Bilbao to Alicante after ferry. Where to stay.

[YouDoSomethingToMe]

We have just booked the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander for the October break. We plan on staying 2 nights on the way to Alicante (to see family) and then one night stopover on the way back to the ferry.

The 2 easiest stop offs on the way/ way back seem to be Madrid or Zaragoza. Which would you think has the most to see or is the most interesting? I have been to Madrid before many years ago so the city is not necessarily my first choice. Which route is best?

We usually stop in Zaragoza but just for the night so just tend to stay in our hotel or go to the shopping centre nearby. We stay in the Diagonal Plaza it is very nice.

We are stopping in Madrid this year after getting off the ferry in Santander as we fancy a change.

We are staying in Pinto for 2 nights and plan to visit parque warner as we are big theme park fans and one day sightseeing in Madrid.

Hello, we do this route a lot (not quite as far as alicante) - Zaragoza isn't that far from Bilbao, you could do it in about 3 hours and it'll be very hot. We stop there a lot to go to the ikea there but not to sightsee, not sure there is much..

Madrid is a bit out of the way isn't it? id have thought you'd want to take the coastal road down past Valencia. It's also too big to do as an overnight stop and I find it very stressful to drive there. In fact last time the car parking was more expensive than the hotel. two nights could be doable though. Toledo (just south) would be better I think.

How about somewhere little bit beautiful like Teruel or Albarracin which are about half way. Depending on the age of your kids, Teruel has a hotel with a dinosaur themed spa (!!) and Albarracin is a moorish castle walled game of thrones type town.

Thanks for the replies.

I had a look at Albarracin and it looks absolutely beautiful. One of my favourite holidays was staying in a 17th Century house in Le Rioja so I think that would be right up my street.

One more Q. Do you know how far in advance the ferry to Santander/ Bilbao gets booked up? We tried to get August this year but there was nothing we only just got bookings for Oct. We would like to book the Premier cabin in future as it looks like a real treat. If we book for next year (we have family there now) how far in advance do I need to do it?

We booked last September for this August we have commodore cabins and they sell out dead fast. The fares are normally released early Sep for the following year.

You do get people cancelling so keep checking and they sometimes come up.