La Mancha: Restaurants, Hotels, Shopping & Wine

Maite Classic Straws

The hotel is located in the same building as Javier Sanz and Juan Sahuquillo's restaurant "Oba" and has everything you need for a restful night after a lavish evening with the two chefs. The town of Casas Ibáñez itself has little to offer; a quick trip to the nearby, far more spectacular Cañones de Júcar is recommended.

Hotel Rural La Vida de Antes.

The boutique hotel is housed in a typical 19th-century La Mancha manor house. A beautiful courtyard, heavy wooden beams, and artfully decorated furniture preserve the charm of bygone eras; the location between the center of Consuegra and the windmills for which the town is known, in addition to its saffron, could not be better.

Parador de San Pablo

The Parador is housed in a former Dominican convent dating from 1523, and even in its secular second life, it cuts a magnificent figure. Guests now stroll through the cloister, the refectory is a restaurant, and the view of Cuenca's famous "casas colgadas" is as spectacular as ever.

Saint John of the Kings

Instead of the monks of the San Juan de los Reyes monastery, visitors to Toledo can now make themselves comfortable here – away from the hustle and bustle around the main square and the cathedral in the Jewish quarter of the city, just a few minutes from the synagogue and the El Greco Museum.

Restaurants in La Mancha

Hanging Houses

“The most photographed restaurant in the world,” is how Jesús Segura jokingly refers to his restaurant in Cuenca, which is housed in one of the spectacular Casas Colgadas, the “hanging houses,” perched over a precipice. He serves a radically regionalist cuisine and also aims to raise his guests’ awareness of the value of the originality and authenticity of good food and the devastation wrought by industrialized agriculture.

The Hut

Behind an unassuming door on a busy street in an unremarkable small town lies a Valhalla of Spanish haute cuisine. Pepe Rodríguez, Spain's most famous television chef, has transformed his family's home-style restaurant into a gastronomic pilgrimage site, where he pays homage to the cuisine of his homeland and his ancestors with the utmost refinement.

Maralba

Some consider the Reconquistador castle, which juts steeply from a rocky spur like a gigantic tooth, to be Almansa's greatest attraction. In truth, however, it is Fran and Cristina Martínez's restaurant that many rightly consider the best in La Mancha. Here, with the utmost virtuosity and utmost composure, a cuisine is served that is both rooted in local traditions and cosmopolitan – an absolute must on any gourmet's journey through La Mancha.

Both

Javier Sanz and Juan Sahuquillo are not yet 30 years old, yet they already preside over a culinary empire with more than a dozen restaurants throughout Spain. Their crown jewel is "Oba" in their hometown of Casas-Ibáñez, where the two young chefs, with astonishing maturity, serve an artistically presented menu as a tribute to La Mancha.

Victor Sanchez-Beato

A visit to his sister in Japan had lasting consequences. Since then, Víctor Sánchez-Beato stands like a sushi chef behind a counter in the kitchen, preparing his menu in front of the guests, who sit shoulder to shoulder, all eating the same thing – not okonomiyaki or yakitori, but the classics of La Mancha cuisine, complemented by the treasures of the seas off Spain's coasts.

Shopping in La Mancha

Alique Bermejo Jamonería & Delicatessen

Fran Alique is a delicatessen owner straight out of a storybook: He loves his products like his own children, but also sells them with the greatest enthusiasm and passionate willingness to his customers, who can find all the culinary treasures of La Mancha at his shop.

Saffron The Flower of Consuegra

A few years ago, almost every family in Consuegra picked their own saffron; now only two do – including this one, who processes it at home and sells it there in the best, guaranteed pure quality to connoisseurs. One phone call is all it takes.

Tel. 0034-650288489

Santo Tomé Marzipan

In Toledo, marzipan's triumphant journey began, first to Europe and then to the rest of the world, thanks to the Moors and their artistry in confectionery, a craft still practiced in the city on the Tagus River today. The best marzipan can be found at Santo Tomé – where customers are also greeted by a 3.6-meter-high marzipan Don Quixote.

Villarejo Artisan Cheeses

Manchego cheese is the crown jewel in the culinary treasure trove of La Mancha, and nowhere does it shine brighter than in this family-run business, which produces each wheel by hand and has already won dozens of awards. Besides the classic varieties, there are also versions with flavors of wild herbs or saffron.

Winery in La Mancha

Ponce Wineries and Vineyards

Twenty years ago, Juan Antonio Ponce founded his winery in the then-young DO region of Manchuela. Bobal is the dominant grape variety here. The fantastic red wines, often from century-old vines, are served in the finest Spanish restaurants. They are spicy and mineral, as elegant and refined as the greatest French wines.