ekscrunchy

Joduhl,

Thank you so much!

I tried to open the link to the VRBO apt but kept getting an error message....I'll try again later today.
I'm so caught up with this upcoming trip, next month, that I put Valencia on the back burner, for now....

Maribel

Can you send another link, Joduhl. I'm very interested as well to know more about the VRBO apartment for a future (non Fallas) stay, Thanks!
I'm getting the same error message as ekscrunchy.

ekscrunchy

I've never been to Girona. Would it be fairly easy to spend time in Valencia and then take train to Girona (Via Barcelona, I imagine) and then spend a few days in Girona before flying back to US from Barcelona airport? Would three nights be a decent amount of time to spend in Girona, in late fall?? Great hotels in the city??

Maribel

Just remember that it's a 3-hour, 8 min. rail journey to Barcelona on the Euromed, (LD) with Elige Confort service (larger seat, 2-1 seat configuration, quieter ride but no meal served at one's seat), then a train change at Sants to the AVANT to Girona. The quickest total rail journey would be 4 hours, 4 minutes. Other connections take much longer, so you would want the LD to the AVANT. I wouldn't do this unless I had 3 nights.

New luxury hotel where mdn stayed: Palau Fugit, a beautiful place.

ekscrunchy

Maribel thanks so much...did not realize the ride would be so far but we like trains and have more or less unlimited time......what do you think about length of stay in Girona, without a car?
This would be late fall....late November or so...

rosetravels

We spent 2 and a half weeks in Valencia at Christmas in 2021 and would love to return. We stayed at Palacio de Rojos near the Central market and that was very convenient. The market is incredible and we shopped there for our Christmas Eve feast. There seemed to be many good neighborhoods to stay - the area in the north part of Eixample (near Mercat de Colon) is lovely and fun (but I wouldn't stay in Russafa). The older part of the central area, in the north looked interesting. And we explored the neighborhoods to the east of the central area (Extramurs) and they looked promising.

We had not planned to be there for so long but it was 2021 and when we took our pre-flight covid tests they were positive and we had to wait 10 days and persuade our doctors back home to write letters allowing us back in. So we walked and walked exploring every neighborhood and ate at outdoor cafes and just felt lucky to be in such a beautiful city. Our favorite restaurant there is now permanently closed (Cinnamon). One woman cooked and served lunch and dinner, Monday through Friday, and the menu was always different, inventive, delicious.

Maribel

eks,
The area in the north part of the Eixample (of which Ruzafa is a barrio), around the Mercat de Colon, is the one I referred to as being very attractive, upscale, with its interesting architecture.

Girona without a car... hmmm, .I've had a car when based in Girona so as to take excursions to Begur & Aiguablava, to the medieval villages of the Empordá (Peratallada, Pals, Ullstret) , to Besalú, etc. So I don't know how many nights you would want without one, probably 3 (???). I've also stayed in Girona w/o a car but just for 2 days, in transit, on my way back to El Prat.

You might inquire about private tours from the city with Spanish Trails. I've used them several times. The owners are based in Girona, although they offer private and small group tours usually from Barcelona since the vast majority of their clientele stay in Barcelona. They do private tours to the Costa Brava & medieval villages or to Cadaqués, but you may have visited these places already. For their private tours, they're very flexible, since they can be tailor made.

joduhl

Hopefully this link works
. Check out this place in Valencia I found on Vrbo: https://t.vrbo.io/iJxgTNLlgHb.
let me know if you're still unable to access .
Joanne

Maribel

Yes! Now I can, thanks Joanne

ekscrunchy

Ok...formulating a possible new plan, for the time around Thanksgiving....total length of stay should be two weeks, plus a couple of days.

We've gone back and forth about Valencia and the partner prefers to stay in a hotel (ONLY YOU) for that fairly short length of time (I've shortened the time in Valencia to allow for one additional area to visit. Certainly Cuenca would be included. But if we stay in the hotel, a side trip to Cuenca would mean flying into Valencia and either:

.1. Check into hotel, and one day, take Train to Cuenca for overnight sty, but pay for the night at the Valencia hotel, or
2. Check out of the hotel room, leaving some luggage in hotel storage, and checking in again. (Obviously more sensible option)

OR, Flying into MAD, taking train to Cuenca, stay there probably 2 night in Parador room with view, and then continuing on to Valencia with no need for checking in and out of hotel there.

OR: Reverse the order. Fly into Barcelona, taxi to Sants, and take train from Sants to Girona,, or hire private driver from airport. (Since we will be coming off an overnight flight, would probably not rent car at airport and drive to Girona, but that might be a possibility...

