Spain Guide
Castilla-La Mancha
Many tourists thunder nonstop across the plains of Castilla-La Mancha to Valencia and Andalucía. At first sight this is understandable. Castilla-La Mancha is Spain at its least welcoming: a huge, bare plain – the name comes from the Arab manxa, meaing steppe – burning hot in summer, chillingly exposed in winter. But this impression is not entirely fair – away from the main highways the villages are friendly, and in the northeast, where the mountains start, are the extraordinary cliff-hanging city of Cuenca and the historic cathedral town of Sigüenza. Castilla-La Mancha is also the agricultural and wine-growing heartland of Spain, through which Don Quixote cut his despairing swathe.
If you have a car, and are heading south, the Toledo– Ciudad Real road, the Montes de Toledo and the wetland Parque Nacional de las Tablas de Daimiel all provide good alternatives to the sweltering A4 autopista. Heading east, through Cuenca to Teruel, the best route is to follow the Río Júcar out of the province, by way of the weird rock formations in the Ciudad Encantada and the source of the Río Tajo. Heading west, into Extremadura, the A5 is one of the dullest and hottest roads in Spain and can be avoided by following the M501/CL501 through the Sierra de Gredos or by cutting onto it from Talavera de la Reina; this would bring you to the Monastery of Yuste by way of the lush valley of La Vera.