Winter workation in Spain: sun, a village, one long table

A winter workation with us means doing your normal job from a village 1h15 (110 km) from Madrid while northern Europe sits through its darkest months. The weather station in Toledo logs 449 hours of sun from December to February; the German average is 170. Days reach 11 to 14 °C, the coworking space runs on two independent 600 Mbps fibre lines, and a full month in a Molino room costs €594 with coworking included. That is the short version. The rest of this post explains what a winter here looks like and who it suits.

This is not a brochure. We are five people from Madrid and Berlin, two of us German, and we like the dark months better with company: a long table, a fire, people who work hard in the daytime and cook together at night. If you are reading this from Berlin, Zurich or anywhere the winter gets to you, come and work from here, and stay until it gets light again at home.

• Time difference: none, Spain is on Central European Time
• Distance: 110 km from Madrid and from Barajas airport, 1h15 down the A-5
• A month in a Molino room: €594; in a private cabin from €1,072.50; coworking included
• Internet: two independent 600 Mbps fibre lines in the coworking space and in every cabin
• Warmth: rooms and cabins are heated, and the Molino common room has a fireplace
• Food: our own restaurant, El Molino, two minutes' walk away, mains from €16

The climate figures come from the AEMET station in Toledo at 513 m, the nearest one with published normals. There is no measurement series for Nuño Gómez itself, and I am not going to invent one. What is certain: the nights get cold, 1 to 3 °C on average, with the odd frost. That is why the rooms and cabins are heated. In the daytime you will still often sit outside in a jacket with the sun on your face. In January.

How the winter here differs from a German one

The difference is less the temperature than the light. A German winter is grey. This one is cold and clear. In the morning there is frost on the dehesa, the oak pasture around the village; by ten the sun has cleared it, and the afternoon stays dry and bright. Rain falls on about 16 days in three months. It gets dark at six, same as at home, except you were outside until then.

Anyone who comes for the bouldering in autumn already knows this: winter here is stable and sunny, light layers are enough, the afternoons are long and dry. For a working day that means the desk in the morning, a loop through the dehesa at four, and once it is dark, everyone ends up in the kitchen. That is when a handful of individuals turns into a table. It is the part of winter I like most.

Where you sleep: Molino room or cabin

There are two ways to stay, and both are heated. The five Molino rooms are in one house: private bathroom, desk, cupboard, plus the shared kitchen, a common room with a fireplace and the garden. It is the cheaper, more sociable option; in the evening you are three steps from the table. The five cabins are small wooden houses with a bedroom, living room, kitchenette, private bathroom and their own terrace, one of them for four people. If you come as a couple, want undisturbed calls in the morning or bring the dog, take a cabin. If you travel alone and want company, take a room. The dog is welcome, by the way, up to 20 kg and agreed when you book.

The rate you reach applies to every night of your stay: book 32 nights and all 32 are at the monthly rate. The rates hold in every month of the year, with no blackout dates, VAT is included, and coworking costs a coliving guest nothing extra. You pay a 25% deposit to confirm and the rest on arrival. Every price is on one page.

Where you work: 200 m² in the old golf clubhouse

The coworking space is a converted golf clubhouse with 200 m², desks, meeting rooms, corners for video calls, a printer and a terrace where you will sit in the sun at lunchtime in January. The internet arrives over two independent 600 Mbps fibre lines, in every cabin too. Two separate lines means a call does not die halfway through. Nothing changes for your team: Spain is on the same time as Germany, so your nine o'clock stand-up stays at nine. EU citizens need no visa. Employees ask their employer for an A1 certificate, which takes a few days. How many days a year your employer allows abroad is their policy, not the law, so ask HR before you book.

Where you eat: our own restaurant, El Molino

El Molino is our own restaurant, two minutes' walk from the rooms and a different building from the Molino that holds the rooms: same name, two front doors. The cooking is wood-fired and seasonal. In winter that means pulses and things that sit on the stove for hours, with mains from €16. Lunch is Tuesday to Sunday, dinner Wednesday to Saturday, and Monday is the day off. There is no breakfast there; you make that in the shared kitchen or in your cabin's kitchenette. On the other evenings we often cook together, and anyone who does not feel like cooking just sits down.

What happens in the evenings and at weekends

The long table is an offer, not a programme. Nobody has to eat with the group, nobody has to talk, and if you want quiet after a day of calls, the cabin gives you that. Most people come anyway. Fires and barbecues are allowed in winter; the ban runs only from July to October, so on a clear evening someone is usually at the grill. At the weekend you go out: the waymarked R-21 route runs from Pelahustán through Nuño Gómez to Castillo de Bayuela, where the granite for bouldering is. There is a padel court, there are bikes for guests, and at night there is a sky you do not get in Berlin. The village pool is closed in winter; it opens only in July and August. In exchange you have the dehesa to yourself.

How to get here from Germany

Fly to Madrid-Barajas; most large German cities have direct flights. From the airport it is the same 1h15 as from the city centre: 110 km down the A-5 without crossing Madrid. A hire car gives you flexibility, but you do not need one. A bus or train takes you to Talavera de la Reina, about 20 minutes from us, and we collect you there. Send us your arrival time and we sort out the rest together.

That is all it is: a village of 171 people, a warm room, a fast desk, a restaurant and a table with a place for you in the evening. The German winter is long. Spend part of it here, work as you always do, and walk into the sun in the afternoon. We would like to have you.