Your top off-the-beaten track discoveries, from gorges in Galicia to vineyards in La Rioja
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Recently travelling from Madrid to San Sebastián, we spent three days in picturesque Briñas in La Rioja, staying at the beautiful Finca Torre de Briñas (doubles from €189 B&B). The neighbouring town, Haro, reached via a 40-minute walk by the Ebro River, hosts several of the largest wine producers in the region (CVNE and Muga are recommended). You can stop in and sample them, before heading into the town centre, which has several tapas spots to fuel the walk back to the hotel. Bliss.
Tom Dickson
Less than an hour’s drive – yet a world away – from the bustling Murcia coast sits the brooding Sierra Espuña mountain range, a green respite from the summer heat and the site of a rewilding project started more than a century ago. After a morning’s hike through the shady pines, we drove up a switchback mountain road to check out the 16th-century Pozos de la Nieve, and descended steps into a silent, cavernous interior. Come summer, stored ice was hauled by horse and cart from here down to wealthy city folk. Our return route passed the Barrancos de Gebas, a lunar “badlands” landscape formed from a seabed more than 10m years ago. There were few other visitors and it felt like our secret.
