Off the beaten path Spain land tour

[easy spirit]

Travelling 3 weeks to Spain end September to mid October..

 

Have been to Spain many times,,, very familiar with all the major sites. So this time will love to explore different charming towns off the beaten touristy places. As spanish is our main language, communication won"t be a major problem around those more rural areas.

 

Besides the cultural, architecture, main sites, local cuisine is very important for us & If any wineries come along the way on this route it will be amazing.

 

Will choose like 4/5 base hotels (preferably Paradores) & do day trips to important places around the area.

 

Won't be renting a car, will move around by train or buses.

 

Following is the preliminary itinerary that interest us:

Extremadura 5 nights

Leon 2 nights

Santander 5 nights

Oviedo 5 nights

 

Will arrive & depart from Madrid...

Depart Madrid to Caceres by train.

Train or plane from Gijon or Oviedo to Madrid.

 

I am pretty good in organization & already have some logistic - wise information but.... Please web sites, suggestions, tips , useful information, things & places not to be missed... will be so appreciated.

 

Thanks greatly..

 

Doris Garcia

[wowzz]

You really need to consider hiring a car for much of your holiday for this itinerary. How are you going to visit local wineries etc if you are in a bus or train? Driving in rural Spain is relatively easy, and you will see and experience much more than if you restrict yourself to public transport.

[buggins0402]

Doris...when you come up with your plan could you post the itinerary? I would be very interested.

 

Trains to base towns is exactly how we like to travel. We did something similar last November for Andalusia (train, bus) and loved it. Would love to repeat with different areas in Spain.

[hkto]

General observation on logistics. Usually there is good transportation (primarily bus) between smaller towns and points in between (for example lots of busses between Santander and Bilbao (with stops in sea side villages like Laredo) or Bilbao and San Sebastian but poor connections to less inhabited villages or parks. Also smaller towns don't get large number of tourists so not too many organised out of town trips. Wineries not located in towns are hard to get to without car. From Santander its possible to get to Potes (Picos De Europa) by bus.

 

Having said that there is not much to do in place like Santander or similar size for 5 nights unless going on side trips or treating it as a stay put beach holiday

Edited June 22, 2016 by hkto

[easy spirit]

Doris...when you come up with your plan could you post the itinerary? I would be very interested.

 

Trains to base towns is exactly how we like to travel. We did something similar last November for Andalusia (train, bus) and loved it. Would love to repeat with different areas in Spain.

 

Change of hearts from the previous itinerary.... Without a private car it was getting a bit difficult to coordinate navigating around the northern areas in order to see what we really wanted. Not impossible but too much hassle.

 

Still doing Spain ... same days ....but decided... Keep Extremadura and go south to Sevilla & Malaga , finishing in Madrid.

 

Will definitely move around in train & buses from the base towns but it looks that these places will be much easier to move around.

 

Do not know if you will be interested in these itinerary but will gladly post if that's the case...

[keltic]

You have not included the most out of the beaten track part of Spain: GALICIA

[buggins0402]

Change of hearts from the previous itinerary.... Without a private car it was getting a bit difficult to coordinate navigating around the northern areas in order to see what we really wanted. Not impossible but too much hassle.

 

Still doing Spain ... same days ....but decided... Keep Extremadura and go south to Sevilla & Malaga , finishing in Madrid.

 

Will definitely move around in train & buses from the base towns but it looks that these places will be much easier to move around.

 

Do not know if you will be interested in these itinerary but will gladly post if that's the case...

 

Thanks...we' we done variations in the South a few times..last year, mass transportation and basing, and an earlier one with a car.

 

Would like to see what you come up with though, we just adore Spain, so much so, we might do a "three peat" sometime in the future. We loved Seville so much that it went to the top of our list of cities for a month long apartment rental once we are retired.

[easy spirit]

You have not included the most out of the beaten track part of Spain: GALICIA

 

Thanks,,,, I know but been there quite a few times. Really all over Spain. Just wants to concentrate in an area. Now doing Extremadura & going South instead of North...

[easy spirit]

Thanks...we' we done variations in the South a few times..last year, mass transportation and basing, and an earlier one with a car.

 

Would like to see what you come up with though, we just adore Spain, so much so, we might do a "three peat" sometime in the future. We loved Seville so much that it went to the top of our list of cities for a month long apartment rental once we are retired.

 

You welcome.. A monthly apartment rental in Seville sounds lovely. Even though we are retired .... for the moment will settle for just 5 days there & see how it goes. My husband doesn't want to be out of town more than 3 weeks in total.

 

So we are doing Extremadura, Malaga & Seville ending with a few days in Madrid. We also love Spain... Well that's were my husband's parents were from. Still he has some relatives up north. That why our interest going North but next time...

[MacMaghnusa]

If you get the chance, go to the andient Moorish citadel of Carmona in Sevilla province. I enjoyed it more than I did Sevilla itself, where after just one day, the masses of tourists, gaudy shops selling tourist tat and tacky terrace restaurants selliing ersatz paella to easy touch tourists, really got on my nerves. Just wandering the backstreets of Carmona, eating excellent tapas and drinking fino with the friendly locals was fabulous, and with Spanish being your first language you'll be 'en vuestra salsa'. Osuna is also very nice, but Carmona is very special. Flamenco stronghold too

:-)

[wowzz]

Realistically, wherever you go in the world, the same applies. Cheap airfares, massive cruise liners, leads to commercialisation on an unprecidented scale.

Fortunately, I am old enough to have seen much of Europe 30 years ago, and I can only imagine what it must be like to see these tourist attractions now, along with 6000 other tourists.

I know that on this site my advice sounds blasphemous, but rather than try and see 6 countries in 10 days, just fly to a of your choice, choose a pleasant town or small city, and live there for two weeks. You will get much more of an experience and you can always buy a dvd of the sights you struggled to see amongst the sweating masses.

Edited July 1, 2016 by wowzz

[easy spirit]

If you get the chance, go to the andient Moorish citadel of Carmona in Sevilla province. I enjoyed it more than I did Sevilla itself, where after just one day, the masses of tourists, gaudy shops selling tourist tat and tacky terrace restaurants selliing ersatz paella to easy touch tourists, really got on my nerves. Just wandering the backstreets of Carmona, eating excellent tapas and drinking fino with the friendly locals was fabulous, and with Spanish being your first language you'll be 'en vuestra salsa'. Osuna is also very nice, but Carmona is very special. Flamenco stronghold too

:-)

 

Thanks so much... Really appreciate this info, sounds very off the beaten path....