The most centrally located region of Spain with the capital Madrid at its heart, the capital of the region is actually Toledo, famous for its steel. It is in this province where the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote by Cervantes takes place. Although la Mancha is considered to be a windswept, battered plateau it remains a key symbol of the Spanish culture with its sunflowers, olive groves, low white dry stone walls, windmills and farms producing the famous Manchego cheese.

La Mancha's history has been tumultuous as it was the centre of many battles between Christian and Muslim forces between the 11th and 13th centuries and again in the 14th and 15th centuries under the unification of Spain. This has left it a region of castles, fortified towns and strong character. Pedro Almodovar the film director was born here but that hasn’t resulted in a growth in tourism. Hotels and luxury villas across central Spain are generally harder to find than those on the coast. Especially villas within walking distance of the nearest town, which makes Ilios Travel’s Spanish Collection very enticing, the villas to rent in Castilla La Mancha are within a short walk of the city of Toledo.

Our centrally located villas offer the best chance to visit such splendid underrated cities as the hanging walled city of Cuenca, the golden city of Salamanca (music and bullfights) and Albacete - famous for its museum of archaeology.

The villas are all of a very high standard, ensuring a pleasant stay for the duration of any type of holiday. For those who like to explore the less well known areas and see the sights of quieter, less touristic cities, or simply want to sample the unusual regional cuisine, our villas in Spain are all perfectly located for doing so. Castilian-Manchego cuisine is less varied than that of the coast but one should look out for Pisto (a vegetable stew with tomato sauce), Gazpacho manchego, the famous queso manchego (a type of cheese), the white wines of la Mancha and the red wine from Valdepenas.

The last few years have seen a vast improvement in accessibility from the UK due to the no frills airlines. Regional airports can be found at Villanubla (Valladolid), Virgen del Camino (Leon) Salamanca and Burgos and of course there are good connections to Madrid.

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