Brief information about benicàssim
The venue of the workshop is the Palasiet Talasso Clinic & Spa, which is located at the outskirts of the city of Benicàssim, very close to the next coastal city, which is Oropesa del Mar. Benicàssim is a small town of around 19,500 inhabitants, but it can reach 60,000 during summer (June-September) since its economy is based on turism. It is famous due to its beaches and the fact that many important music festivals take place there, such as the International Benicàssim Festival. In terms of gastronomy, it has a rich cuisine, which is especially famous by rice dishes such as paella, black rice, ‘del señoret’ rice, ‘a banda’ rice (both similar to paella but with fish and seafood), fideuà, and many others. Weather is usually hot and quite sunny in September, with high temperatures and humidity, which gives the feeling of being like in a sauna sometimes.
How to reach Benicàssim
Although Benicàssim has a train station, we strongly do not recommend to use it, since it is outside of the city, in the middle of nothing, and there are neither buses nor taxis. It is better to go from the airport at which you land to Castelló de la Plana train station, where there are buses to the venue and taxis.
The nearest airport from Benicàssim is the Castelló airport (around 40 min by shuttle bus + bus/taxi to the venue which takes around 25 min), but it only covers a few destinations with no very frequent flights. You can check them here.
Valencia airport is the closest option if Castelló airport is not useful. It is around 1.5-2 h minimum by public transport to the venue, depending on the trains schedule. Once you arrive at the airport you need to take the subway (metro) to “Xàtiva” station (both lines departing from the airport, 3 and 5, takes you there in around 25 min). Once you leave “Xàtiva” station, you will see the Valencia Nord train station building, where you need to take a train to Castelló de la Plana (C6 line). The journey takes from 1 h to 90 min, depending on the number of stops along the journey, which can vary form one train to another. The timetables of the trains can be checked here. Once you reach Castelló de la Plana train station you need to take a bus to the venue which takes around 30 min (see the travel pack below for details). Since the frequency of these buses is not very good, you might need to take a taxi to the venue from the taxi stop at the train station. The journey will be around 20 min and the price around 25€.
Barcelona airport is another option, which can be specially advantageous, since it has a lot of connections with many destinations and with more frequent flights. Although it is farther from Benicàssim than Valencia Airport, the train connection is good. To reach Castelló de la Plana from Barcelona airport you need to go first to “Sants” train station. It can be reached by either subway (terminal 1 and 2) or train (terminal 2). If you take the subway, it takes around 40 min. If you use the train, the journey takes around 20 min and requires no transfers. Once you are at Sants train station, you need to take a train to Castelló. They usually take 2 or 2.5 h. Check the travel pack below for mnore information on how to take these trains. As mentioned before, once you reach Castelló de la Plana train station you need to take a bus to the venue which takes around 30 min (see the travel pack below for details). Since the frequency of these buses is not very good, you might need to take a taxi to the venue from the taxi stop at the train station. The journey will be around 20 min and the price around 25€.
Madrid airport is the farthest of all the options. If you use it, you should go to ‘Atocha’ or ‘Chamartin’ stations from the airport (around 45 min using either subway, train or bus) and then take a long-distance train to Castelló. These trains are not very frequent and take from 3 to 4 h. As mentioned before, once you reach Castelló de la Plana train station you need to take a bus to the venue which takes around 30 min (see the travel pack below for details). Since the frequency of these buses is not very good, you might need to take a taxi to the venue from the taxi stop at the train station. The journey will be around 20 min and the price around 25€.
A travel pack with detailed information about the different travel options (prices, timetables, maps, links, etc.) is available here. We strongly recommend to use it to save your time arranging the journey and to avoid that you get lost at stations.