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Town in Andalusia for group of 11
We are a group of 11 who will be traveling in Spain in early September 2012. After meeting up in Barcelona over several days we intend flying to Granada then basing ourselves in a small town between there and the coast from which we can explore with day trips. A week here will be followed by several days in Seville.
We enjoy scenic walking, history and art, however the food and wine is important as well. We prefer a town which has restaurants that can be reached by walking from the accommodation. I would value the opinion and experiences of those well travelled as to what towns I should investigate. Many thanks in anticipation. |
How will you get around when day tripping from this small town between Granada and the coast?
A small town will be very limited with 'restaurants', if indeed you can find any such thing, but I use the word when referring to fine dining, do you? |
Have you looked at Nerja on the coast?
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Are you planning on staying in a villa? There are a few in the area that are available catered or self-catered, so a restaurant wouldn't matter much except when you're out for the day. Just remember that most require Saturday-Saturday rentals during high season, so plan accordingly.
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Granada doesnt feel like a big city, if you want that as a base. I thought Nerja was an excellent idea by Bob for ON the coast. Other than that, its mainly agricultural with towns that I dont feel meet your expectations
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You can check Alhama de Granada.
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Malaga.
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Relatively small Nerja on the coast might be just what you are looking for (pop. 20 000). 1 1/2 hour from Granada and 30 mins from fabulous Málaga city itself. On the foot of the scenic Almijara mountains with plenty of options for walks and visiting small villages.
If you decide for Nerja, I suggest you rent a town-house or a couple of big apartments in or around seaside Calle Carabeo, the oldest street in town. Then you are five minutes level walk from both the local feel parts of the old town as well landmark and central Balcón de Europa. Calle Carabeo runs along these cliffs: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/...de6a8146_o.jpg When it comes to tapas bars/restaurants, Nerja can offer anything from small and atmospheric local places to Spanish gourmet and high quality foreign restaurants. In almost all restaurants/tapas bars in Nerja you'll get free tapas to choose with every drink of whatever in the bar area. A glass and a tapa will set you back some 1,50€. My favourite is extremely popular La Marina, as fine as a seafood freiduría you can find in all of Andalucía. Have splurged here on several occations. Top tapas grilled on the spot (conchas finas, mussels, clams, prawns, monkfish, whitebait, baby-squid, sausages, pinchos morunos, mini-burgers etc.) and vibrant atmosphere at El Pulguilla in C/Cristo, just off Balcón de Europa. Here also free tapas to choose with every drink. http://www.nerjatoday.com/barsandres.../el-pulguilla/ These are some other of my favourites, also very popular with locals: La Puntilla, a ten min walk up in the old town, is much fun and good food: http://www.nerjatoday.com/barsandres...s/la-puntilla/ El Niño is not only nice tapas but also an excellent traditional Spanish restaurant for a big night out. Great food and the best atmosphere, private photos of the legendary flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla on the walls. http://www.nerjatoday.com/barsandrestaurants/el-nino/ I can also recommend Spanish gourmet oriented restaurants Casa Luque and, perhaps especially, Sollun. Casa Luque: http://www.casaluque.com/restaurant-in-nerja.php Sollun: http://www.sollunrestaurante.com/ Customer reviews: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...Andalucia.html Drive up in the beautiful Sierra Almijara mountains behind Nerja for walks with spectacular views. http://www.spanishhighs.co.uk/walkin...-almijara.html More about walks around Nerja: http://www.nerjatoday.com/thingstodo...-around-nerja/ A nice video of the Almijara mountains just inland from Nerja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_eRL...eature=related AND: You will be in Sevilla during the world's largest and most prestigious flamenco festival, the Bienal de flamenco which goes on from early September to early October. The best artists in all the major theaters in town and in several flamenco clubs every night. A huge variety of performances from the most traditional to the most innovative, but it will all be miles away from the polkadot dresses and flowers in the hair that most tourists are exposed for. I have loved Spain since the late 80's, but since 2004 all visits to a large extent have been scheduled to fit with concerts with my favourite flamenco artists. A concert or two during the Bienal can be somthing to remember for very long. |
I must admit to being pleasantly surprised by the response to my first ever effort at asking for advice, thank you all for your input.
We will be hiring cars so will be making day trips from our base. Villa/self catering will allow us to cook some nights and explore both local and tapas, up to gourmet restaurants. Much of our day will be based around the meals! So yes, by restaurants I refer to fine dining. I was unsure when exploring options online as to whether staying in or close to Granada would be better than a regional town, so the opinions expressed here are very helpful. I will certainly check out Nerja. Thank you Kimhe for all those links. Keep any suggestions coming, Happy New Year!! |
I just wanted to add that we stayed in Nerja for two weeks this past Oct/November to take Spanish classes and really liked it. You will probably read that it has a high number of English tourists and ex-pats, which is true, so a lot of English is spoken, but it makes a great base because you can walk everywhere for restaurants, etc. We stayed at an apartment in an area called Carabeo and loved it. The people managing the unit are great and the unit is clean and very well stocked. It is called Carabeo 2000 and we rented unit 2.3 We had a 2 bedroom and they have multiple units in the same building: http://www.better-apartments.com/carabeo23english.html We liked this unit because it has two terraces with a sea view
They also rent off of VRBO http://www.vrbo.com/80345 The only place I would NOT recommend staying in Nerja is down by the Burriana beach-the restaurant are all tourist traps and it is a long steep walk to the other places in Nerja. Also, in Seville we stayed in a hotel that was great for us (a couple plus my sister) because it was a duplex room, so very spacious and was much cheaper than other room we compared because of sharing. It was called the Eurostars Regina and it was close to what turned out to be our favorite tapas place of the whole trip Eslava: http://www.tertuliaandaluza.com/expl...slava/lang/en/ |
It is a ball.
It is the experience of a lifetime. It is well positioned although isolated. It has its own church! and 300 acres. http://vintagetravel.co.uk/villa_details.cfm?p_id=160 We lived like kings for 2 weeks. |
BigChill,
Based on - your clarification of my first post queries you sticking with your criteria of a small town between Granada and the coast your clarification that you are not solely looking for restaurant fine dining. I will second Alhama de Granada, where, if adjusting to local hours for eating and drinking, you will certainly not starve (those who have spent time there may understand) and will find a cross section of eateries open at those times and in the vicinity. |
Just one more comment on Nerja dining.
We loved Lan Sang. but even though Ayo is well known, we thought the Paella was not very good if you really know and like Paella. There are a couple of good Indian places in town as well. In particular we liked Haveli http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaur...Andalucia.html Also, although we didn't think everything there was good, there is a restaurant called Cibeles that serves a great steak cooked on a stone-yum! http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaur...Andalucia.html |
Some info about Alhama de Granada. Haven't been there myself, but some friends based in Nerja fell in love with the place a couple of years ago: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...d-of-town.html
Photos: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...d-of-town.html |
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