Getaways from Valladolid: day trips and destinations close by.

The N-122 follows the Duero to Peñafiel

Each road leads to a different landscape. To the east, the N-122 follows the Duero bank to Peñafiel, in the centre of the Ribera, and continues towards Aranda. To the west, the A-11 and N-122 go to Zamora, and the A-62, via Tordesillas, to Salamanca. To the south, the A-601 crosses the Cuéllar pine forests to Segovia; from there you climb to the Navacerrada pass, reach Pedraza or seek the canyon of the Duratón Gorges. To the north, the A-62 passes Palencia on the way to Burgos, and from Palencia the A-67 climbs towards Aguilar de Campoo and the Montaña Palentina. To the north-west, via the A-6 to Benavente and the A-52, is Sanabria lake.

Without a car, the clear option is Segovia: the AVE takes about half an hour and leaves you at Segovia-Guiomar, with an urban bus to the Aqueduct. There is also a train to Burgos and Salamanca, but for the villages, from Peñafiel to Sepúlveda or Covarrubias, you need a car.

Peñafiel, the only plan with time to spare in the morning

Under an hour there is only Peñafiel, at 50 minutes: the castle with the Provincial Wine Museum, the Plaza del Coso, wood-oven roast lamb and a village winery with a tasting. It is the only plan with time to spare in the morning.

The three nearest stone cities are between one and one and a half hours away: Salamanca, at 80 minutes, with the University open on Sunday only until two; Zamora, at 81, with the 11:00 guided Romanesque tour and the cathedral inside, and Segovia, at 89.

Between an hour and a half and two hours is the bulk of the Sundays: Burgos, cathedral, castle and roast lamb, at 93 minutes; canoeing on the Duratón and the two Aguilar plans, at 100; Ávila and its wall, at 104; Pedraza, its jail and the Zuloaga castle, at 107, and Covarrubias and Silos, at 111. Several call for a night, and have one: Sepúlveda and the canyon, Aguilar with Romanesque and bison or a night facing Silos to hear vespers without watching the clock.

From two hours it is best to start early or sleep away: the Atapuerca sites and the mine and CAREX with children, at 120 minutes; El Escorial, monastery and royal forest, at 130; La Alberca, at 145, and the Sierra Norte of Madrid, at 160.

The nearest snow, on the other side of Segovia

In winter, the nearest snow is on the other side of Segovia, in Guadarrama: a ski day at Valdesquí, 125 minutes away, or guided snowshoeing at Navacerrada, 120, always with chains for the pass. To sleep there is the snow weekend in Cercedilla. A cold Sunday without snow suits the bison of the Montaña Palentina: in winter the reserve only opens on weekend mornings.

In spring, the Castilian countryside is green and the water runs. It is the season for paddling the Duratón, for Covarrubias and the Silos cloister and, from the end of March, when the Mave eating house opens, for the Romanesque of Aguilar.

In summer it is best to go up. The Laguna Grande de Gredos is a five-hour route with access to the Plataforma regulated at weekends: 120 minutes away, you have to leave before seven. The Peñalara lake, at 130, has a quota. With two nights, Sanabria and its glacial lagoons, at 125.

In autumn the grape harvest arrives in the Ribera, with a night in Peñafiel and two wineries, and from mid-September to mid-October, the rut in Sanabria and the Sierra de la Culebra.

Burgos and Atapuerca with a night

• Without a car, in a day: Segovia on a Sunday. A half-hour AVE, the Aqueduct before the groups, the Casa de Moneda beside the Eresma, suckling pig in the Azoguejo and the Alcázar in the afternoon.
• With one night: Burgos and Atapuerca. 93 minutes along the A-62: on Saturday, the cathedral, the castle and wood-fired lamb; on Sunday, the Trinchera with a guide and the fossils at the Museum of Human Evolution.
• With two nights: La Alberca and Las Batuecas. Two hours twenty-five, past Salamanca, to go down to Las Batuecas, climb the Peña de Francia and see the portraits of Mogarraz.