A "vulture" question: Deals in Spain?
 

I feel badly for Spain, Greece, Portugal, etc. The unemployment and salary reductions are indeed bad. It seems that everyone has been forced into a "hunker down" mode. [Forerunner of the same in the USA since our debt approaches theirs?] My "vulture" question: Has anyone seen price reductions, deals, etc re travel that might be rooted in the general malaise?

Sorry, but you may find that being a vulture isn't all it's cracked up to be. Restaurants have added a daily fixed price menu to survive, but beyond that, I haven't seen any reduction in the price for hotel rooms in Spain, France or Portugal.

Perhaps these deals were available before but I often do see "smart deals" at booking.com and through travelzoo that can be interesting.

Also I have noted that no one seems to have raised the price of a cup of coffee lately.

We found prices very reasonable in Barcelona and Madrid. I hadn't been to Spain before and maybe it's because I live in Toronto (itself an expensive city) so I was really pleasantly surprised.

I sure didn't notice any price reductions for my recent trip to Madrid in hotels. Yes, I understand in theory it could affect travel by Spanish citizens and their buseinesses, but I think this may not affect hotel costs as much as it affects daily life for people living there.

We were in Spain (Madrid, Bilbao) last September. I didn't notice any fire sale deals in hotels, food, retail or transportation. However perception of value for price paid is relative for everyone and even with a hike in VAT & other taxes I thought that prices for food, drinks, transportation & hotels were a great value compared to a major city in North America.

hkto makes a good point.."great value" If you translate everything you do/buy/spend into "this would cost "X" at home you will go nuts. Enjoy your trip and remember you are in a different monetary place..whatever the price the trip will be well worth it. Altho there are no fire sale deals that I know of there are some great offers available..ie: pousadas.pt for great hotel deals.Paradors.es the same..free days,/ times at museums which you can check out on line and best of all the free vistas that are awesome.

We were in Southern Spain end September.

You'd be hard pressed to see a crisis. The streets, shops, cafes, restaurants, theaters were all full. And I didn't see any real bargains either. Of course September is still perfect weather wise. So maybe in the winter it's a bit slower/emptier and you'll find more bargains.

we were in Valencia and Madrid three weeks ago....
Some very expensive stores in Madrid had 30% off signs
Otherwise, no discounts that I noticed.
For good food and wine....Spain is always a great deal.

We're exploring a trip to southern Spain in March, 2013. One thing that is causing us some hesitation is the threat of strikes. In September of 2009 we experienced a lot of pre-trip anxiety and travel inconvenience because of a widespread strike. Our trip was delayed a day and other problems ensued. Can anyone familiar with the situation in Spain hazard a guess about whether mid-March is typically a time when strikes tend to be called? We'd appreciate any thoughts on the subject.

You'd make a fortune if you could answer that question..Anywhere in the near furture is a crap shoot and if you can't deal with adversity put your passport away for awhile. As far as deals go year end sales in stores are similar to No. Amer. as far as timing goes. End of season sales are usually quite good and as danon says Spain is always a good deal as far as food and wine goes. Flexibility is the key to wonderful holidays, pre trip and trip anxiety are best put away. March may be somewhat cold (or cool in the south). It was while I was there in March 2012..Snowed in fact in Avila and Salamanca. But "you pays your money and you takes your givens"!!!

Yacht charter rates for next summer are as cheap as chips. They took on far too many boats and demand is low. You can charter a 3 cabin 37 ft boat for £600 which is a silly price. Similar boat in the Carribean could cost £2500 a week.

I'm not a expert on strikes, but from casual observation, it seems more happen in the Fall in Europe than other times. But they are often related to certain events, so you would have to know what those are to predict (votes on certain bills, new laws, officials visiting in some fiscal conference, etc.). Never seen a strike happen in August, but you wouldn't want to go to Spain then, anyway. And then unions may have strikes related to benefits issues at certain times, but I think you are worried more about the general ones. Well, with all the financial issues in Europe right now, I think they will go on,you'd have to really be up on the latest to know how to predict them. In September, the ones in Spain in Madrid were related to some austerity measures that the ECB was trying to get Spain to adopt (I think) or at least some measures that Rajoy was going to implement.

"but you wouldn't want to go to Spain then, anyway." And Christina, why is that?

My guess is that you have never been on the north coast during the summer months. It's quite beautiful along the coast from Biarrtiz to Santiago. The beaches are not as crowded as they are along the Med, and the Pyrenees and Picos quite enchanting.

It may be a reference to the simple numbers in relation to temperatures.

45oC in Seville always feels cooler than 35oC in Savannah.