I’ve finally come to the end of recapping our trip to Spain….from August 2021. This one is short and sweet, covering our time in the area near Valladolid, Spain.
Our initial plan was to stay one night in Valladolid after landing in Madrid, as it was a 2 hour drive from the Madrid airport. Our flight landed at 9am, so it made sense to get our rental car, take a little drive, and end up at a relaxing getaway after an overnight flight. We liked our hotel so much, we ended up staying another night on the back end of our trip. We booked our hotel in Madrid through Amex Travel, which gives you a lot of flexibility and more lenient cancelation and changes. So, we were able to change our reservation in Madrid from 2 nights to 1 with no penalty. This was our first time changing our itinerary on the fly, but it was well worth it!
WHERE TO STAY:
Castilla Termal is a Spanish hotel group with 4 locations. We stayed at Castilla Termal Valbuena, located in San Bernardo, Valladolid. The hotel is quite unique in that it’s a former monastery. In fact, it is considered the best preserved 12th century Cistercian monastery in Europe. If you need to truly unwind and relax, this is the place for you. The hotel is located in the middle of nowhere, but a number of wineries can be found in close proximity. We opted to indulge in the thermal pool and outdoor pool instead.
The food was top notch. No need to leave the property to eat if you don’t want to. The breakfast spread had a little bit of everything (and was included in our room rate). We also enjoyed dinner with Quinn fast asleep in the stroller. So peaceful! All meals were offered al fresco or in their dining room. Dinner with a sunset and no light pollution, plus a friendly kitty on their terrace- what’s not to love?
The hotel provided a crib for Quinn, complete with a little teddy bear for him to take home! We brought our own sheet, which made me feel a little better about using a hotel crib…
The hotel has an underground spa in the cisterns of the monastery, but no photos allowed. Check it out online, because it is incredible to see! I guess I wasn’t supposed to take photos of the thermal pool either, oops. It had various stations with water jets designed for different medicinal uses. The water was also a specific balance of minerals that’s supposed to be good for you. One of the thermal pools spanned from indoor to outdoor, in addition to a “normal” pool outside. You also get to wear these really cool swim caps.
While the little village adjacent to the hotel was just residential, it was full of colorful flowers and perfect for a quiet evening stroll. There was a walking/running trail located behind the hotel as well.
On our drive out of town, we spotted a number of sunflower fields. So pretty, but really hard to capture while moving. We headed to San Sebastian from here, which took about 3.5 hours. If you’re road tripping North like we did, you could make a stop along the way in Burgos. If you’re going South, you could stop in Segovia.
A few more pics of the hotel:
Recaps from the rest of this Spain trip here: