Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

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zanuck
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Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby zanuck » Sun Sep 22, 2024 3:53 pm

These days we normally drive straight down from Santander to Caleta in one go, due to the ferry arriving at 0800, the reverse trip northwards we generally stop in Aranda de Duero or Lerma overnight

For a change we thought we might break the southbound journey and stay overnight in either Valdepenas as it's directly en route or a slight diversion to Ciudad Real.

But that would mean arriving in either town at around 2pm or so on a Saturday afternoon and 12 October is marked as a Public Holiday (on a Saturday??).

Are either town worth stopping in overnight? Anyone got any hotel recommendations (hotel would need to have parking onsite), or should we just keep on driving as per normal?

I've searched the forum using both town names as the search term, but I didn't see any recent references to either place.

Many thanks - zanuck

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costakid
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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby costakid » Mon Sep 23, 2024 8:14 am

We always stop at Segovia. This is well worth a stop. We stay at a hotel with secure parking so no security risk if you have a car full of stuff.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby Wicksey » Mon Sep 23, 2024 8:59 am

When I've looked at doing a bit of a road trip I considered Manzanares which is just off the main route. I didn't get as far as looking for hotels (there is a Parador but very close to the motorway so may be noisy), but I thought the town looked interesting. We stopped for the day in Consuega on the way back from Toledo once, it's famous for the Don Quixote windmills and has a castle but not sure about the hotels there I'm afraid. It's just that it's less of a detour from the main motorway.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby zanuck » Mon Sep 23, 2024 10:56 am

costakid wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 8:14 am We always stop at Segovia. This is well worth a stop. We stay at a hotel with secure parking so no security risk if you have a car full of stuff.
Thanks costakid, Segovia's still a bit far north for us (i.e. not far enough away from Santander). When the ferry used to arrive at 1400, we used to stay north of Madrid in El Molar; I'll look at Wisksey's suggestions as they are both in the areas that we had already thought of.

Appreciate your input.
Many thanks.

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costakid
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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby costakid » Mon Sep 23, 2024 2:14 pm

zanuck wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 10:56 am
costakid wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 8:14 am We always stop at Segovia. This is well worth a stop. We stay at a hotel with secure parking so no security risk if you have a car full of stuff.
Thanks costakid, Segovia's still a bit far north for us (i.e. not far enough away from Santander). When the ferry used to arrive at 1400, we used to stay north of Madrid in El Molar; I'll look at Wisksey's suggestions as they are both in the areas that we had already thought of.

Appreciate your input.
Many thanks.
We always arrived in Santander about 14.00 but getting off and through customs was always 90 minutes so the 4 hours down to Segovia suited us. Hotel dinner and a few beers and then blast down to Malaga in the morning. Still probably too far north for you but Zamora is also nice. The old quarter is excellent for tapas and vino.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby zanuck » Mon Sep 23, 2024 2:27 pm

Many thanks for the extra thought, costakid.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby ashtondav » Wed Sep 25, 2024 4:56 pm

Aranjuez is lovely. Got the same ferry and arrived twoish for a menu Del dia at the restaurant on the river as you enter town. Stayed at the nh hotel and upgraded to a view of the palace.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby zanuck » Fri Sep 27, 2024 12:04 pm

Thanks ashtondav, I think we want to be a bit further south, but we haven't yet booked anywhere, so I'll look into Aranjuez further.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby ashtondav » Fri Sep 27, 2024 3:41 pm

A bit further south than you’re thinking but Chinchon is worth a visit - got a good deal on the parador there.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby zanuck » Fri Sep 27, 2024 4:19 pm

Thanks again ashtondav, I'll take a look.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby Wicksey » Sat Sep 28, 2024 8:55 am

ashtondav wrote: Fri Sep 27, 2024 3:41 pm A bit further south than you’re thinking but Chinchon is worth a visit - got a good deal on the parador there.
Never heard of that but it looks really interesting. I shall put that on my list too. One day I shall do that road trip I've been promising myself!

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby elizabennett » Tue Oct 08, 2024 10:26 am

We stayed in the parador in Manzanares. It is easy to access from the motorway, but it is not right on the side of the motorway, so there is no noise. It is actually very quiet. It's about a 20-minute walk to Manzanares town centre.
Regarding public holiday on a Saturday: the public holidays (festivos) in Spain are usually on a specific date, to commemorate an event or a person. So they may fall on a weekend day, in which case most workers get a day off in lieu.

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Re: Overnight stop in Valdepenas or Ciudad Real

Postby zanuck » Tue Oct 08, 2024 11:14 am

Thanks everyone for your replies.

We've booked to stay in Valdepenas, and tossed up between two low price hotels, one a bit out of town - Alojamiento Rural Los Delfines and Nuevo Hotel Capitollo, which is about 1 km from the town centre.

The first one appealed because it has onsite parking and although there won't be much in the car heading south, it's better to be safe than sorry, but it would have meant driving into town to eat and drink.
Hotel Nuevo Capitollo won because it's close enough to the town that we can walk and not have to worry about parking in the town centre and driving back after a few vinos. It has parking next door which the hotel tells me has 24/7 surveillance, so if someone does break into the car, we may have a photo of them doing so :D

Neither will be luxury, but it's only a one night stopover, I'll post an update after our stay.


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