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Ideas for scenic places in Spain or Italy

I have a few days (24-28 July) for a trip down that way.

Zaragoza was pretty but I’ve done that one. Granada was also (the Alhambra). I haven’t done much of Italy due to the avgas and language situation but Albenga has been highly recommended a number of times.

Last Edited by Peter at 02 Jul 10:59
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Depends what you mean by scenic. Sevilla is a great city, but hot now. The city of Salamanca is also very nice, a little less hot because it’s elevation is higher. Spain’s north coast has various nice cities and beautiful scenery. Menorca is small but has a few nice towns and a nice scenery. And quite some UK heritage (Nelson was based there, not a bad choice..) Plus a private VFR airfield (LESL) with a 2 km runway, a restaurant and a hangar. No fuel, no taxes, no bureaucracy, right next to the main airport. Let me know if you go there, we could meet up.

Private field, Mallorca, Spain

Spain: I would also have said Granada, but as you’ve been there already…

Barcelona is my favorite among the large Spanish cities (with Sabadell as light GA aerodrome), but it will be very hot and crowded this time of the year. And no waterfront which is weird for a city located directly at the sea. If you are interested in architecture, the Sagrada Familia (still not finished) is an absolute must. From the inside one of the 3 most breathtakingly beautiful bulidings I have ever seen. Expect to queue two to three hours in full sunlight though…

Less hot – even wet – and with spectacular landscape is the northern and northwestern part, places I can recommend are Bilbao, Santander (haven’t used the airfield yet) with 3000m high mountains (“Picos de Europa”) very close to the sea and Vigo in Galicia. Galicia is like Ireland but with taller mountains and more rain – but when the sun shines, it is simply wonderful.

Albenga is interesting as an aerodrome and also a place where the mountains directly meet the sea – but the beach is nothing special, gravel, and supercrowded in summer. Maybe you are lucky because the holidays in Italy start in August and you will just miss them.

Last Edited by what_next at 02 Jul 12:23
EDDS - Stuttgart

My stop at Zaragoza was only very brief. Also is Girona any good?

Those pics, WN – are they Albenga?

Last Edited by Peter at 02 Jul 14:07
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

No, that’s Vigo.

Personally, I avoid going to the Med between mid July and the end of August… too crowded, too expensive, to hot and too warm water (some people like that).

In that sort of season, I go to the Atlantic Coast of Spain and France, Scotland, Scandinavia or the Baltic countries.

Re Albenga: high season is now well underway (yes, August is even worse). Liguria starts getting really packed from now on. Why don’t you pay a visit when going to Corsica?

Last Edited by boscomantico at 02 Jul 15:17
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Also is Girona any good?

No good.

Those pics, WN – are they Albenga?

No, Vigo. My Albenga photos are on some external hard drive. I will post some when I find them.

If Portugal would be an option, I could recommend Lisbon or close-by Cascais (very GA friendly and with AVGAS). Climate should be ideal right now and lots to see and do. At least I found a few pictures of an old visit on my MacBook. They are from a cargo flight with a C404, headwind all the way to Lisbon, 8:20 minutes block time, my longest non-stop flight so far:

Lisbon

Lisbon

Short final into Cascais

Cascais on departure

If you like it big, you can of course fly to Madrid, but it is not really GA friendly. But it has excellent and cheap public transport and a lot to offer.

On approach to Barajas with northerly operations. Both runways visible in the foreground are used for landings, the ones barely visible in the background angled towards the right for departure. With southerly operations, everything is reversed. Barajas must be seen to believe, it occupies three times as many acres as Heathrow and twices as many as Frankfurt. Only Charles de Gaulle is a little bit larger. Two runways are 4km long, the other two “only” 3.5km.

If you want, you can spend your whole weekend taxiing (which is difficult enough because most of the signs are painted on the concrete to be viewed from at least 3m up):

This is in the centre of Madrid

And this is what you are going to see for hours and hours when flying over central Spain

Last Edited by what_next at 02 Jul 15:06
EDDS - Stuttgart

Are the Atlantic coast cities interesting? The airports are Bilbao, Santander, Asturias.

Corsica, yes, maybe, but from Corsica I will be going pretty well straight to Greece… going to be a hard life!

Who else here would turn up for lunch?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I would have thought that for GA into Madrid, Cuatro Vientos would be a better destination (it’s a GA airfield, it also has an aircraft museum).

Bilbao is a good city to visit, it’s also not blowtorch hot in the summer. I’ll be there in about 3 weeks, but mostly I just see the inside of the BEC since I’m at Euskal Encounter…

Last Edited by alioth at 02 Jul 15:17
Andreas IOM

San Sebastian is the most beautiful.

Santander is alright, but not overly exciting (but the beach is fine).

Gijon (the city served by Asturias airport) is ugly.

Bilbao is supposed to be interesting (not been there), but the airport is a GA pilot’s nightmare.

Vigo is so-so as a city, but the overall area is beautiful and interesting.

Don’t know about La Coruña.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 02 Jul 15:24
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Are the Atlantic coast cities interesting? The airports are Bilbao, Santander, Asturias

Bilbao is a very interesting city, if you or your partner are interested in art, you can probably spend a day in the Guggenheim museum alone. Santander is a nice little town, but you’ve seen everything in a couple of hours. I have not yet been to Asturias or the surroundings. Further to the west are Leon and A Coruna, but they are more industrial than touristic. The coast and surroundings are nice, probably best viewed from the air.

I would have thought that for GA into Madrid, Cuatro Vientos would be a better destination (it’s a GA airfield, it also has an aircraft museum).

Yes of course. But it’s daylight VFR only and the runway a bit on the shortish side for us, so we need Barajas. Torrejon was ideal, but that is now closed for non-military traffic.

EDDS - Stuttgart
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