AS the crowds thin out, the temperatures drop and inland Spain finally gets its moment in the sun, we take a look at the best escapes that the country has to offer.
Forget the beach. Once September rolls round, Spain is best inland, where the vines are being picked, the chestnuts are roasting and a hotel room costs roughly half what it did in August.
The Times has just dedicated a whole travel feature to Spain’s interior, singling out Asturias and Rioja as the pick of the bunch. We reckon they were onto something.
Here are the nine spots we think are worth a tank of petrol and a long weekend.
1. La Rioja
Best for: wine, and lots of it
The grape harvest, or vendimia, runs from roughly mid-September into October, and the whole region smells of fermenting fruit.
Base yourself in Haro, the beating heart of Rioja Alta, where more than a dozen bodegas are crammed into a single railway-station district. You can walk between them. You probably shouldn’t drive between them.
Logroño’s Calle Laurel is the other draw: a narrow street with around 50 bars, each famous for exactly one tapa. Order the grilled mushrooms at Bar Soriano and enjoy a taste of the region’s other great harvest.
Insider tip: Logroño’s San Mateo harvest festival kicks off around September 20 and books out fast. Sort your accommodation now or stay in Haro.
READ MORE: Spain’s least visited region has a lot going for it – from low property prices to amazing wines
2. Asturias and the Picos de Europa
Best for: green Spain, hiking and cider
While the south is still sweating, Asturias is doing what it always does: raining a bit, and looking magnificent.
The Picos de Europa are at their best in October, when the summer walkers have gone home and the beech woods turn copper. The Ruta del Cares is the famous one, a 12km gorge path carved into the cliff face, but the Covadonga Lakes offer more drama for less effort.
Down in the valleys, cider houses pour sidra from a great height into wide glasses, a bit at a time. Pair it with Cabrales, the blue cheese matured in mountain caves, which is not for the faint-hearted.
Insider tip: Ryanair and easyJet both fly into Asturias airport (OVD) from the UK. Hire a car — public transport thins out fast once you leave Oviedo.
READ MORE: The Spanish village that looks like Havana – but sits in the mountains of Asturias
3. Las Alpujarras, Granada
Best for: Andalucia without the crowds
The white villages strung along the southern face of the Sierra Nevada are unbearable in August but near-perfect in October.
Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira stack up the Poqueira gorge like something out of Morocco, a sea of flat roofs and chimney pots. Walk between them in the morning and taste the onset of autumn.
This time of year also brings the chestnut harvest, the last of the figs and plato alpujarreño: fried eggs, black pudding, chorizo and potatoes. It is not a light lunch.
Insider tip: From the Costa del Sol it’s around two and a half hours by car. Go midweek and you’ll have the trails to yourself.
READ MORE: The quiet corner of Andalucia where the last of Spain’s nomad shepherds still roam
4. Murcia
Best for: an extra month of summer, and Spain’s most underrated wine
Spain’s most overlooked region, and one of the few places where you can still swim comfortably in late October.
Inland, the Jumilla, Yecla and Bullas wine country is deep in the monastrell harvest through September, producing big, dark, dirt-cheap reds that are only now getting the attention they deserve. Tastings cost a fraction of what you’d pay in Rioja.
Cartagena is the surprise package. The city boasts a working port sitting on a Roman theatre that was only rediscovered in 1988, plus an excellent and engaging modernist quarter that doesn’t feel at odds with the city’s ancient history. Murcia city does tapas as well as anywhere in Spain and is somehow still not on the tourist trail — head for Plaza de las Flores and order marinera, a breadstick ring loaded with russian salad and an anchovy.
Walkers should make for Sierra Espuña, a pine-forested regional park an hour inland where the autumn temperatures are just about perfect.
Insider tip: Murcia’s Corvera airport (RMU) takes UK flights and is far less chaotic than Alicante. If you’re driving from the Costa Blanca, it’s under an hour from Torrevieja.
READ MORE: Beyond the Tourist Trail – Discovering Murcia’s Best-Kept Secrets
5. Sierra de Francia, Salamanca
Best for: autumn colour and total silence
One of the least-visited corners of mainland Spain, and one of the loveliest.
La Alberca was the first entire village in Spain to be declared a national monument, a warren of timber-framed houses and granite lintels. Nearby Mogarraz has hung painted portraits of hundreds of its residents on the front of their own houses — it’s a moving and personal tribute to a side of Spain being swallowed up by the major cities, and unlike anything else in the country.
The surrounding chestnut forests turn gold in late October.
Insider tip: Drive over the Peña de Francia for the view. On a clear day you can see into Portugal.
READ MORE: Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor in Spain might be the most beautiful square worldwide
6. Albarracin, Teruel
Best for: medieval Spain at its most photogenic
Perched above a river gorge in Aragon and built from pink-tinged stone, Albarracin regularly gets called Spain’s prettiest village.
Autumn is also mushroom season in the surrounding Montes Universales, and locals take foraging extremely seriously. Restaurants build entire menus around whatever came out of the pine woods that morning.
Teruel province is the emptiest in Spain. That doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable however, it just means you’ll really get to feel like the region is your personal playground.
Insider tip: Wrap up. It gets properly cold at 1,200 metres once the sun goes down.
READ MORE: Teruel: Spain’s coolest summer spot
7. Extremadura
Best for: jamón, storks and Roman ruins
Autumn is when Extremadura comes alive. Tens of thousands of cranes arrive from northern Europe to winter in the dehesa, and Monfragüe National Park becomes one of the best birdwatching sites on the continent.
Trujillo and Cáceres are two of Spain’s great walled towns, both largely untouched by mass tourism, while Mérida has a Roman theatre still in use after 2,000 years.
October is also when the acorns drop and the black Iberian pigs are turned loose. You know where this ends up.
Insider tip: Book a table at any asador in Trujillo’s main square and order the Torta del Casar, a runny sheep’s cheese you eat with a spoon.
READ MORE: Hotel Monasterio Rocamador in Spain’s Extremadura is back and better than ever
8. Selva de Irati, Navarre
Best for: the best autumn colour in Spain, full stop
The second-largest beech and fir forest in Europe sits in the Pyrenean foothills near the French border, and for three weeks in late October and early November it turns every shade of rust, gold and amber going.
Nearby Ochagavia and the Roncal valley offer stone-built villages, hard sheep’s cheese and walking routes for every level of enthusiasm.
Insider tip:Â Access roads are ticketed and capped at peak weekends. Book online in advance or arrive early, because everyone else has had the same idea too.
READ MORE: Titanic of the Mountains: Historic train station in Spain’s Pyrenees to be transformed into luxury hotel
Our verdict
If you only have one weekend, make it Rioja in late September, when the harvest is in full swing and the whole region is in a good mood.
If you have a week and a hire car, head north to Asturias. The Costa del Sol will still be there in November.
Got a favourite autumn escape we’ve missed? Email us at newsdesk@theolivepress.es
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