AboutVíctor Díaz Expertise I live in Madrid,and travel frequently to Valencia. I have also travelled to many places all over spain, if haven't been there i'd try to help anyway providing my knowledge and links.
I enjoy trekking in the mountains, and know pyrinees, Picos de Europa and mountains in the center.
Question QUESTION: Buenos Dias Victor,
My husband and I are planning a trip around Spain then onto Italy. We don't really have any time restrictions as we arrive into Barcelona on the 7th August and don't have to be any place until the 14th September for a flight out of Rome.
We were thinking of making our way to San Sebastian first where we have 4 nights, 8th Aug - 12th Aug. As we arrive into Barcelona in the afternoon of the 7th August we thought we might hire a car and take two days for the 5hrs drive to San Sebastian stopping in Zaragoza for one night, then drive onto Pamplona the following day for lunch and a wander before continuing onto San Sebastian.
After San Sebastian, we are thinking of travelling through Portugal making our way to Seville,unless you can recommend some interesting places to visit along the way??? We think we might stay for 3 nights in Seville, then make our way up to Madrid for another three nights then onto Barcelona for one or two nights as we have been there before. Then we plan on heading onto Nice/Cannes then around Italy making our way to Rome.
We are finding it difficult trying to decide how best to travel around. Either hire a car and drive??? or train??? Or bus????
Car would be good as it allows us to be flexible but not sure how expensive the road tolls etc are, and parking could be a problem too in the small towns.
Train, we can't seem to get prices and were thinking of the Eurail system but this seems expensive even though it is flexible, we don't know if just purchasing single journey trips would be cheaper.
Your help and advise would be greatly appreciated :)
Thanks - look forward to hearing back from you.
Ciao
Kirsten
ANSWER: Hello Kristen
1.Your plan to drive to San Sebastian/Donosti is ok.
BUT bear in mind that in Zaragoza is currently taking place Expo Zaragoza 2008 and you may find hotels in the city full booked. Don't expect to just walk in and find a room. Other year there would be no problem as Zaragoza is not a main destiantion, but not this year with Expo.
If you stay in the city you could visit this Expo about water. http://www.expozaragoza2008.es/
In your way to Zaragoza from Barcelona you could do a brief stop at Lerida/Lleida. http://www.lleidatur.com/
After Zaragoza, Pamplona is a nice visit for some hours. You have planned this trip quite well!
You may detour a bit and pass through LaRioja region, home of famous spanish wines. http://www.lariojaturismo.com/
Apart of tourism related with wines, there is little to see in this area.
If this is not of your interest head directly from Zaragoza to Pamplona.
Another way to get to Pamplona visting the countryside is taking some secondary roads and visit
Ejea de Los Caballeros +Sadaba+uncastillo+sos del rey catolico
you may take a look here with things to see in these towns. Of these i only have heard before about Sos as a nice place to visit. http://www.arteguias.com/zaragoza/puebloszaragoza.htm
2.After S Sebastian and to get to Portugal the main route should be passing by Burgos, Valladolid and Salamanca.
I absolutely recommend, famous cathedral of Burgos and Salamanca. You may even think about passing a night in Salamanca to visit this city http://www.salamanca.es/inicio.aspx
In the region of Castilla y Leon, http://www.turismocastillayleon.com/cm/
if you have time and want to stop in some other places you could visit in your way or near:
Medina del Campo, Peñafiel, Astudillo, Ciudad Rodrigo... among others, this region is big, and visting more or less places depends on how much time you have.
Once in Salamanca you may get into Portugal or get to Sevilla through some of unknown areas of Spain, but with many things to see in your way. Just search places such as Merida, Caceres, Trujillo, .. using A66 from Salamanca to Sevilla. It's an option to consider, but if you had already planned Portugal, then go on with your plans, it's just an idea.
Heading to Madrid you could stop at Carmona and Cordoba, instead as a daytrip from Sevilla. And near Madrid: Consuegra, a must for the typical windmills http://www.aytoconsuegra.es/
In Madrid you could do daytrips to Toledo, Segovia, El Escorial, no need to have the car, but if you still have it you could add some other places, but it's not really a must having a car in madrid to visit the main things.
4.Finally heading to Barcelona, some places of interest near your route would be Siguenza and Monasterio de Piedra.
5. To travel around, for such a trip i recommend having a car, at least from Barcelona to Sevilla, as the cities between these places are not that big, and parking would be a problem but not a nightmare as in big cities. In most of big cites the center have parjking restrictions, some parts closed to traffic except for locals...
If you choose just train, you should focus only in visiting main places and forget about doing routes to small towns, the your tourte could be Barna->Zaragoza->Pamplona->San Sebastian->Salamanca->Portugal->bus to Sevilla->Madrid->Barna.
