La Dolce Vita Wine Tours

Rioja Roundup

The Past and Future of Spanish Wine

Trip Notes:

Airport

Madrid Barajas, for arrival and departure

Pre-tour

Madrid offers endless possibilities for art and gastronomic adventures before or after our tour. For a basic orientation, see GoMadrid. Plan to land in Spain at least a day before the tour begins. We recommend spending the preceding night in Valladolid, our meeting spot. Valladolid is a lovely, historic university city and the regional capital of Castillo y León. In Valladolid, the most convenient hotel choice would be the one we’re using on Day 1, Meliá Recoletos (see Accommodations tab above). Alternately, there is a nice 3-star hotel next door, Hotel Lasa, for your pre-tour night. (We can make either reservation for you.) If you stay elsewhere, you will be responsible for arriving at the Hotel Melia on the morning of Day 1 in time for our pick-up, which is usually at 9:30. A second option is to take an early train from Madrid the morning of Day 1. (See below.)

Getting from the airport to Madrid

In our experience, getting a taxi at the airport is preferable to scheduling a car service. Or you can use Madrid’s excellent subway system, the Metro. The airport terminals are the final stops on the 8 (pink) line. It takes about 30-40 minutes into the city center. See subway map.

Getting from Madrid to Valladolid

Madrid and Valladolid are well connected by train. See the Spanish train (Renfe) schedule (in English). Search Madrid-->Valladolid Campo Grande. Be aware that Madrid has two train stations. For Valladolid, you’ll be leaving from the CHAMARTIN station, which is on the 1 (blue) Metro line. You can choose from over 20 trains from Madrid to Valladolid on a Sunday, more on weekdays. The fastest is the AVE, which takes only 56 minutes. Is it not necessary to book in advance. The train station has ATM-like ticket kiosks with multiple language choices where you can get a last-minute ticket. Tip: Before you leave on your trip, print out the train schedule. This will come in handy when you're at the ticket kiosk picking which train to take, since the printout will include DURATION.

Meeting point

We meet in the lobby of our first hotel in Valladolid (see Accommodations). The meeting time is usually 9:30 a.m. (The time will be confirmed in your information packet.)

Departure day

On our final day, we’ll have you back to the Madrid Barajas airport between 1 and 2 p.m. (Drive time from Rioja is approximately 4 hours.) As described above, the airport terminals make up the final stops at the end of the 8 line (“Aeropuerto“). If you don’t fly out til evening, you can check your luggage in a short-term Baggage Deposit area and visit Madrid for a few hours.

Travel insurance

This is recommended to protect you from needless loss caused by last-minute cancellations, lost luggage, and more. One source is Travelex Insurance: www.travelexinsurance.com, (800) 228-9792 (please use our compay code: 21-0043 LDV).

Weather

When packing, check www.weather.com. Go to “Valladolid, Spain” and “Logrono, Spain” to get a general idea of temperatures and forecast.