Stay about 3 nights in Girona, then rent car and explore (Olot? Where else?? Palamos? Rupit? or would Besalu be better (November)??). We could spend about 4 days outside Girona (where??) and then drop off car (Girona train station??) and take train to Valencia, change for Cuenca, stay in Cuenca (1 or 2 nights??) and then train to Valencia for a. stay of about a week at the ONLY YOU HOTEL.

All these changes came about from reding a recent trip report from a poster who spent time in Girona. I've never been there, although we did take a very quick trip from Barcelona by car, to Besalu and Rupit, and then Cadaques, where we spent one night before returning to Barcelona. Needless to say, the ratio of driving time to actual sightseeing was far too high. Girona sounds like a lovely small city, with great food.... I will now look up the hotel that Maribel mentioned, above....

Does this sound fairly doable without too much driving/train time????

In Girona, Cellar de Can Roca is not possible....they are taking booking now for 2025, and I'm sure it's wildly expensive in any case. Long, elaborate tasting menus are not a favorite of mine, in any case.

And we've never been to the Dali museum so I'd like to include that....

Open to any and all comments and suggestions!!

Maribel

eks,
I've pondered your possibilities and I think that flying into MAD would be best. I assume you'll be departing in Nov. from JFK so a "shorter ride". I would upon arrival, grab a taxi to take you to Chamartín rail (yes, the Madrid-Cuenca-Valencia trains, counterintuitively now depart from there rather than Atocha) for your train to Cuenca. The taxi flat fare this year is now 33 euros. From Chamartín you have many daily departures to Cuenca on the AVE. You'll arrive at the Fernando Zóbel AVE station that is quite a distance from the town, so grab a taxi to take you to the Parador. Spend 2 nights in a gorge view room.

Than continue on to Valencia to the Only You (perfect central location). From Valencia take the Euromed (LD) to Barcelona Sants then switch to the AVANT (fare doesn't change). The trick is to take the quickest route so look at www.renfe.com to see the 4 hr. 4+ min. combo, which will be listed as LD-AVANT.

Stay 3 nights in Girona, either at mdn's Palau Fugit or the Roca brothers' Casa Cacao. (I do know by now the hotels that you like...). I remember from men's trip report that he actually preferred his meal at MASSANA more than the Roca brother's informal NORMAL.

As to 4 more nights from Girona WITH car (really necessarily, actually), do I remember correctly that you've been to Aiguablava or Begur?
If you haven't, consider the newly renovated (to the tune of $$$$$) Parador in Aiguablava, now with indoor pool and spa, and every room (like Cádiz) has a sea view. Ours had a sit out balcony. Even though we were last there in Jan. after Reyes, it certainly was quiet but actually heavenly with no heavy traffic. From there we spent time in Begur and explored the beautiful medieval villages of Pals, Peratallada, Monells, Palau-Sator, Ullastret (important Iberian settlement), and more, and drove easily to the fabulous Greco-Roman ruins of Empùires (I've written a Costa Brava guide with dining suggestions), drove down to Llafranc and Calella de Palafrugell and as far south as Palamós. Yes, it was quiet in Jan. but we had the roads to ourselves. This area of the Baix Empordà is often considered Catalunya's version of Tuscany, according to those who live there. Palafrugell is a pleasant market town that has a lovely and lively Sunday morning outdoor market.

Since you've already been to Rupit (I love this mountain town) and Besalú, do you feel the need to go inland again? Olot is a nice market town in the extinct volcanic region of the Garrotxa that is to the west and Vic (spectacular, home of the sausages with a great Sat. market) as well, where we saw our most entertaining Kings' Parade (Cabalgata de Reyes) on Jan. 5 with fire, lots of fire.


More thoughts later...

HappyTrvlr

We thought the parador in Aiguablava was wonderful with waves splashing against the parador. And now it sounds even better!
I am putting Valencia on our “must see list”!

Maribel

HappyTrvlr,
We love the Aiguablava Parador and yes, it's only gotten better. It was closed for a long time while undergoing a 4-year, 17-million euro renovation plus 1.2 million for the interior décor. It maintained its mid-60s white cube exterior (the Ley de Costas prohibited any major exterior change) but inside it underwent a major renovation, adding an indoor spa.

Each of its 78 rooms has sea views, some facing the open sea, and some facing the bay looking out to the family-run Hotel Aiguablava just across the bay. Most have sit out balconies. We loved sitting out on our balcony at sunset watching the ships sail by. Inside it's also a "modern art museum" with works of Dalí, Miró, Tápies. It has 4 suites on the top floor.

