Prices in Spain
 

The Euro is about $1.40 US, the un- employed rate in Spain is high, so how is that effecting the prices for things like food, hotels, entertainment etc. Do you see the prices coming down or are the Spaniards and tourists just tightening their belts?

I dont think so. Specially in cities like Madrid or Barcelona. People who live there shop outside city center, prices where tourist appear stay higher than average.

Hotels I find are very reasonable. Restaurants are trying NOT to raise their prices. There are all sorts of deals for breakfast, mid morning sack ( almuerzo) lunch fixed price menus and after noon snacks ( meriendas). At least in many big cities the evening meals are the ones where it is more of a challenge to find an inexpensive fixed price, all inclusive menu.

Beer is ridiculously inexpensive when out. Inside at the bar everything is cheaper. Sitting down at a table a tad higher and outside on a terrace can be up to 30% more.

I don´t feel things are getting out of whack. it's just our buying power has shrunk so.. you hardly need a reservation anyplace anymore except Barcelona and Madrid tourist areas.

I don't think that unemployment rate has much to do with prices in hotels or restaurants. And lots of business people and international visitors go to the major cities, anyway.

I have never seen prices for entertainment go down over the years, what kind of entertainment do you mean?

I think prices in Spain are a little better than in France, for example, but I haven't noticed any changes in that margin and I"ve been going to both for decades.

Oh, and what does the Euro being $1.40 have to do with this, any way? Spain doesn't revolve around the USD to euro exchange rate in terms of setting prices in restaurants and hotels, why should they. It isn't some American colony.

Prices in Spain are reasonable versus much of europe - not sure the reasons why - it's been that way as long as I can remember - since my first visit more than 30 years ago.

Four star hotels in Madrid and Barcelona are more expensive than those in Berlin but less than Paris, Rome or London.
Tapas and wine are very reasonable , but a meal in a
well known restaurant can easily cost as much as in Paris.
The high unemployment rate has not made an impact on prices as
far as I have noticed.
We have been going to Spain every year ( sometimes twice a year) since 2007.

Nearly every restaurant in Spain, if they want to stay in business, offer a menu del día, a fixed price menu of the day, and that includes several 1 and 2-star Michelin restaurants. And some actually offer a fixed price menu for dinner, but only a handful. Some of the more popular restaurants (popular with foreigners) have not lowered their prices, but then they primarily deal only with foreigners.

Yes, food in the market has gone up somewhat, just like it has in the States. It's supply and demand. Can you say ‘global warming’?

Today's exchange rate is hardly unusual. It wasn't that long ago, before the crises, that the exchange rate was approaching $1.60/€1.00, and you couldn't find an empty hotel room anywhere in Spain or France. We normally consider $1.32 to $1.38 to the Euro to be fairly normal. When it dropped to below $1.26 to the Euro we felt like billionaires, at least for the moment.

Overall, hotel prices have not changed that much during the latest crises (2008 to today), but you can find some decent deals off-season. The rise in prices for hotels and other accommodations are pretty much in alignment with inflation, but there are a number of hotels and restaurants that have not weathered the storm that has dominated the last 6 years of poor leadership in the EU. We were not all that surprised by the number of shuttered stores and offices in Dublin last December, and Madrid has a lot of vacant storefronts, more and more each year as the crisis continues.

If you happen to go to Galicia in the northwest, or Alicante in the southeast, you can follow the route of the unfinished houses; build on speculation (in Alicante), or with drug money (in Galicia).

If you’re looking for a bargain during high season, then forget it. The survivors still need to make a living.

Food and drinks are still very inexpensive in Spain, as long as you avoid the tourist spots. A refreshment in a small and dirty café just across from La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona will cost upto 5 euros (!) whereas around the corner in a much nicer café this same refreshment will cost half or less. Same for food.

Prices have gone down, no doubt, compared to those just 5 years ago. But they were very high since the Euro was implemented...and our salaries are not high. As a matter of fact, I´ve resigned from my company when they offered me a 20% reduction on my wage...better find something else or start my own business (this has been the chosen option).

