Picos in September accomadation

how much for a service!

how much for a service!

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Hi
Just a bit of advice
Booked on the ferry to Santander early Sept with one nights accommodation booked in Santander after that we are just going to wing it.
Was going to take camping gear in case we got stuck but My question is at that time of year is there plenty of places we can just book accomadation on the day or would it be better to book somewhere central in the picos for a couple of days?
 
how much for a service! said:
Hi
Just a bit of advice
Booked on the ferry to Santander early Sept with one nights accommodation booked in Santander after that we are just going to wing it.
Was going to take camping gear in case we got stuck but My question is at that time of year is there plenty of places we can just book accomadation on the day or would it be better to book somewhere central in the picos for a couple of days?
Click to expand...

Booking.com is pretty good and you can book many places at a click or two with free cancellation right up to the day before. Why not just book a few places in advance, take the tent and if you can't find somewhere to camp, just use the pre-booked hotels.

The Picos can be bloody cold in September though (or even June for that matter). I think I might prefer a hotel myself.
 
I'm sure I just winged it when I went in September a few years back.

As for temps, before 10am was bitter but after that it was loverly.
 
how much for a service! said:
Hi
Just a bit of advice
Booked on the ferry to Santander early Sept with one nights accommodation booked in Santander after that we are just going to wing it.
Was going to take camping gear in case we got stuck but My question is at that time of year is there plenty of places we can just book accomadation on the day or would it be better to book somewhere central in the picos for a couple of days?
Click to expand...

I always recommend you book your first night. Potes it self can be more expensive. I stay here in Lon about 5 km from Potes -Posada Peñas Arriba via booking.com. Excellent parking and costs around £40 including breakfast. They have a bar and do evening meals. In fact I am going 5th Oct and have booked the 1st two nights here.

Sept can be glorious and it can also be cold. May rain as well or it could be 21c. Personally i would rather stay in very cheap rooms than camp. Do not be put off by the word hostel it often means rooms only in Spain.
 
If you are staying in the area for a few days or more - consider airbnb. Have rented a whole apartment 500 yards from Potes with underground secure car parking for £200 for the week!
 
Which ferry are you using? If it's the Plymouth one then you have plenty of time to get from Santander to the Picos. The Plymouth ferry arrives at 230pm local time and it's an easy ride to the hotel recommended in post #4. I stayed her for 2 nights in 2018.

As for camping, yes, in September it can be very cold overnight and 35C in daytime.

Accommodation is plentiful but my preference is to prebook a place for 2 or 3 nights and then do tours from there, without any fixed plan for routes. The Picos is a small area, so a single base works fine. Pick your day's ride based on local weather reports and the time you get your shit together in the morning. Stay out until dusk or when it gets cold as nobody will be feeding you until 8pm at the earliest.
 
Got to be the Hotel Del Oso.

In Potes, about 2 hours from Santander. Great hotel, absolutely fabulous food in true Tosser quantities. Stayed here many times with a few groups in tow, they are so friendly and eager to please.
Not the cheapest, but I doubt you will find better.
Taking another group there in May on our way back from Portugal.

http://hoteldeloso.es/en/home/
 
If you want a bit of luxury the Hotel del Oso is wonderful, the Parador Fuente De is also nice and just a bit further up the road, both very easy to get to from Santander or Bilbao.

There are loads of other cheaper places.
 
It looks like there will be lots of us British touring the Picos in September, quite a few from this forum and at least three groups from the surrounding mid cornwall area around where I live......
Hope it isn't too busy.......
 
harley-metisse said:
It looks like there will be lots of us British touring the Picos in September, quite a few from this forum and at least three groups from the surrounding mid cornwall area around where I live......
Hope it isn't too busy.......
Click to expand...

It's also quite big, so should be OK.
 
harley-metisse said:
It looks like there will be lots of us British touring the Picos in September, quite a few from this forum and at least three groups from the surrounding mid cornwall area around where I live......
Hope it isn't too busy.......
Click to expand...

I have made a mental note to avoid this area in September, thank you for alerting me to this fact.:beerjug:
 
Muppet said:
Got to be the Hotel Del Oso.

In Potes, about 2 hours from Santander. Great hotel, absolutely fabulous food in true Tosser quantities. Stayed here many times with a few groups in tow, they are so friendly and eager to please.
Not the cheapest, but I doubt you will find better.
Taking another group there in May on our way back from Portugal.

http://hoteldeloso.es/en/home/
Click to expand...

Agree, fabulous hotel but it’s not in Potes !!
 
Muppet said:
Got to be the Hotel Del Oso.

In Potes, about 2 hours from Santander. Great hotel, absolutely fabulous food in true Tosser quantities. Stayed here many times with a few groups in tow, they are so friendly and eager to please.
Not the cheapest, but I doubt you will find better.
Taking another group there in May on our way back from Portugal.

http://hoteldeloso.es/en/home/
Click to expand...

A few miles outside Potes, but a great Hotel :)
 
wessie said:
Which ferry are you using? If it's the Plymouth one then you have plenty of time to get from Santander to the Picos. The Plymouth ferry arrives at 230pm local time and it's an easy ride to the hotel recommended in post #4. I stayed her for 2 nights in 2018.

As for camping, yes, in September it can be very cold overnight and 35C in daytime.

Accommodation is plentiful but my preference is to prebook a place for 2 or 3 nights and then do tours from there, without any fixed plan for routes. The Picos is a small area, so a single base works fine. Pick your day's ride based on local weather reports and the time you get your shit together in the morning. Stay out until dusk or when it gets cold as nobody will be feeding you until 8pm at the earliest.
Click to expand...

yes the Plymouth ferry have a hotel booked in Santander but if it is not worth an evening there will push on to Potes
 
JohnnyBoxer said:
You can do Potes in 90 mins from the port - if you get a wiggle on
Click to expand...

A wiggle on, yes. Unless you want to revel in the scenery on the N621, including a paddle in the gorges due to the heat not experienced before, by Spanish virgins last September. With a coffee stop after exiting the Motorway at Unquera, I think we managed the 64 miles to Potes in about 3 hours!

We stayed at Hotel Picos de Europa in Potes. Had an extra night there (3 in total) as we enjoyed the area that much. Loved Potes, beautiful place, hotel quiet to say it's on the "main" road. Bars, restaurants, the buildings, the bridges, river, the backdrop of the peaks....just perfect for us. The people were very welcoming too. Obviously as it was our first visit, we were easily pleased. But hoping to return there this year. Do what others have advised in the past and which we , cos we know better, didn't and that's don't try to "do it all"

We did....Picos, Pyrenees hopping, Millau, Tarn de Gorge, Vercors. Fantastic but better enjoyed if we'd tried to do half that. Bolloxed by the time we got to Dieppe after 14 days.
Spain eh; what a place:bow . Everything about the place was fantastic.........and then we hit Newhaven for a slog up north late Saturday night....we knew we were back when we could smell the sewage as we rode through the south, then stopping at a Motorway services somewhere in England to find only 1 out of a dozen pumps not taped off and one poor old woman trying to make coffees for the queue of people that stretched out the door. Hot snacks? You gotta be fekkin joking. Mars bars and that's it. Yes, we were back in a Third World country for sure.:mad:
 

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