Holiday time - Spain

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Planning a Spanish holiday/roadtrip for late July/early August this year.

Ferry to Santander and return ferry from Bilbao and intend heading for the Girona coast.

15 nights to plan, will have 3 in San Sebastian, one near Santander on day 1 and plan on a week on the Med.

Have a night in Pamplona pencilled in and, maybe, another somewhere between Bilbao and the Med.

My query is if anyone has some ideas for the Girona coast?

Been looking at Begur, Llafranc, Palafrugell.

Any ideas for villages/resorts/bays/hotels/villas/hotels/apartments?
 
Have a look at the Paradores (Paradores, historic hotels & restaurants to discover Spain | Paradores de Turismo) as places to stay, especially if you sign up for their free "Amigos" program where you get special deals. The parador at Santillana de Mar near Santander is fantastic - beware, there are 2 there, you want the De Mar not the Gil Blas on the main square. Parking can be awkward, and they charge for the underground car park. Hope you have a better crossing than we did, 4 hours late due to the bad weather!
 
Have a look at the Paradores (Paradores, historic hotels & restaurants to discover Spain | Paradores de Turismo) as places to stay, especially if you sign up for their free "Amigos" program where you get special deals. The parador at Santillana de Mar near Santander is fantastic - beware, there are 2 there, you want the De Mar not the Gil Blas on the main square. Parking can be awkward, and they charge for the underground car park. Hope you have a better crossing than we did, 4 hours late due to the bad weather!

Good shout, I had forgotten about Paradors and wanted somewhere close to Santander for the first night as the ferry docks around lunchtime and I prefer to be in a hotel for lunch or soon after.

Ta!
 
I would recommend the Parador at Aiguablava. The sea view is fantastic. Every room has a sea view.
 
I can't be a great deal of help, as with the exception of Barcelona, I've not been to that neck of the woods for close to 25 years. What do remember though is that there are some great driving roads along the coast (or at least they felt great to a 17/18 year old in a hired Clio). I also remember Saint Feliu de Guixols being one of my favourite places, again through the eyes of a 17/18 year old.

I couldn't go to that part of the world without visiting Barcelona, one of my all time favourite cities, and a place for all occasions: beach, culture, shopping, restaurants, driving roads, and if you're do inclined business and sport.
 
Regarding Paradors... If you're heading towards the Med then the one at Cardona is worth a look. If you fancy a bit further south, then the Parador at Cuenca is spectacular and a drive along the gorge is the icing on the cake.

There's no Parador there, but Morella is a pretty walled citadel in El Cid country, and there are a couple of decent hotels there.
 
Based on our experience at various Paradores 3 years ago ;
Cangas de Onis - lovely.
De Leon - magnificent, stay more than 1 night to explore the old town.
Villalba - don't bother.
Santiago de Compostela - too expensive and in the middle of town, we found an excellent hotel on the edge of town with a shuttle bus service, the suites were in a block opposite the main hotel and each had its own parking spot from which there was a door to your suite - superb. Gran Hotel Los Abetos | Santiago de Compostela
Argomanoz - lovely.

We drove East to West in and out ofthe mountains between Santander and Santiago, the west to east along the south side of the mountains and found a superb route through the Pyrenees to Lourdes (wife is catholic, so Santiago followed by Lourdes was mucho brownie points!!). If you're not into the religious thing, avoid Lourdes, it's Benidorm for catholics!!
 
Just a thought - if you can afford the time, forget the ferry back from Bilbao and drive back - which is what we did, after Lourdes we headed east for the visitor centre under the Millau Viaduct then across the bridge and north into the Puy de Dome, continued north avoiding motorways and ended up just south of Epernay for a couple of days exploring champagne houses. PM me an email address and I'll email you a Word doc of our route - and one area to avoid!

All in our trip was 19 days and 2600 miles - in our 968 cab!! Amazing what you can pack into a 2+2 cab with wind deflector if you plan ahead and figure which soft cases, packed how full, and fitted where (especially when you have a wife who fills our C200 S204 (estate) when we go to our daughter for a weekend!!).
 

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