Does anyone have an on-line address for booking paradors? Also, what have you expereinces been with various paradors in various areas of Andalusia.

you can get there by searching on Spain, Paradores. Yes, we have been to many of them. They are very good, very clean, good food, fairly expensive, very predicatable, English spoken, etc. However, we often go out of the way places and test our ability to get along in Spainish. More fun.

You can book online on their website: www.parador.es<BR>We've only been in a few and found them to be typical Spanish. Both had beautiful old Spanish furniture and the restaurants serve excellent genuine Spanish cuisine. <BR>Their '5 night card' looks quite interesting!

Stayed at the Castillo Santa Catalina in Jaen about 10 years ago. Hilltop location next to the ruins of a medieval castle, the parador is in a castle-styled 20th century building. Panoramic views of mountains and valley. Posh restaurant featured cuisine of the region. For us it was luxorious (we'd been in a simple shared-bath pensione for the few nights before). Unfortunately our stay was short so we had little opportunity to explore Jaen itself.

I, too, stayed at the Parador in Jaen. It was a lovely re-creation of a 13th century castle with a wonderful dining room and public areas. Beautiful surroundings, too. We stayed there on our way from Cordoba to Granada. One word of caution. It got so hot in the night that I had to open my window. Thereafter, I was kept up all night by the generator under my window and the staff arriving at sun up to begin their day. All in all, a lovely place.

Loved our stay at the parador in Ronda. Had a very large room with a balcony overlooking the gorge. Was a great value for the money (I think it was around $100/ night off-season in 2000. Great location, friendly staff, great restaurant, easy car parking.

Also stayed at the Parador in Jaen (3 years ago). Lovely room with a large canopied bed, big balcony, and a good restaurant on the premises. We visited Ubeda and Baeza that day before staying at the Parador.

Thank you so much everyone for the (as usual) wonderful and helpful information.<BR><BR>Auerlia--do you have any suggestions for &quot;out-of-the-way&quot; places the you'd highly recommend. I've been checking out innsofspain.com recommended by Maribel and there are some interesting possibilities there. One issue I have though is that although I'm taking Spanish lessons now, my ability is muy poco (but I'm working on it).<BR><BR>Thanks everyone for your help.

We LOVED our stay at the parador in Ronda two years ago. We had a room on the top floor, and our rooftop terrace overlooked the gorge in one direction and the vally in another. Just incredible views! The town of Ronda was rather touristy, but we loved the cliffwalk ... and the parador!

Call me stupid, but what is a parador?

Dear Artlover: The parador in Toledo was grand, and as for out of the way places, get Karen Brown's book on Spain. We have used her in Portugal and were never steered wrong. One interesting place we stayed in was in Leon (n from Madrid...very old castle there from the early middle ages altho no one local seemed to know or care much about it. Stayed at a guest house (in Karen Brown, can't remember the name)and they were very curious about us. Don't see too many Americans up that way, I guess. Also, the Parador in Santiago de Compostela is wonderful. (a very historic and interesting city) We thought north Spain even more interesting than the south and far less touristy. Stayed two nights in Burgos and if you write again, and are interested, I will look up the place we stayed...it was not a Parador, but incredible. Let me know

mamacrow - over the years the Spanish government purchased various monestaries, castles, and other interestng properties for conversion into lodging and dining locales with a regional flair.

We stayed at Jaen in '95 and it was awesome. It has the most spectacular setting. No complaints at all; everything was perfect, and we are picky. It was not &quot;Luxe,&quot; for us , but &quot;VERY nice.&quot; Clean room, simply, but tastefully decorated with a balcony overlooking hills and olive groves as far as the eyes could see. Save some time to explore the fort(we did it in the day) and the hilltop trails(we did this for sunset and it was dramatic). I wanted to go to the one in Ronda as well, but it was booked. I've seen the won in Avila and Toledo and they seemed nice too, but we didn't stay there.