Travel Information

Hotels

Spain has an exceptional hotel network regarding the number, variety and quality of its establishments. They are located all over the country and are able to respond to any conceivable demand or possibility. More than 10,000 hotels for the traveller to choose from, from the most simple ones to Grand Luxury.
Spanish hotels are classified in five categories, identifiable by from one to five stars. Stars are assigned according to the services and characteristics of each establishment. The so-called Hotel-residences, rated on the same scale as other hotels, are those without a restaurant. However, they do serve breakfast, provide room service and have either a bar or cafeteria.
A lot of people trust 100% the system of hotels categories, but it has to be mentioned that there are for example some 2-star hotels that may have better quality standards than some 3-star hotels. The best option is to have a local travel agent you may trust, who knows about hotels and can give advice about the quality – price ratio of any specific hotel.

There are some Hotels, especially 3 and 4 star Hotels, which do not accept students. The mayority of Hotels accepting them handles two price categories: in multiple rooms (3-, 4-, or even 5-bedded rooms) or in Double rooms. So if planning a tour you have to decide between these two options.

Another thing to decide is the meals: no meals, Bed & Breakfast, Half board or full board. We do not recommend Full board for educational tours, because normally it interrupts the plans of the day schedule. The choice use to be between B&B or Half board, depending on the budget.

Regarding the cost of the hostels, you can generally say, that the hotels of the northern part of Spain are more expensive than those in the south, as well as big cities are more expensive than smaller ones. It’s important to know that in Barcelona and Madrid are just a few 1- or 2-star hotels, and a lot of the 3-star do not accept students. It depends on the hotel and its situation, when they offer high and low season. In summer e.g. hotels on the coasts have high season, but Hotels in Seville or Granada (because of the extreme temperatures) have low season. In very high season e.g. Feria de Abril or Semana Santa in Seville, Fallas in Valencia or San Fermin in Pamplona, hotel prices are very high, and sometimes it is almost impossible to get accommodation for groups, and if, you have to book several months in advance.

Another important point in our opinion is to book centric Hotels. If your hotel is located in the surroundings of the city you will loose a lot of precious time and even money, e.g. in taxis.

Other Accommodations

Hostels are similar to hotels, but more modest, and constitute another lodging option. They are classified in three categories, from one to 3 stars, though this is not always very reliable regarding their quality. A problem for group-travelling is that most hostels are quite small and cannot or are not willing to accept groups. Generally they offer multiple room distribution. Hostels can be interesting for small groups with a tight budget.

It exists as well a Youth Hostel chain (Albergues juveniles) all over the country, but this is very basic accommodation (generally in huge dorms). A lot of the official Youth Hostels are outside town and they use to close at 12 o-clock. In most cases you have to bring your own sleeping back and towels. Private Youth Hostels (or Backpacker Hostels) until a few years did not even exist, but now opened a few of them, specially in Barcelona and Madrid. This is basic accommodation as well, but normally in the centre of town and with a fun but noisy atmosphere

Many college students in Spain live in “colegios mayores” (student residences) during the academic year. This option can be interesting in summer when some of the residences are not occupied. Some of them have severe restrictions (e.g. regarding closing times), because they are often owned by religious orders.

Another low budget option is camping. There are a lot of camping-places all over Spain, especially in the coast.