Thinking of day trips from a base in Valencia, within about 1 hr train
journey.

To the North, Castellón de la Plana is just up the coast -- anyone
know of this place. Is it a tourist/seaside resort? Is it worth a 1 or
2 day stay?

South is Alicante and Benidorm, but they are full of Brits. I am going
to Valencia to get a holiday them!

Thanks
Bruce

[email protected] wrote:
    > Thinking of day trips from a base in Valencia, within about 1 hr
train
    > journey.
    > To the North, Castellón de la Plana is just up the coast -- anyone
    > know of this place. Is it a tourist/seaside resort? Is it worth a 1
or
    > 2 day stay?

Nope. I've always lived there (here), so I can fully assure you.
Castellón is the typical industrial town with barely nothing to offer
to the tourist except perhaps the finest paella in the world.

If you are looking for beaches Castellón, Benicassim and Oropesa have
some fine ones. Usually waving the blue flag. They tend to be quite
crowded, although mostly locals, with the odd French and German.
Beaches around Moncofa (to the south) and Torreblanca - Torrenostra
(north) are much less crowded and are mostly local-populated (and I
mean local-locals, Madrid tourists are nearly as foreign as a Brit here
    :p ). Nightlife tends to be cheap booze and stuff. Then there is also
FIB festival in August.

If you want to experience an almost desert beach, you can try on the
Prat de Cabanes - Torreblanca, a natural park where you are allowed to
bath on the sea (not the lagoons).

If staying in Valencia you might want to take a two hour drive to
Peñiscola (north, farther away than Castellón), no good train
connections, however, but you could check the bus schedule. This is the
seaside castle where 'The Cid' was filmed (the one starring Charlton
Heston), fine beaches, narrow streets and beautiful castle views.
Morella is even farther north and inland, but is a beautiful medieval
town.

Anyway, Valencia itself is worth staying 1 or 2 days or more, it has
good cuisine, exciting nightlife and some interesting spots to see,
like the albufera, old palaces, torres de serrans & quart, a weird
little cathedral, etc.

Don't miss a paella or 'arròs negre' near the Albufera. Eels are also
cooked in different typical ways and, if going in summer, ask for
'horchata' with 'fartons' (preferably on the places where they are
still done the traditional way).

For contrast, an interesting day trip would be Requena, the train
schedule is awful so perhaps a bus should be considered (it's an about
45 min. drive, so train or bus would make it around 1 hr.). Requena has
an interesting old town and excellent wine. It's worth going there just
to see how different coastal & interior Valencia can be.

There are also some river sports, hiking, etc. in the nearby area.

    > South is Alicante and Benidorm, but they are full of Brits. I am
going
    > to Valencia to get a holiday them!

There are many Brits with permanent residence in the area, do not be
surprised to find one :)

J.

I forgot to metion! I am staying in Valencia over Easter.
What are the semana santa celebrations like? Obviously not as big as
the Sevilla celebrations, say, but it may be worth while staying put in
Valencia!

Bruce

[email protected] wrote:
    > I forgot to metion! I am staying in Valencia over Easter.
    > What are the semana santa celebrations like? Obviously not as big as
    > the Sevilla celebrations, say, but it may be worth while staying put
in
    > Valencia!

Nothing particularly interesting. Nearest really great Semana Santa
would be Murcia and Cartagena (I don't recall exactly which one,
possibly both) where they hold an Ansalusian-like procession in
complete and absolute silence.

I've been told it's an extremely interesting event to see.

Nearer to Valencia, many small villages run Passion acts and
representations, many of them dating from centuries ago.


J.