My girlfriend and I are travelling to Spain in August for two weeks. I've got an apartment rented in Granada as our home base. This will be tourism plus I'm going to look for a house in one of the small towns inland from the Med to rent or possibly buy. We've got Rick's Spain 2019 book, but is there anything else to see or do that would be unique? Thanks, Pete.
Posted by
Sevilla
1296 posts
Will you have a car?
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Yeah, I'm renting a car for the entire time. We're arriving 08/20 and heading back to Madrid to catch the flight on 10/02.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4573 posts
I rarely rely on one guidebook publisher. Some are better than others for heading off the beaten path. I also use the library to decide which one to actually buy. Lonely Planet sells ebooks in chapters. Moon or Bradt and DK are European publishers. Bradt is definitely more off the beaten path. I seem to recall getting a book from the library on road trips in Spain. Research what Michelin has for maps, guide books and trips.
Utilize some expat websites for that area for long term investment into an area.
Most of what is going to be unique is rarely in guidebooks.
And for light reading, if you ever have time, Driving Over Lemons by Christ Stewart (drummer from Genesis)
Posted by
Sevilla
1296 posts
I've always found this website helpful for getting an idea of possible places to visit. This is the index page for Granada province, but if you go to the "destinations" section you can see neighbouring provinces too.
http://www.andalucia.com/province/granada/home.htm
I don't know what's in your RS guidebook, but my suggestions below are hardly hidden gems so, I suspect, they're already covered; nevertheless:
- Guadix cave town is unusual and worth half a day
- I'd also include several days visiting Las Alpujarras / Sierra Nevada and the Granada white villages
- In about 90 minutes driving (plus parking, etc), you can get to Ubeda and or next-door Baeza (in Jaen province), both well worth seeing and a real contrast to much of Andalucia
- Almeria's desert-like region is also only 90 or so minutes drive and is unique, at least for Europe.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
882 posts
Our friend Carlos (Barcelona/Los Angeles) suggested this to me regarding a recent posting. I'm not familiar with the book, but based on Carlos' excellent recommendations, I suspect it is worthy of investigation: Here's a retail link - but I'd suggest a library visit, first:
https://www.dk.com/us/book/9781465440433-back-roads-spain/
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4573 posts
Oh yeah, that's the one I got from my library and mentioned above.
Posted by
North Italy
303 posts
Cabo de Gata Park in Almeria province has spectacular coastal scenery, although I imagine it must be busy in August (we were there end October)
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2018/10/day-46-playas-genoveses-y-mosul-walk.html
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-day-starts-much-better-because-sun.html
And everything Nick mentions.....
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6525 posts
If you like castles, there’s one at La Calahorra. South of Granada, Lanjaron is nice to walk around and also has a castle ruin. It’s not a big town. Along the coast is Salobrena. It has a nice beach. East of it, we enjoyed Almeria and its Alcazar/fortress. Even further east, we enjoyed the beach at Mojacar. I suspect the beach areas will be extremely busy in August.
Posted by
Washington DC
27096 posts
Priego de Cordoba.