← Maratón de Don Benito·2 nights

Cáceres: The Walled Town of Storks and Towers

Two nights inside or beside one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Spain, a walled quarter of stone towers and palaces with a Parador, a celebrated restaurant and very little traffic.

Duration2 nights
TransitCar, about 1 hour 15 minutes from Don Benito
DepartsDon Benito

After the Maratón de Don Benito: Cáceres

The Route: Don Benito → Cáceres → Madrid-Barajas Airport Logistics: Hire car to Cáceres, then road or train to Madrid for the flight home. Marathon Month: February Duration: 2 nights

Don Benito ──(about 1 hr 15 mins by car)──> Cáceres
                                                │
       Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) ◄──(about 3 hrs by car, or train to Madrid)──┘

The Maratón de Don Benito is run in a modern agricultural town. Cáceres, an hour and a quarter north-west, is its opposite: a walled old quarter so well preserved that UNESCO lists it as a World Heritage City, with almost no modern building inside the walls.

February in Cáceres is cold at night and often sunny by day, with afternoons in the low to mid-teens. White storks nest on the towers and church roofs; many return to their nests by late winter. The old town is quiet on weekdays out of season.

Drive from Don Benito in about 1 hour 15 minutes. Trains between the two towns involve a change and take much longer.

Nights One and Two: Cáceres

Cáceres was fought over by Moors and Christians until 1229, and its noble families spent the following centuries building fortified houses inside the walls, each topped with a tower. The Catholic Monarchs ordered most of the towers cut down to curb the nobles; the Torre de las Cigüeñas, the Storks' Tower, is the only one left at full height.

The Plaza Mayor, outside the walls, is large, gently sloping and ringed with cafés. The Arco de la Estrella, a curved eighteenth-century gateway, leads from it into the walled town. Inside, the streets are cobbled and climb towards the church of San Mateo at the top. Take it slowly; the distances are short, a few hundred metres, but the stone is uneven. The best walk for tired legs is the level lower loop from the Arco de la Estrella past the co-cathedral of Santa María and its surrounding palaces, then back down to the Plaza Mayor.

On the second day, the Museo de Cáceres, in a Moorish-era palace inside the walls, has an eleventh-century Almohad cistern in its basement, reached by stairs.

Where to stay. The Parador de Cáceres occupies a fourteenth-century palace inside the walls. Atrio, also inside the old town, is a small luxury hotel attached to its restaurant.

Where to eat. Atrio is one of Spain's best-known restaurants, with three Michelin stars and an enormous wine cellar; book months ahead. For something simpler, the bars around the Plaza Mayor serve local ham, torta del Casar cheese spooned from the rind and migas.

Getting to Madrid-Barajas Airport

Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) is about three hours from Cáceres by car. Trains from Cáceres to Madrid take around 3 to 4 hours depending on the service, followed by Cercanías line C1 to the airport. Badajoz Airport (BJZ) is about an hour away but has very few routes. Lisbon (LIS) is about three hours by car and has more flights to the UK.