As usual check the web sites www.booking.com and www.venere.com but one to be highly recommended is the Hotel Boutique Gareus, C/Colmenares 2, a real find. Hotels were scarce in Valladolid when we booked probably because of the Fiesta and this looked fine and also handy for the train station. It turned out to be really top notch, the public areas, the room, the staff were all rxcellent. It is a ten to fifteen minute walk to the Plaza Mayor but that was not a problem.

Los Zagales, C/Pasion 13, has to be one of the best places in the city. It has won numerous awards for it’s innovative tapas yet inside it is like an old fashioned bar not the modern place you might have expected. Try the award winning Obama in the White House, or Tigre Toston or Tierra Mar Aire – or let’s face it anything on the menu. The McChurro mini-burger is like no burger you will have tried before.

Jero, C/Correos, is another of the best places to visit, there are loads of different pinxtos to try, look at the board on the wall to see what each contains as there are some incredible combinations.

Bar La Sepia, C/Jesus 1, we did not get to the bar but sampled the food at their stall and judging by the amount of people and what we tried it is rightly another of the must try places, the sepia, cuttlefish, is of course the speciality.

Restaurant Gabino, C/Angustias, apparently has the best modern chef in the city and if the morcilla magdalena is anything to go by they could be correct. Again the cooking was only sampled at their stall but it was excellent.

El Peso. C/del Peso, another place tried at it’s stall but boy was the cooking great – the tuna brochette with caramelised onions and a cream of pepper plus a dessert tapas made me want to go and eat there immediately.

Drink

Valladolid is surrounded by a number of different wines growing areas, Rueda, Cigales, Ribera del Duero and Toro. Rueda produces some excellent white wines from the verdejo grape, Cigales produces both white and red, Ribera del Duero famed for it’s fabulous reds which give Rioja a run for their money and lastly Toro producing some excellent reds mainly from a grape variety called tinto de toro, tempranillo.

The Plaza Mayor and Cathedral are not the most stunning however there are enough other sites to make up for this. The Palacio de los Pimentel, with the amazing gothic façade of the Iglesia de San Pedro and the even more fantastic Colegio de San Gregorio. Valladolid certainly deserves a visit for a couple of days to enjoy the great food and wine.

There is lots more to see and a lovely park the Campo Grande.