Jun 2013 Seville
Mon, 10 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Tue, 11 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Wed, 12 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Thu, 13 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Fri, 14 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Sat, 15 Jun 2013 Fly from Madrid
An album of a few photos of each place is here: http://imgur.com/a/XrGmm
Firstly, we flew from Sydney on 30 May on Emirates into Madrid via Dubai. Emirates is our preferred airline for all travel, and they were typically good on all legs. Arriving in Madrid we found it relatively easy to get a taxi to our
hotel (Hotel Preciados, which was selected due to its high rating on Trip Advisor), although the cost was higher than expected (35 euro), perhaps partially due to the bad traffic (arriving on a Friday afternoon didn't help, no doubt).
In terms of accommodation in Madrid, Hotel Preciados was disappointing. Our expectations were high due to its high TripAdvisor rating, but it underwhelmed. There wasn't anything specifically wrong with it (nothing worth labouring on,
anyway), but it wasn't a highlight. Which I think, in fact, can be said of our first couple of days in Madrid. It felt like a big city, as it is, and we didn't really get into the groove of it - partially due to jet lag and a bout of
sickness.
After Madrid we sent off for a trip to Toledo, having picked up a car (rented from Sixt; found them very good!). The drive to Toledo was easy (in fact, most of Spain was easy to drive. It was far more leisurely and pleasant than Italy),
and we arrived at this historic old city early afternoon. Our hotel was Hotel Carlos V (http://www.carlosv.com/en) - right in the old town, in a fantastic location. We loved this little place - it was clean, spacious, well located, an
excellent price, and the staff friendly and helpful - the second best hotel on our trip and thoroughly recommended. We definitely loved Toledo, and were glad we spent the night also. As many people have said - it's a different city at
night with all the tourists gone.
From Toledo we drove to Granada via the Consuegra windmills. The windmills were definitely worth the detour (I have included a couple of images in the album), and we also did the castle walk, which was also really fascinating. Then the
drive on to Granada. Many people had commented that it is a rather boring drive, but we enjoyed the scenery and just enjoyed driving through the Spanish countryside. As I earlier mentioned, we found the driving quite refreshing and
leisurely.
Arriving in Granada, we navigated to our hostel - Hostel Rodri. I cannot praise this little hostel enough. 45 euro a night for two and it honestly is hands down the best little place I have stayed anywhere. The reviews on TripAdvisor
certainly do reflect how good it is. Stay there if you're going!
We absolutely loved Granada. We did a night visit to the Alhambra, which was stunning, as well as a visit the following day, where we spent 3 1/2 hours (and could have spent much more time there). It really is one of the most amazing
places we have ever visited. Its scale and beauty is incredible. Unfortunately we only spent two nights in Granada, but I could easily have spent a week there, and it will certainly be one of my places to return to at some stage
(hopefully soon!).
It has this perfectly complementing mix of old and new, and a great feel to the entire place.
From Granada we drove to Seville, via Cordoba. In Cordoba we visited the Mezquita, which was stunning (I'm running out of and using too many superlatives, but it really was). Coming from a country like Australia, where we are relatively
new, the history and architecture is quite overwhelming.
We didn't see much else in Cordoba and drove on to Seville.
In Seville we stayed at Corral Del Rey (this was our splurge hotel), and it met expectations (which were very high). Service was good, the room lovely. We expected Seville to be the place we fell in love with, but I think that honour
had already been taken by Granada. But we enjoyed Seville nonetheless, and unexpectedly found it to have the best food we had in all of Spain (we expected that honour to go to San Sebastian). Perhaps we just had some particularly good
recommendations (El Bulli, for example, was great). We saw all the normal sites in Seville, and found both its nightlife and daylife enjoyable.
From Seville we did a day trip to Ronda, driving via Grazelema and Zahara on the way there (a worthwhile detour, with some stunnings views, and a great drive through the mountains) and Setenil de las Bodegas on the way back. We were
only in Ronda enough time to have lunch and see the gorge, but it was a really nice day and we were glad to have done it.
From Seville we then flew to Bilbao, and then caught a bus to San Sebastian - flying Iberia (although it was a Vueling plane). Flight was fine and the service of the check in staff was good.
In San Sebastian we stayed at pension Amaiur. We expected a lot of this place given the TripAdvisor reviews, but it also underwhelmed a little - although it was still good, and is in an excellent location, right in the old town. For us,
San Sebastian was to be one of the highlights of the trip - and we had five nights here to really relax before the long flight back to Sydney. The idea was to eat eat eat pintxos, which we did, and we had one 3 michelin star restaurant
to go to - Akelarre (I will separately review this and post photos if anyone is interested).
