Skiing at Valdelinares
For the group where not everyone skis
Valdelinares is under two hours away. Whoever goes up to the snow goes and comes back the same day. Whoever doesn’t ski stays in a house with a wood-fired hot tub, two fireplaces and Valencian sunshine. Nobody sacrifices anything.
The mountains and the city
Snow guaranteed, and no crowds
Valdelinares sits at two thousand metres in the Sierra de Gúdar, with snow cannons across the whole mountain. That means there’s snow even in a dry winter, which is exactly what you can’t take for granted almost anywhere else.
It’s a resort built for learning: easy runs, a school with more than thirty instructors and a snow garden for children. If you’re coming from a country without winter and want to see snow for the first time or put on skis, it’s easier than a big resort and there are no long queues.
And the village has fewer than a hundred inhabitants, so the trip doesn’t end when the lifts close: Valencia is the same distance away, with its restaurants, its market and its sea.
The day
You go up in the morning and have dinner at the house
Valdelinares is about a hundred and forty kilometres away on the A-23, a little under two hours. The lifts close around five, so there’s plenty of time to be back for dinner here.
The resort is at two thousand metres in the Sierra de Gúdar, with machine-made snow when there’s no natural cover, and it’s one of the easiest for beginners. Breakfast can be served before the car leaves.
There’s room for twenty vehicles inside the grounds, and a garage if the kit needs to be kept under cover.
The real problem
The snow isn’t the problem. The group is
In almost every group that goes skiing there are people who don’t ski. Parents coming along, partners who’d rather not, friends who don’t want to spend the day on a piste.
Staying up in the mountains solves the problem for half the group and creates it for the other half: whoever doesn’t go up spends the day in a small freezing village, waiting for the others to come back.
Here it’s the other way round. The skiers go up and come back; the rest have a whole house with a garden, a hot tub and fifteen minutes to Valencia.
Coming back
A wood-fired hot tub after a day on the slopes
The hot tub is outdoors, wood-fired, and holds eight. It’s lit in good time so it’s ready when the car gets back from Valdelinares.
And indoors two wood fires are lit, with the firewood included. Coming back from the snow to a flat with radiators isn’t the same as coming back to a house with a fire.
For those who stay
The day of whoever doesn’t go up
The library and the billiard table
With the fireplace right there. It’s where people end up spending the morning without noticing.
The cinema
Projector and screen, for the afternoon when nobody fancies going out.
The garden in winter
Valencia has sunshine in January. The garden sofas get used twelve months a year.
And the city fifteen minutes away, for anyone who’d rather spend the day in Valencia while the others ski.
Before you write
The questions we get most
How far is Valdelinares?
About a hundred and forty kilometres on the A-23, a little under two hours by car. You go up in the morning and come back to sleep here.
What if only half the group skis?
That’s exactly what this house is for. Those going up go and come back; those staying have the garden, the wood-fired hot tub, the library, the cinema and Valencia fifteen minutes away.
Do you rent by the room?
No. The house is rented whole and always to one group, seven to sixteen people. There’s nobody else in the house.
Is there room for the gear?
Yes. There’s a garage and plenty of room inside the grounds, with parking for twenty vehicles.
Can we have breakfast before setting off?
Yes. Breakfast is served in the window the group chooses, so it can be set around the time the car leaves.
Is the pool available in winter?
The pool is kept clean twelve months a year, but it isn’t heated. The one that does work all year is the wood-fired hot tub.
R.S.V.P.
What to ask for in advance
None of this has a form. You tell us on WhatsApp and it’s sorted before you arrive.
The hot tub is wood-fired and takes time to heat. It’s lit in good time if we know when the group is coming back.
Where it happens
A 16th-century villa, entirely yours
Seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, 650 m² of house and 4,500 m² of garden, five minutes from Valencia airport and fifteen from the centre. Always for one group at a time.
