Camping Regio

For days of Salamanca sightseeing and stop offs en route between Portugal and San Sebastián or the UK and France, Camping Regio is site in Santa Marta de Tormes is just the job.

A short and inexpensive bus ride takes you direct from the hotel grounds into Salamanca (and back) every hour, and if you're up for a squeezing a spot of extra exercise into your itinerary, then you're a couple of kilometres from the Dutch-style riverside cycle path that leads right into the city's old town and branches off for jaunts into the newer part of the city.

There's heaps of space for running around, and the large pool and its neighbouring paddling pool provide ample splashing and swimming space. Tennis champs can play a few gentle games on the site's tennis court, but be sure to bring your own kit if you're keen. For when you feel like a good long lounge, sink yourself into one of the sun beds that lie around the grassy surrounding the pool area.

A food shop and a café bar with a big sunny terrace are on site too, but if you find yourself there out of season or fancy a further-flung forage, a ginormous hypermarket and a smaller budget supermarket are both within about four kilometres for picnic supplies. For off-season eating options that don't involve any extra effort on your part (save a stroll over to the hotel), the restaurant there serves reasonably priced set menus and, happily, offers discounts to Camping Regio guests.

Pitches are flat, level, grassy and the mature trees that lie dotted around the site provide a good balance of shade and sunny spots; there are water taps at every third pitch, and if you need to catch up on a spot of laundry, this is the place to do it: the laundry room's two token-operated washing machines and dryers have been highly commended by previous guests, as has their sparklingly clean sanitary block and top notch wifi service.