Planning your trip

Desde Valencia hasta Amitavati
Arriving by car
Transfers
Metro from Airport
Bus times
What to take
Local tourism

Flying is the quickest and cheapest way to get to Valencia. You can pay a little extra with EasyJet (from Gatwick) to offset your carbon emissions. Ryanair flies from Stansted. Depending on the day of the week and when you book you can pay as little as £35 return.

Greener Travel from England to Amitavati
Leila Deens' (an Amitavati happy retreatant!) recommendations for travelling by train:
To really save cash (in relation to the train fare), the planet and avoid the booking mayhem of trains, you could get a coach for £167 from London direct to Valencia at www.nationalexpress.com.
I took the train. I got a Eurostar to Paris, which can be around £100 return (www.eurostar.com), a sleeper to Barcelona and then a three hour train to Valencia. I got a coach on the way back to Barca, and that is cheaper. It took me from 4pm, when I left london, until 12 noon the next day when I arrived in Valencia. I recommend a stopover in Barcelona.
There are two trains that run overnight from Paris to Barcelona. One is the Trenhotel which takes 11 hours to Barcelona Franca leaving around 8pm in a sleeper. It can be as cheap as £65 one way. The other is Corail Lunea which goes to Barcelona Sants via Port Bou and you have to change trains there (13 hours, leaves around 10pm, similar prices).
For the routes across Europe to anywhere, the most useful website is www.seat61.com/Spain.htm but the information on prices may be out of date.
For costs, the most useful website is RailEurope which is the easiest place to check out prices, but when booking I recommend not doing it yourself on the web. Call them and make them sort it for you.
Pricewise, the train is never very cheap, which is why everyone flies, but it is really fun if you get into the spirit of the journey. The return journey from London is around £200 if you book early.

Desde Valencia hasta Amitavati

Coge la CV35, direción Lliria y Ademuz. Evita entrar en Lliria y en el pueblo de Casinos y sigue la CV35 para Ademuz. 10 o 15 minutos después de pasar Casinos, coge la carratera a la derecha, direción Villar del Arzobispo. En la primera isleta, gira a la izquierda hacia el pueblo de Villar del Arzobispo. En la próxima isleta, evita a entrar el pueblo, y coge la carretera en direción a Higueruelas. Pasa un polígono industrial a la derecha, y bastante pronto verás un indicador hacia Andilla, gira a la derecha, CV341 direcion Andilla.

Pasa un indicador de velocidad máxima a 60 km/h y muy pronto otro de 40 km/h. La carretera es ancha. En el indicador 3 km gira a la izquierda. Entra en un camino del campo y sigue este camino sin girar, hasta un indicador de 20 km/h. Gira a la derecha y sigue el camino pasando unas casas. Ve por un valle pecuino. Subiendo verás un indicador blanco y pecueno sobre un arbol: W.B.O. Gira a la derecha, y Amitavati esta alli, 50 metros delante, una casa de 2 plantas, color crema y rojo. Bienvenido!!

Arriving by car
See Multimap to find the way by road to Villar-del-Arzobispo, the nearest town to Amitavati.

Directions from Villar del Arzobispo to Amitavati.
From the roundabout with a wine press in the middle just before Villar -del-Arzobispo take the second exit (straight across) towards Higueruelas. Pass an industrial estate on your right and take a right turn at the signpost to Andilla. This is the CV341.You come to a 60km/hr speed limit and shortly after, a 40km/hr speed limit. The road widens then and you turn left at km. 3 onto a dirt track. There will be a sign to Amitavati on a post at this junction if a retreat is due to start. Follow the dirt track until you reach the second 20km/hr sign. Turn right at the sign and continue past a group of houses. Cross a small valley. As you come up the other side of this dip, just past our neighbour's white house, you will see the red flag of Amitavati flying between 2 pine trees, and you take the next turning to the right which leads you to the 2-story house of Casa Rosa, Amitavati: yellow with a red-brown colour around the bottom of the house, and various ruins on the other side of the track. Welcome!

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Transfers
You can arrange for transfers between Amitavati and the airport, Lliria (nearest big town) or Villar del Arzobispo (the local village).
Costs of transfers:
Airport (50mins): 1 person - 24 euros each way, 2 people - 28 euros, 3 people - 30 euros .
Lliria (35mins): 1 person - 15 euros, 2 people - 19 euros, 3 people - 22 euros
Villar del Arzobispo (10mins) - 4 euros. (Less for more than one person)

Alternatively take the metro to Valencia (Turia stop) then the bus to Villar del Arzobispo (4.35 euros) and pick up your transfer there. From anywhere in Valencia take an 80 or a 2 bus to the bus station (estacion del autobus).

Metro between Airport and Lliria
At the airport there is a metro station next to the arrivals hall. The trains are fairly frequent. It takes about 1h 15m to get to Lliria and pick up your transfer to Amitavati. The metro fare is 2.40 euros. First take the no. 3 (red) line in the direction of Rafelbunyol. Change at Angel Guimera onto the no. 1 (yellow) line to Lliria (the last stop). There are 10 stops to Angel Guimera and it takes about 20 mins, then 21 stops to Lliria, another 45 mins. Wait in the car park at the side of the station for your transfer.

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Bus times to and from Villar del Arzobispo (about 1 hour)

WINTER (11 September - June24)

Valencia to Villar
Mon - Fri 9.30, 13.30, 18.30
Saturdays - 10.00, 13.30, 18.30
Sundays and bank holidays - 10.00, 18.30

Villar to Valencia - (11 September - June24)
Mon - Fri 7.00, 9.00, 10.30, 14.40
Saturdays 9.10, 17.15
Sundays and bank holidays 16.40, 18.05

SUMMER (June25 - 2 September)

Valencia to Villar
Mon - Fri 9.00, 13.30, 18.00, 19.30
Saturdays - 10.00, 13.30, 18.30
Sundays and bank holidays - 12.00, 19.30

Villar to Valencia
Mon - Fri 7.00, 8.15, 8.55, 16.05
Saturdays 9.15, 17.05
Sundays and bank holidays 10.00, 18.10, 19.05

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What to take
Light clothes in the summer and swim-wear, and both light and warm clothes in the winter when the days can be warm and the nights very cold. So bring thick socks, gloves and woolly hat; even a hot water bottle. Bring a towel and slippers for use in the house and strong boots for walking. Sun protection cream should be used all year. If on a working retreat bring old clothes too.
Bring a torch for hill walking at night. The electrical sockets are 2-round pin with a 230v supply. Although it is possible to recharge electrical equipment in the main house the advice is not to bring laptops and after mobile phones are used for essential communication on arrival they should be switched off on arrival.

Local tourism
Andilla - picturesque hill village with springs and waterfall
Chullia - beautiful village in red-rock hills with striking river gorge, and spa with hot springs
Villar del Arzobispo - the nearest historic hill town with its 500 year old summer residence of the Archbishop of Valencia. There is a good street market on Fridays and an excellent supermarket (Consum).
Casinos - 10km away. In late summer the turron factories have an open day where you can try all the different varieties of turron.
Valencia - If you get a chance, set aside a day at least to explore Valencia. You can pick up an excellent map from the tourist office in the airport arrivals hall.

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