It took a little while to get into the groove of pintxos, but by the second or third day, we were quite familiar with the routine. We ate a lot of pintxos and visited a lot of bars in the 5 days/nights we were there. One of our
favourites was Astelena 1960 (in constitution plaza), but we also really enjoyed Casa Urola and de San Telmo.
From San Sebastian we also did a day trip to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, just over the border in France. It is a really beautiful place, albeit a bit touristy (food prices were very expensive). We caught the bus there and the train back
(including the light rail that goes to San Sebastian).
From San Sebastian we then caught a flight back to Madrid (directly from San Sebastian airport). Little tip - is that we bought the flight return, and it ended up cheaper than two one ways. We had about 10 hours to spare in Madrid so
did some more sightseeing, and we very much enjoyed our second stay in Madrid (minus the jet lag and sickness), although it was very hot.
Lastly, I would just like to say - in virtually every place we went, the Spanish people were truly lovely. Welcoming, hospitable, and very kind.
It really helped make for a very memorable and enjoyable trip - and I definitely would like
to return to Spain at some stage.
Happy to answer any questions. Apologies for the length of the review and apologies if the content doesn't touch the normal points a trip review should. Thanks for reading!
Oh, and THANK YOU to everyone that provided advice into our trip. A few mentions (but thanks to everyone that contributed):
kimhe
CathyM
iris1745
kja
danon
Egbert.
I feel a little remiss not having posted this earlier - especially given the assistance so many helpful Fodorites provided in making it a great trip for us. But I would like to write a report about our semi-recent trip to Spain. We
spent a total of 14 full nights in Spain (not including our travel time to/from Sydney). Our itinerary was as follows:
Date: Night spent:
Thu, 30 May 2013 Fly from Sydney
Fri, 31 May 2013 Arrive Madrid
Sat, 01 Jun 2013 Madrid
Sun, 02 Jun 2013 Madrid
Mon, 03 Jun 2013 Toledo
Tue, 04 Jun 2013 Granada (via Consuegra)
Wed, 05 Jun 2013 Granada (visit Alhambra)
Thu, 06 Jun 2013 Seville (via Cordoba)
Fri, 07 Jun 2013 Seville
Sat, 08 Jun 2013 Seville
Sun, 09 Jun 2013 Seville
Mon, 10 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Tue, 11 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Wed, 12 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Thu, 13 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Fri, 14 Jun 2013 San Sebastian
Sat, 15 Jun 2013 Fly from Madrid
An album of a few photos of each place is here: http://imgur.com/a/XrGmm
Firstly, we flew from Sydney on 30 May on Emirates into Madrid via Dubai. Emirates is our preferred airline for all travel, and they were typically good on all legs. Arriving in Madrid we found it relatively easy to get a taxi to our
hotel (Hotel Preciados, which was selected due to its high rating on Trip Advisor), although the cost was higher than expected (35 euro), perhaps partially due to the bad traffic (arriving on a Friday afternoon didn't help, no doubt).
In terms of accommodation in Madrid, Hotel Preciados was disappointing. Our expectations were high due to its high TripAdvisor rating, but it underwhelmed. There wasn't anything specifically wrong with it (nothing worth labouring on,
anyway), but it wasn't a highlight. Which I think, in fact, can be said of our first couple of days in Madrid. It felt like a big city, as it is, and we didn't really get into the groove of it - partially due to jet lag and a bout of
sickness.
After Madrid we sent off for a trip to Toledo, having picked up a car (rented from Sixt; found them very good!). The drive to Toledo was easy (in fact, most of Spain was easy to drive. It was far more leisurely and pleasant than Italy),
and we arrived at this historic old city early afternoon. Our hotel was Hotel Carlos V (http://www.carlosv.com/en) - right in the old town, in a fantastic location. We loved this little place - it was clean, spacious, well located, an
excellent price, and the staff friendly and helpful - the second best hotel on our trip and thoroughly recommended. We definitely loved Toledo, and were glad we spent the night also. As many people have said - it's a different city at
night with all the tourists gone.
