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From Spain/Portugal for Visitors:
Accommodation
in Spain
Where to stay? From palatial paradors to humble hostals, Spain
has accommodation for all pockets. A short introduction, including
a glossary.
Barcelona Accommodation
Selected, annotated links.
House-hunting in Spain
In response to a large number of queries about how to set
about finding somewhere to live, here is a page of impeccably
annotated, selected links.
Madrid Accommodation
Selected, annotated links.
Seville Accommodation
Selected, annotated links. Or go straight to SPV's selection
of Seville hotels.
Toledo Hotels
Some good reasons to stay the night in Toledo: it has some
appealing hotels, its bars and restaurants are more enjoyable
than at lunchtime when they are busier, and the sunset over
the city is justly famous. Most importantly, when the tourist
buses have left and the city belongs to the Toledanos
again, you can appreciate the beauty of the place with the
serenity it deserves. Here is SPV's selection of hotels in
Toledo, most of which are bookable on line.
Valencia Hotels
The city of Valencia is all too often overlooked by visitors,
which is a pity: it is lively, friendly, has the most vibrant
nightlife in Spain outside Madrid, and the new City of the
Arts and Sciences is fast becoming one of the major attractions
in the country. Here is SPV's selection of hotels in Valencia.
Elsewhere on the net:
ASE
- Spain
A nice interactive map. Actual listings are not very extensive,
though.
ASHOME
Not, as seems at first sight, a badly spelt insult, but the
Associación Hotelera de Menorca. An excellent, easy-to-use
site, fast improving and with a reservation service and links
to many web sites of self-catering apartments, hotels and
hostals.
HolidayBank
If you are looking for a self-catering holiday, this is essentially
a register of operators in Spain.
Homeexchange.com
- Spain
Apartment- or house-swapping has its pros and cons, a considerable
advantage being that you can often swap vehicles as well.
Internet is the perfect medium for it.
Hostelling
International - Spain
The international youth hostel booking site. If you are
not a member of a Youth Hostel Association, they ask you to
become one before your trip, or pay a supplement (called Welcome
Stamp) at the hostel.
Hostels
in Spain
From Hostels.com. This listing is actually more of hostales
than hostals (albergues in Spanish), so some
will be more expensive than you expect.
Hotels
Abroad - Spain
A UK-based online booking service.
HotelSearch.com
This seems to be one of the best on-line reservation services
for hotels in Spain. At least, the hotel search engine works
perfectly - I cannot speak for the reservation side personally,
but the site is recommended elsewhere as well.
HotelsSpain
If you are looking for a three-, four- or five-star hotel,
this site claims to offer "local prices & local support."
The search facility seems to work well for the cities covered,
although there is a preponderance of Tryp hotels in the list
and for some cities, nothing else.
HotelsTravel.com
- Spain
Another online hotel search service. The maps are not interactive
and so not a great deal of help, although the information
seems sound.
Interhike
- Camping in Spain
This is supposed to be a complete list of campsites in Spain;
it may be true, although real information (prices, facilities)
is lacking.
Mallorca
Hotel Guide
This hoteliers' association claims to represent over seventy
per cent of the accommodation on the island. The site has
been greatly improved since I first found it and now has a
kind of reservation service. There are a lot of fine photographs,
too, if you can find them.
NetHotels
- Spain
This site claims to have 2000 accommodations on its register:
searching for a hotel in Madrid brought up 96, of which only
3 could be booked on-line.
Paradors
of Spain Best of the Net
If you have a comfortable budget and, preferably, a car, there
is no better way of touring Spain than jumping from one parador
to the next. This site has been completely overhauled and
finally does justice to the superb Spanish paradors. It can
be a little tricky to navigate and is slooow, but it
is well worth the effort. The promotions and discounts are
also very interesting indeed.
Real
Holiday Reports.com - Spanish mainland
Like HolidayTruths and Holidays-uncovered (annotated links
are on the accommodation
page), this site invites people to give reports of their holidays.
Considering people's tendency to sound off when they have
a bad holiday experience, more of the reports are favourable
than you would expect. Well worth a look before you put down
a deposit.
Turespaña
The Spanish Tourist Board's hotel guide, with an easy-to-use
interactive map.
Vayacamping
Vayacamping (an unfunny play on words, meaning both
'gocamping' and 'what a great campsite') has a nice, apparently
comprehensive interactive map to allow you to locate campsites.
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