Planning a two week trip to Spain for next spring; Barcelona, Madrid, Seville with day trips to Toledo, Cuenca, Segovia, Cordoba, then renting a car for Ronda, Granada, and Malaga. We are considering staying for a night or two in a parador in one of these cities, probably in Andalusia while we have a car. What was your experience? Is this a "must do"? The one in Granada seems to be booked for months already!
Thanks

Pwe have stayed many times in many Paradores all over Spain. They are very nice, many in old buildings, or at least built around historic buildings. They are very generous with their offers,
Años Dorados are wonderful for older people, not that old, offering 35% of bed and breakfast and their breakfast are absolutely great. There are other plans like Pasaportes, go to their
site www.paradores.es and study well the different offers. Some Paradores have reduced rates from Sunday to THursdays and others the opposite . IT is hard to say which one we liked best,
some have great views, and in those cases like in ROnda, Jaen, Arcos de la frontera, etc it is worth it to ask for a Superior room only a few more euros for great views.
Wehave spent many great days and nights in Paradores it is not a must to do, but it is great.
( Among the many Paradores some are better than others, some are totally modern, so you have to look carefully )

Our experience is 10 years old but we stayed at Ronda and Granada - very different buildings but both great experiences! Granada is hard to get into - I think we booked 4 or 5 months ahead of time.

Have not stayed in any - wanted to in Granada - but it was booked solid 7 months in advance. We ate there and toured the parador - it was very picturesque - and I was glad we ended up in a nearby hotel with good AC.

They do vary tremendously - so check them out very carefully - and for the good ones you do need to book far in advance.

On our first visit to Spain, my wife and I were extremely fortunate to stumble upon the parador in Malaga -- I think its name is Gibralfaro. It was mid-July, we hadn't made a reservation, yet they had a room for us! It was magnificent, high on a hill overlooking the city and seaport of Malaga. We kept the window open all night. With the cool sea breeze, A/C was not a concern, a very welcome relief from the heat in Granada. Although it was a long time ago, it is still a very pleasant memory of ours.

Many great Paradores in Andalucía. Apart from those mentioned, take a look at

Carmona, a little outside Sevilla. Over 90 reviews: http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/carm...armona.en.html

Jaén. 71 reviews: http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/jaen...e-jaen.en.html

And the Parador de Gibralfaro in Málaga, overlooking this great city. Over 200 reviews: http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/para...alfaro.en.html

The Granada parador used to be the most popular of all, probably because of its location next door to, and overlooking part of, the Alhambra. It was well-equipped (and had excellent A/C BTW) and we booked it one year in advance. A very memorable stay

We have stayed in paradores but they are not usually my first choice for lodging. Because so many of them are historic buildings they seem to be "heavy"--the chairs and furnishings are monstrous and often of wood. It's interesting to look at but not so comfortable. The doors, walls, etc. are similarly old world elegant--and heavy. If this doesn't bother you, or better yet, if it sounds good to you, I think you'll enjoy parador lodging. The exception to the above is the modern paradores. The only one of them that we've stayed in was, interestingly enough, in Rhonda and we liked it very much. We were able to book a room that overlooked the gorge with a lovely deck providing the view. In most respects it was no different, however, than any other hotel with nice, modern amenities and lovely positioning--except possible that it may have been somewhat lower priced than a "normal" hotel with the same advantages would have been.

I think most Paradores have been remodeled , the old heavy furniture is gone.
We have had great rooms most of the time.
I recall may be 30 years ago or more the heavy furniture in a wonderful building the Parador of
Hondarribia, we are talking of a X century building. I am not sure but most likely by now the furniture
has been replaced.
Staying there for me was an awesome experience, many future queens of
France have slept there on their way to be married in France and as I recall Isabel, Queen of Spain too.
As I said to stay in a Parador it is not a must if you go to Spain, there tons of lovely places to stay, but well chosen a
stay in a Parador can be unique.

Wer have stayed in a few paradores along the way. We scored a room at the parador in the Alhambra many years ago. The view from the balcony was spectacular.

The one Avila afforded us the opportunity to walk directly into the garden and up the walls of the town.

We stayed at the one in Santiago just a few years ago. It was a little disappointing on many levels.

Be careful about paradores because some have been built some within the last twenty years and lack the charm of some of the originals in the system.

The parador at Cuenca is lovely. At least go over for a drink or special meal.

we stayed in the parador in Leon [formerly a monastery] and it was lovely.

I think that my inclination would be to stay in a parador or so in the more out of the way places, where other hotels may not be so great, and stay in "normal" hotels in the more popular spots where where you stay is not so central to the overall experience.

annhig, I think you hit the nail on the head. In fact, weren't paradores introduced by the Spanish government to bring tourists to more "out of the way" places that needed the traffic and the revenue? I seem to remember reading that somewhere.

Paradors used to be THE GREAT DEAL even for Americans, but in the recent years Im not that excited about them with the rate increases.

It is now not a government subsidized product but a private company.

Yes, the prices have become more realistic with their extensive expenses and maintenance than before since they can no longer exist without making a profit.

They are still a wonderful stop to admire either protected architecture, a special view or enjoy the village ambience.

Now, with the dollar at such a disadvantage, I can understand they are becoming prohibitive for many.

We haven't stayed in one for quite awhile either, but i have seen some winter and off season offers that are very interesting. We never even used our 18E coupons we were sent for becoming members of the Amigos del Parador! And we LIVE here!

We stayed in a parador in Oropesa, which is a couple hours west of Madrid. It was wonderful. I was on a work trip and the arrangements were made by our client, so I didn't have any expectations other than a comfy place to sleep. I could have spent days and days there, just exploring the hotel. The place was big, old, and rambling - the walls must have been a couple feet thick because it was very quiet there. My room was fabulously comfortable - I enjoyed the dark wooden furnishings. There were plenty of common rooms to hang out in.

lincasanova,
I hope I didnt imply they werent fine accommodations, I just meant they are no longer the best choice by default simply because they were a parador(which used to be the case valuewise).

FrankS

Not at all! I totally agree. Things change.

They used to all be very competitive all year round and actually inexpensive in comparison to other hotels of similar quality but now they CAN be a luxury. They used to be heavily subsidized, and now are a company.

There are so many other options now, and then ...you have the dollar!

Six years ago we stayed in Almagro, Jaen & Granada. All unique & all very good although the dinner menus were similar throughout. In Jaen, we had a stunning view from our balcony of the olive groves all the way to the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. In Granada, we could see the Generalife from our window. All were well worth it.

Ian

We've stayed in quite a few of the paradors and there is a range of quality and charm. We only had one poor experience( Santillana del Mar) and several outstanding ones...Santiago de Compostela,Baiona, Leon and Avila come to mind as special ones.