From Toledo we drove to Granada via the Consuegra windmills. The windmills were definitely worth the detour (I have included a couple of images in the album), and we also did the castle walk, which was also really fascinating. Then the
drive on to Granada. Many people had commented that it is a rather boring drive, but we enjoyed the scenery and just enjoyed driving through the Spanish countryside. As I earlier mentioned, we found the driving quite refreshing and
leisurely.
Arriving in Granada, we navigated to our hostel - Hostel Rodri. I cannot praise this little hostel enough. 45 euro a night for two and it honestly is hands down the best little place I have stayed anywhere. The reviews on TripAdvisor
certainly do reflect how good it is. Stay there if you're going!
We absolutely loved Granada. We did a night visit to the Alhambra, which was stunning, as well as a visit the following day, where we spent 3 1/2 hours (and could have spent much more time there). It really is one of the most amazing
places we have ever visited. Its scale and beauty is incredible. Unfortunately we only spent two nights in Granada, but I could easily have spent a week there, and it will certainly be one of my places to return to at some stage
(hopefully soon!).
It has this perfectly complementing mix of old and new, and a great feel to the entire place.
From Granada we drove to Seville, via Cordoba. In Cordoba we visited the Mezquita, which was stunning (I'm running out of and using too many superlatives, but it really was). Coming from a country like Australia, where we are relatively
new, the history and architecture is quite overwhelming.
We didn't see much else in Cordoba and drove on to Seville.
In Seville we stayed at Corral Del Rey (this was our splurge hotel), and it met expectations (which were very high). Service was good, the room lovely. We expected Seville to be the place we fell in love with, but I think that honour
had already been taken by Granada. But we enjoyed Seville nonetheless, and unexpectedly found it to have the best food we had in all of Spain (we expected that honour to go to San Sebastian). Perhaps we just had some particularly good
recommendations (El Bulli, for example, was great). We saw all the normal sites in Seville, and found both its nightlife and daylife enjoyable.
From Seville we did a day trip to Ronda, driving via Grazelema and Zahara on the way there (a worthwhile detour, with some stunnings views, and a great drive through the mountains) and Setenil de las Bodegas on the way back. We were
only in Ronda enough time to have lunch and see the gorge, but it was a really nice day and we were glad to have done it.
From Seville we then flew to Bilbao, and then caught a bus to San Sebastian - flying Iberia (although it was a Vueling plane). Flight was fine and the service of the check in staff was good.
In San Sebastian we stayed at pension Amaiur. We expected a lot of this place given the TripAdvisor reviews, but it also underwhelmed a little - although it was still good, and is in an excellent location, right in the old town. For us,
San Sebastian was to be one of the highlights of the trip - and we had five nights here to really relax before the long flight back to Sydney. The idea was to eat eat eat pintxos, which we did, and we had one 3 michelin star restaurant
to go to - Akelarre (I will separately review this and post photos if anyone is interested).
It took a little while to get into the groove of pintxos, but by the second or third day, we were quite familiar with the routine. We ate a lot of pintxos and visited a lot of bars in the 5 days/nights we were there. One of our
favourites was Astelena 1960 (in constitution plaza), but we also really enjoyed Casa Urola and de San Telmo.
From San Sebastian we also did a day trip to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, just over the border in France. It is a really beautiful place, albeit a bit touristy (food prices were very expensive). We caught the bus there and the train back
(including the light rail that goes to San Sebastian).
From San Sebastian we then caught a flight back to Madrid (directly from San Sebastian airport). Little tip - is that we bought the flight return, and it ended up cheaper than two one ways. We had about 10 hours to spare in Madrid so
did some more sightseeing, and we very much enjoyed our second stay in Madrid (minus the jet lag and sickness), although it was very hot.
Lastly, I would just like to say - in virtually every place we went, the Spanish people were truly lovely. Welcoming, hospitable, and very kind.
It really helped make for a very memorable and enjoyable trip - and I definitely would like
to return to Spain at some stage.
Happy to answer any questions. Apologies for the length of the review and apologies if the content doesn't touch the normal points a trip review should. Thanks for reading!
Oh, and THANK YOU to everyone that provided advice into our trip. A few mentions (but thanks to everyone that contributed):
kimhe
CathyM
iris1745
kja
danon
Egbert.
Aug 31st, 2013, 04:59 AM
#3
Nice report THR. Loved the pictures. We've been to Spain the last two years and love it more and more. Going back next month. It also took us a while to get into the pintxos. They aren't always so great in the smaller villages.
