Help with trip planning

[Janice]

I am in the process of planning a 3 day for 21-24 September starting and ending in Zaragoza. Zaragoza was chosen largely for the very cheap flights and although I've since done some reading, I don't know much about the area.

We will be renting a car, so one option is to drive towards the coast and hit the area around Donostia-San Sebastian, but I wondered if anyone had any suggestions for places we shouldn't miss that are closer to our starting point. We've been to the Basque country before and will go back again, so we don't need to go there this time if there are good alternatives that will require less driving.

We are interested in everything good from Michelin 3 star downwards, but especially rural places with rooms or accommodation nearby.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Janice

[kellytree]

Im just tagging on to this thread as I will be in Pamplona for a couple days next week which is more or less in the area.

Any good experiences in Pamplona as far as eats and sleeps go?

FORGET - JUST DID AN EGULLET SEARCH ON PAMPLONA AND FOUND INFO

Edited September 7, 2005 by kellytree (log)

[pedro]

Janice, in my opinion, based on a few visits I've made to Zaragoza before the summer, this city is not a gastronomic destination. Good thing about it is that you'd be relatively close to several gastro-poles, i.e., Madrid, Barcelona/Girona, and the Basque Country.

If you go to the Basque Country, you could also follow the route which goes through the Rioja, where there are interesting places to visit in terms of food and, naturally, of wine. Echaurren is a place which immediately comes to my mind. Alameda, in the town of Fuenmanyor, was described to me by Manuel de la Osa as the place where he had the best steak (chuletón) of his life. Coming from Manuel (Las Rejas in Las Pedroñeras), this is a restaurant I'd certainly visit.

Let us know if you need some more recs.

[vserna]

Indeed, Zaragoza is not the greatest gastronomic hub, but... it's getting better. An important improvement has been the opening of La Granada, first opened as the Zaragoza outpost of Lillas Pastia, the brilliant restaurant in Huesca (a much smaller town in Aragón with more culinary attractions than the regional capital). La Granada, which now has itts own personality, is well worth a visit.

[Janice]

Thanks very much - I'd come to more or less the same conclusion about Zaragoza after a lot of searching and finding little.

We haven't actually made the booking yet - but we have decided to go for this hotel http://www.donamariako.com/ingles/home/home.htm in Navarra for all 3 nights. It looks like a trip to Rioja would be do-able from there, as well as all the usual spots around Donostia-San Sebastian.

One point that I would very much like some advice on: the film festival will be on while we are there. Does anyone know what kind of impact it has on the town? Would we be mad to drive into Donostia? Would we be able to get in anywhere for lunch if we do?!!

Janice

Edited September 7, 2005 by Janice (log)

[pedro]

Regarding the festival, it probably won't have much impact in terms of driving but you better start booking if you intend to go to the starred restaurants in the are.