I haven't checked all connections, in some cases there could not be direct trains and buses would be a better alternative. No trains from Portugal to the south of spain.
About road tolls, for your route only an small stretch is tolled, from Barcelona to Zaragoza and from Zaragoza to Pamplona. The rest are not tolled highways.
Diesel is currently at 1,30 :-(
I recommend hiring a diesel car with A/C. In summer is a must in spain.
Parking, in zaragaoza could be a problem as it's a big city too. I can't see much porblems for parking in Pamplona, Salmanca, Burgos... just park out of the historical center, and as these are not very big cities, it' not a big problem.
6.train: if prices aren't still loaded for the dates of your travel, try to find the same trains for june or july, prices won't vary. If you buy tickets with Star and Web offers (buying online and in advance) you get good discounts.
I think that hiring a car until Sevilla or Madrid is not a bad idea if it's ok for your budget. From Sevilla or Madrid you culd use trains.
I hopoe this helps a bit. Ask me again whenever you want for more details.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Buenos Dias Victor,
Thank you so much for your reply we have found it very useful and most informative. I have just a few more questions we would love your thoughts on.
As you mentioned previously, Zaragoza during the time we are looking at travelling there, will be very busy due to the Expo so we have decided instead to stop for one night in Monasterio de Piedra. Would you recommend pre arranging accommodation for the one night or should we be ok in finding somewhere not very expensive to stay on our arrival. It will be the night of the 7th August.
Secondly, you mentioned parking could be a problem in some cities. Do you think we will have problems parking in San Sebastian and will it be expensive? We are thinking now we might be best off either to hire the car just for the two days drive making our way from Barcelona to San Sebastian then returning the car in San Sebastian as we won't need a car for the 4 days we are there. Then maybe hiring another car on our departure from San Sebastian for our drive thru the country making our way to Seville. Or do you know if maybe we could bus our way from Barcelona to Monasterio de Piedra (have one night there) then the next day bus to Pamplona (couple of hours there, maybe lunch) then bus onto San Sebastian. Or even train, instead of hiring a car? Do you think this as an alternative would be cost effective and easy enough?
We like your idea of finishing with the car in Seville and then either train or bus to Madrid then onto Barcelona. Do you have a web link you could send us so we can get an idea of prices and times for the bus services and train options?
Thanks again Victor - will wait to hear from you :)
Ciao,
Kirsten
Answer hello again
Monasterio de Piedra is a bit of your route from Barcelona to Pamplona, but it's a nice place and a fresh spot after the very warm Ebro valley.
Last time i was there was many years ago in summer, and after the dry landscape typical of summer and warm temperatuters, finding this place with lot of water and not so warm was a relief.
Also if you plan to return the car before madrid and do the rest of the trip by train or bus, then this place would be unreachable and your only option is while you have the car.
so i think that it's not a big problem this detour.
Monasterio de piedra have just one place to stay and most people do it as a daytrip from elsewhere (even from madrid as it was my case).
Main town in the area is Calatayud, have more places to stay, as it's not a main touristic destination i think there will be always some place to stay as you walk in, no need to book. For Monasterio de piedra i don't know if it's usually full or not and looks not cheap.
About parking in S Sebastian, probably parking in the center would be a problem, i don't know if there are restrictions about parking in the streets (just for residents or need to pay and limited to a couple of hours for non-residents) if that's the case (you may ask to the hotel how is parking in the area) you may always park not in the center and then take a taxi or walk to your hotel, or find a place with parking.
If you are not gogin to use the car for several days you may also return it and it would be a thing less to care about.
From Barcelona to Monasterio de Piedra by public trasnport, nothing, that place is small and there is not any big population around. Definetly need a car to get there.
Bus or train to Zaragoza and Pamplona, yes, there is no problem with it. If you modify your route and want to focus on the big cities and not rent a car then you may rely on trains and buses.
Cost: depends a lot on the dates and also vs the cost of hiring a car and the cost of gas.
Gas for diesel cars is now about 1,30euros/liter and with 60euros you may do about 800km with a diesel car. Tolls are not a big problem, you may find tolls around barcelona and S Sebastian and higway between both places but if you detour to visit small towns you won't be taking much of the highway.
For trains: check renfe site http://www.renfe.es
For Sevilla-Madrid-Barcelona
trains check again renfe site
buses
sevilla (plaza de armas bus station)-madrid (estacion sur buses) http://www.socibus.es/
madrid(estacion avda america) -barcelona http://www.alsa.es/
i hope this helps, you know, ask me again for any detail you have questions.