Aug 31st, 2013, 08:21 AM
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Great report - so happy you enjoyed Spain. The culinary scene in Sevilla has exploded in the last 3 years or so. It primarily used to be good, solid old school tapas. But there are now several gastro pubs and restaurants where the food is (dare I say) on par with the pintxos in San Sebastián. I think the restaurant you went to in Sevilla was probably La Bulla. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed Granada so much!
Aug 31st, 2013, 11:37 AM
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thanks for coming back to Fodors to tell us about your trip,
Glad you had a good time coming all the way from ( fabulous) Sydney .
We love Spain ....going again in Oct.
If you visit Spain again, there is more is more to see...... Barcelona , Valencia, Malaga, Segovia, Salamanca
... etc
Glad you had a good time coming all the way from ( fabulous) Sydney .
We love Spain ....going again in Oct.
If you visit Spain again, there is more is more to see...... Barcelona , Valencia, Malaga, Segovia, Salamanca
... etc
Aug 31st, 2013, 12:11 PM
#8
Thanks THR. Great memories from your report.
Like you, I loved Spain and Granada was a highlight for me, too. Your photos are great, brought your report to life and had me excitedly remembering many of the places.
I used buses and trains last time, ran out of time to do the country drives I'd planned - but will definitely take a car for a week or so wandering around next time.
Like you, I loved Spain and Granada was a highlight for me, too. Your photos are great, brought your report to life and had me excitedly remembering many of the places.
I used buses and trains last time, ran out of time to do the country drives I'd planned - but will definitely take a car for a week or so wandering around next time.
Aug 31st, 2013, 06:44 PM
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Very correct - it was La Bulla, not El Bulli (that stuck in my mind for some reason). Another fantastic restaurant we went to was Vineria San Telmo (http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restau...Andalucia.html) - divine food and service.
And yes, we didn't regret having a car at all. Except for the two speeding fines, but only have myself to blame for that!
And yes, we didn't regret having a car at all. Except for the two speeding fines, but only have myself to blame for that!
Sep 2nd, 2013, 11:03 PM
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So, here are the photos:
http://imgur.com/a/jWuxl
I tried my best to match up the menu.
What can I say about the experience? Well, I had the Bekarki menu, my partner the Classics of Akelarre (which was a strange choice he sort of regretted, although he should have - it was lovely). We also selected the matching wines. From memory they were 55 euro each, so a total of 210 euro each (thereabouts).
We caught a taxi from San Sebastian both ways, it's about a 15 minute drive from the old town, and in a lovely part of the countryside, with beautiful ocean views. We had a nice seat by the window (refer album), looking right over the ocean.
Service was attentive. I wouldn't say exceptional - because I think given the price it is expected. But it was excellent. The content and origin of each dish was described and matched precisely with wines from around the general region (France, Italy, Spain).
I think the images I have posted tell a thousand words about the food we received. The food I would say was very good - it was gastronomic, but not over the top. The food had plenty of flavour without being excessive, and the flavours complemented each other.
This was our first Michelin dining experience, and it was very enjoyable.
http://imgur.com/a/jWuxl
I tried my best to match up the menu.
What can I say about the experience? Well, I had the Bekarki menu, my partner the Classics of Akelarre (which was a strange choice he sort of regretted, although he should have - it was lovely). We also selected the matching wines. From memory they were 55 euro each, so a total of 210 euro each (thereabouts).
We caught a taxi from San Sebastian both ways, it's about a 15 minute drive from the old town, and in a lovely part of the countryside, with beautiful ocean views. We had a nice seat by the window (refer album), looking right over the ocean.
Service was attentive. I wouldn't say exceptional - because I think given the price it is expected. But it was excellent. The content and origin of each dish was described and matched precisely with wines from around the general region (France, Italy, Spain).
I think the images I have posted tell a thousand words about the food we received. The food I would say was very good - it was gastronomic, but not over the top. The food had plenty of flavour without being excessive, and the flavours complemented each other.
This was our first Michelin dining experience, and it was very enjoyable.
Sep 3rd, 2013, 06:00 PM
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THR, I looked at your dates and saw that we were both in Madrid at the same time! I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the city, my least favorite in Spain. I think I agree with you about Granada too. I liked it very much.
Sep 3rd, 2013, 06:09 PM
#19
Thank you for the Akelarre photos and report! Looks delicious, especially the gin and tonic on a plate and the lobster. And the orange sheet. And the cod.
I've done meals like this before and they take real commitment. My hat is off to you.
I've done meals like this before and they take real commitment. My hat is off to you.