Another selling point is its proximity, just down the staircase that leads directly to the beach, to the beachside restaurant (or fancy "xiringuito") Toc al Mar, which is a drawing card for food lovers and many Spanish chefs. it´s famous for its almost rectangular rice dish, paella cuadrada Toc al Mar, and of course, fresh grilled seafood, like the famous shrimp from Palamós and local lobster.

ekscrunchy

Maribel, I'm sold. Remember that this would be late November....still a good time??
Also, I've long read about the seafood restaurant, Rafa's, in Roses. With the drive there, or are there other great seafood (temples) closer to then parador? (I'm sure there are, but you will know which ones..)

Maribel

Yes, right at the bottom of the staircase leading down to the beach you have Toc al Mar, which is BTW a favorite of the chef, Juanjo López Bedamar of La Tasquita de Enfrente in Madrid, along with Ramón Freixa. Highly rated by Macarfi.

Although Nov. is out of season on the Costa Brava, there will still be restaurants open, and the advantage is that the roads are less congested, in fact, other than construction crew trucks working on renovations during the low season, you'll have the roads pretty much to yourselves, which makes it more pleasant to get around.

Seafood:
Hostal Sa Tuna in the tiny, sweet cove of Sa Tuna (see the TR photos of memejs), Miramar in Llança is one of the best seafood temples in all of Catalunya (but it's a much longer, 1 hr. 10 min. drive).
Els Tina's in Llagostera (about a 40-minute drive from Begur).
And you have the 2 that mdn enjoyed in Palamós.
Casamar in Llafranc gets a very high rating from Macarfi, El Roser 2 in L'Escalá, Sa Jambina in Calella de Palafrugell.
And the sweet little Sa Rascassa at the tiny cove of Aiguafreda, easy, short drive (or taxi at night) from the Parador for their rascassa (scorpion fish) and lubina (sea bass). It has a lovely terrace for outdoor dining if you hit a nice night.

There´s fantastic eating all around!

ekscrunchy

I am posting this list of the "paella temples" in and near Valencia and Alicante, so kindly provided by Maribel:

<<<eks,
You asked about the other rice temples (arroz en paella):
Here's the list I keep in my quest to hit many of them up someday. I'll drive miles for a really authentic arroz en paella, doesn't have to be necessarily a paella valenciana.

Casa Carmela in Valencia Ciudad——the best says “Dabiz” Muñoz
Llisa Negra by Quique Dacosta in Valencia Ciudad
Ca’Pepico in Alquería de Roca (Valencia). (my note; only about 9km from Valencia; good public transport/taxi)
Arrocería Maribel in El Palmar (Valencia) (my note: 25 minutes from center..rice area where I went last time)
El Rebost in Sueca (Valencia)
Las Bairetas in Chiva (Valencia)
Rioja and Levante in Benissanó (Valencia)
Cachito in Elche (Alicante)
Casa Elías in Xinorlet-Monover (Alicante)
La Sirena in Petrer (Alicante)
La Taberna del Gourmet (Alicante Ciudad)—individual seco, meloso or caldoso
Casa Jaime in Peñíscola (Castellón)>>>

Maribel

It's important to note than when ordering a rice dish (arroz en paella), one doesn't expect the dish to be overloaded or covered with other ingredients, especially when ordering a true paella valenciana. Rice is always the star.

Here are photos of recent rice dishes that we enjoyed at the highly recommended BELUGA in Málaga during Holy Week. The chef hails from Alicante and just received the Gurmé Málaga award for "best creative cuisine restaurant". Because we dined early, before the rush, they allowed us to order two paellas (serving 2), rather than having to share one, and they plated them so that we could each share both.



To the left, rice with duck, foie and pumpkin. To the right, with pluma, habitas y ajos tiernos (Iberian pork loin, limas and tender garlic)

Maribel

I'll add another within the city-
LAVOE ARROZ Y MAR, Michelin and Macarfi guide recommended.

eks,
Here is the Macarfi guide to Valencian restaurants in order of their ranking.
https://macarfi.com/en/val/restaurants?ob=rn.

The quibble I used to have with this guide is that their average price was way, way. way off base, saying that for example, DiverXO cost "100+" per person
DiverXO's tasting menu now costs €395 (sans the additional €300 wine pairing).
Now Macarfi's estimates are a bit more in line, but still one needs to add about 10%-20% more to their estimated prices per person, as this doesn't include beverages.

ekscrunchy

I think we will scrap the Costa Brava idea and combine Denia with Valencia and Cuenca.

Maribel

it will be much easier, but you will need a car for Dènia in the Marina Alta.

Rausell in the Eixample is exactly the classic (since 1948), product-driven, timeless restaurant that you would like.