sidkid

Wow, I have been looking at staying in 5 different Paradors in Spain and see the 5 night pass. Could someone explain the pros and cons to these passes please!

Maribel

sidkid,
The big benefit to the 5 night pass:

substantial savings from the Parador's rack rate, which *can* be great if you can make your dates coincide with availability. This year's 5 night coupons cost 102.72 euros per night.



The drawbacks:

not available at every Parador (Parador San Francisco on Alhambra hill in Granada don't honor it)

not available at some popular paradors during high season

if available, sometimes only Sun.-Thurs. or Sun.-Fri.

not honored at Paradors during Holy Week

you need to plan carefully so as not to have any coupons left over that you can't use later-use them or lose them.

and most important-
lately, Paradors has been aggressively promoting Web specials (even during the summer) which can be lower than the 5 night plan so you need to do your homework carefully to reap maximum savings.


We've used the 5 night pass, the 2 night specials, the Golden Age pass and the specials available on the Web to members of the Paradors' frequent guest program, "Amigos" to reap great savings on our frequent Parador stays.

Maribel

sidkid,
Forgot to mention-

if you plan to use the 5 night couponbook, you must inform the Parador upon booking, as only a certain # of rooms are set aside for this promotion.

the coupon is valid only for a standard room-if you want a superior, you'll pay a supplement, as well as for a third person, adult or child.

there are 16 Paradors that require a supplement when using the 5 night plan (Baiona, Ronda, Cáceres, Toledo, León, Santiago, Santillana Gil Blas among them).

As I mentioned, the 5 night plan usually isn't available during Holy Week, especially Thurs.-Sun., and it's also blocked during Carnival in Cádiz and Ciudad Rodrigo, who both have special Carnival celebrations.

Just so you'll know...

We just plan our Parador itineraries very carefully and work around the restrictions.

Also, the Paradors in Hondarribia and Alarcón include breakfast in the 5 night plan rate.

sidkid

Thank you for your information. We are visiting in mid to late February - Are there any holidays during that time?

sidkid

Maribel, We are beginning to look at different Paradors. We are most interested right now in the following: Olite, Cardona, VicSu, Alguablava, Alcaniz, and Alarcon. Any insight on any one of these would be most appreciated. This will be our first visit. We plan on spending time in Barcelona as well. Possible 10 days altogether.

Maribel

Hi sidkid,
We do most of our Parador stays during low season, Nov.-Feb., and we've used the 5 night plan in winter for a Catalunya tour.

We spent 5 nights in Aiguablava, really loved it and our standard room with sit-out balcony overlooking the sea (all standard rooms there have water views). I'm a huge fan of the Aiguablava-Begur area and would spend time there at any time of year, even in Jan.-Feb. when it goes into "semi hibernation".

We could have paid a supplement to upgrade to a superior with Jacuzzi or penthouse suite with enormous terrace, but we opted to stay in our kind of dated (decor wise) but pleasant regular room.

We see the Parador in Cardona as a one-night stay simply because the surrounding area isn't as stunning as that to the north: Garrotxa, Cerdanya, Costa Brava or Empordá areas-just not that much to see other than the salt mines, but if you’ve never stayed in a castle/fortress hotel you should definitely experience it (I personally prefer Alarcón for that).

We also planned 3 nights in Vic Sau but ended up staying only 2 (which was just right) because of the Parador's isolation. We used the first day to tour the city of Vic (wonderful Romanesque art museum) and visit the highly atmospheric little tucked away medieval hamlets of Tavertet and Rupit ("must sees&quot.

Our second day was spent entirely in extinct volcanic region of the Garrotxa (medieval Besalú, Santa Pau) and the other medieval villages of the Val d'en Bas leading up to it (gorgeous drives).

As for Olite, I do enjoy the pretty town and Parador very much-we go down there on day trips from Pamplona, but if you’re thinking of venturing west to Navarra from Catalunya, I would stop at the Sos Parador in Aragón along the way. The town (birthplace of King Ferdinand) is very worthy of a visit, and we find the Parador a very restful spot. And on route you can stop at San Juan de la Peña (most gorgeous capitals in the cloister), Monasterio de Leyre (fascinating crypt), gorge of Lumbier and historic Jaca (citadel, cathedral) on route.

But if you want to do an “all Catalunya” Parador Feb. tour, (makes good sense logistically), I would drive up to the gorgeous Cerdanya valley from Vic and as far west as to La Seu d’Urgell in the Alt Urgell. We took 1 night away from Vic Sau on our plan and added 2 nights to Seu (Jan. but no snow) and were so glad we did.

The drive from Seu to Puigcerdá is chock-a-block with tiny, picturesque stone and slate hamlets (Bellver, Prullans, Lles) and truly extraordinary scenery! And Seu has a fine Romanesque cathedral and impressive Museo Diocesano. The Parador has been completely redone in a very inviting contemporary style (it really needed that update) and has a great little indoor pool. It was surprisingly warm in the Cerdanya in Jan. and is one of the sunniest spots in the Pyrenees foothills.

From mid-late Feb. in Seu they don’t accept the 5 night coupons but do have an unbeatable 80 euro Web rate, booking online. (These Web rates, as I said, often beat the 5 night plan.)

(I love the Val d’Aran too, but the 2 Paradors there will block the 5 night plan during the ski season.)

Just some thoughts...