And I´m lucky I live in the region with the lowest unemployment rate in Spain...and I´m talking 17%...

Larrya:

We are going to Spain this next june again, plus Italy.
I have found hotel prices lower than last year's, but this may be because of the days we are staing in Madrid.
Next october, we are going again to Madrid for just 4 days with friends and I have made a good reservation of a four stars hotel near Gran Via for some 100 €but of course, tose offers come and go, but Booking . Com is a good start.

Related to food, you can expend as much or as little as you want. As almost all Fodorites told you, there are plenty restaurants with Menu del Día for some 9 to say 14 €.

Enjoy your stay

Robert "or with drug money (in Galicia)." That comment I find unacceptable and unfounded. I suppose it shows just how much you know this part of the world.

To answer the question about hotel prices here is some news in badly translated English
http://www.02b.com/en/notices/2014/0...fares_6863.php

We are going to Spain last week of May.

Seven nights of lodging (four night in paradores, two nights in Seville, one in Madrid) add up to 553 Euros. The hotel in Seville is a 3 star, the rest are 4 stars.

Car rental for 9 days (in case we decide to stay longer) is 205 Euros. Hertz is the supplier, all deductibles are 0 Euros, airport pickup.

We paid more 10 years ago in Ireland, staying in lousy broom closets/rooms in BBs, and eating lousy Irish food.

Our daughters will be in London and Paris at the same time, and their hotels cost $CDN 1600.

Spain is a bargain.

Mark

After two weeks in London, Seville seemed like an amazing bargain.

Our spacious and stylish apartment, on airbnb, cost ~$100/night altogether. Entrance to museums, in contrast to Paris and most of the U.S., was nominal. And one evening in Triana we had a glass of wine each, two tapas, and complimentary olives/bread for 6,70 € total.

Bilbao, three beers and a zurito (half beer), 3,90eur yesterday. Not the standard (it should be around 6 euros) and not in the city centre, but it´s a symptom.

Mikelg raises a good point here. Stay away from the the tourist traps (in the city centres) and things immediately become cheaper.

<<Yes, food in the market has gone up somewhat, just like it has in the States. It's supply and demand. Can you say ‘global warming’?>>

That's just daft. "Global warming" (which hasn't occurred for at least 15 years) increases the length of the growing and harvest seasons. Good gosh.

Spain's prices aren't that bad. They're worse than two years ago because if a business hasn't changed its prices, to Americans they're 3-4% worse thanks to the dollar's slide. Plus there's slight inflation everywhere anyway. Spain's inflation rate is notoriously low, but that's because its economy is basically asleep so there's no upward pressure on prices.

The US Dollar has only been strong during 2 of the last 7 years, 2010 and 2012. In July 2008 the exchange rate was nearly $1.60 to the Euro. In May of 2011 the rate was up to $1.48/Euro. Today's exchange is fair, but could be a lot better.

"That's just daft. "Global warming" (which hasn't occurred for at least 15 years) increases the length of the growing and harvest seasons. Good gosh. "

Someone must have missed the last 5 years of drought in California and most of Texas.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro...orth-texas.ece

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wir...rming-23457909

http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-...s/drought.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...te-change.html

Thanks everyone, I'll be there next month and pay whatever it costs but I got some good ideas. Christina I didn't mean anything by comparing the Euro to the US $ but it a value comparison. And if your in Costa del Sol, it looks like a British or Germany colony.

Robert: you're still daft.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...-prove-it.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterfer...oling-is-here/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/env...cientists.html

P.S. That drought in Texas has followed an exceedingly COOL winter and spring.

It's often referred to as 'bury your head in the sand' when someone doesn't believe the obvious. To understand Global Warming you have to know the difference between weather and climate. But keep reading the Daily Mail, Forbes and the Telegraph if they make you happy...

"Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces, temperatures warmed roughly 1.53°F (0.85ºC) from 1880 to 2012, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In the Northern Hemisphere, where most of Earth's land mass is located, the three decades from 1983 to 2012 were likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years, according to the IPCC."