La Piedra is a well-run bar-restaurant with good rooms at a good price (we paid 45euros for en-suite double b&b) in a small village on the side of a big reservoir in the high hills of Northern Spain, about 1 hour south of Santander. Obviously this is not the Ritz, the walls are thin and the bathroom small, but it was warm, quiet, clean and comfortable and in terms of value for money you can´t beat it. Breakfasts are simple (coffee and toast), and served in the small, attractive restaurant which offers inexpensive lunch menus and evening meals which specialise in meat cooked on your own hot stone (hence La Piedra). The staff were pleasant, professional and friendly. Arija village itself is nothing too special: it has several bars, a shop or two, a chemist, and a quartz sand factory. It does, however, have several positive things going for it: firstly there is the reservoir (watersports and beaches); secondly you are only 1-2 hours away from the Santander coast to the north, Burgos... more