We've just spent two weeks travelling around spain with our 3 girls. Planning our trip proved more difficult than I'd imagined. Our children are 4, 2 and 1 so obviously we all want to be in the same room or at least an adjoining room. Well this was the tricky bit. It appears having 5 is an awkward number. Most of the hotel booking systems won't accept 5 in a room. Some have the option to input 3 children but then simply don't work. Frustrating after you've input all your details excited that they take you all.
No apparently 2+2 is the simple way to live. 2+3 or more is just complicated.
Eventually I contacted our friend's wedding planners in Spain (www.AnAmazingHotel.com) and Laura did live up to their name and did an amazing job booking all the hotels for us with an extra single bed in the room and a baby cot. The older 2 girls slept together and Maisy in the travel cot.
Our first stop was Requena 65km north of Valencia. http://www.hotelpatillarequena.com/ This was a lovely family hotel on the outskirts of the town - we did walk into Requena but most people would probably choose to drive. We had a family suite which had a little salon with a sofa bed, coffee tables and separate bathroom adjoined to a lovely large double bedroom with en-suite bathroom and a couple of comfy chairs. The girls slept on the double sofa bed.The hotel has a reasonable sized dining room where the family cook an evening meal from the menu for you or Tapas. We had a beautiful Swordfish steak in Rosemary oil with vegetables a la plancha, followed my Manchego cheese and all accompanied by a great bottle of Utiel-Requena Crianza (12 euro!) What a perfect first meal in Spain.
Overall the hotel was very good value and included a fantastic breakfast, our best in Spain. It's not located in the centre but is walking distance and we would definitely recommend this hotel as a stop over if you are driving from the South of France to Southern Spain or Portugal. The family spoke French and a little English (unfortunately and embarrasingly we don't speak much Spanish) but we were able to sort everything easily.
Requena was where we first experienced La Trona - the Spanish version of a high chair which was not like anything we've ever seen before. It's like an adult chair with arms but higher so that the child can sit at the table...perfect for Izzy or Jasmine who can climb up and get down with ease - we could have done with 2 of those, BUT for Maisy who is like a squirming, wriggling, flipping fish, it meant mealtimes were like playing roulette. She would sit in her Trona like a Royal Queen reigning over her sisters (who were on normal chairs struggling to reach the table) and she would laugh as she launched herself out of the chair - she has no fear, she knows one of us will catch her. Great fun. I chose a restaurant in Requena that was a bit too quiet and that made us feel self conscious too, not great when you are the only people in there with kids and one of them keeps launching themselves out of their throne. The other 2 found the stuffed animal heads on the walls fascinating and kept asking if they were dead - in very loud voices. Yes - lesson learnt - scarily though the brightly coloured plastic lights of Mc Do are looking like safe places to take our 3. Arrghhh. That's another hat I'm going to have to eat!
Next we went to Jaen in the North of Andalusia