Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Two Weeks in Spain

I would like to issue a warning to those planning on traveling to Spain. If you enjoy organization or customer service, you will be in for a shock when you come here.

I say this with extreme sadness in my heart. My grandfather is Spanish, therefore, it was considered to be a trip to experience my culture and heritage. It was also my chance to show my husband, who has never been to Spain, the wonders that is Spanish culture. In some ways it lived up to my expectations, in more than other ways...it fell short. I would recommend spending your hard earned money elsewhere where your presence is, at least seemingly, wanted.

I consider myself an experienced traveler and never go to another country expecting it to be the United States...and usually I delight in immersing myself in other cultures. I don't prefer the tourist view of everything by moving around a country or city like cattle. Usually, this has not been a problem. That is not the case in Spain.

I admit, I unfortunately do not speak fluent Spanish, but I speak it enough to get by. I have found in other countries, you get SOME respect when you speak to people in their language instead of expecting them to speak English. More often than should be, I was often ignored or treated with no respect in comparison to native Spaniards. Ironically, I found that some British who refused to speak Spanish, and confidently spoke English were treated with more respect than those who tried to speak Spanish, but were not as confident with their behavior. So, here's a tip from me to you: In Spain, it seems to get you farther to speak English with confidence, than speak Spanish with any inclination of timidity.

That said, I know that my experience is possibly unique...but perhaps could be a helpful tip to those traveling to Spain.

I will try to be curt about things I enjoyed about the places I visited in my two weeks in Spain. We rented a car all the way to Barcelona, then took the train back to Madrid. The train is no longer as affordable as I remember it in my college travel days.

Arrival: Madrid. Head straight to Toledo. 3 days, 2 nights in Toledo.
Hotel: Hotel Sol. - Alright. But you could hear everything that happened in the hallways, on the stairs and in the lobby from our room.
Restaurants I'd recommend - La Abadia (local cuisine), Madre Tierra (vegetarian only local cuisine)
Overall experience - this is a great town to visit because everything is in walking distance. You "could" spend a day here, but it's worth it to spend more time.

Toledo to Salamanca 2 days, 1 night
Hotel: Husa Torre de Clavero - Has it's own parking garage, which you pay extra for and is extremely scary to get down if you are at all timid with manual cars. Otherwise, it was a decent hotel. We got the top floor, which had only skylight. Not recommended if you can avoid it.
Restaurants I'd recommend - Can't remember any place we ate that was worth recommending.
Overall experience - Salamanca is technically the Oxford of Spain. I would not plan on spending too much time here, but it's worth a visit.

Salamanca to Santiago de Compostela - 3 days, 2 nights
Hotel - Hotel Pombal - Just outside of the old part of town, public parking nearby. We got one of the two rooms on the ground floor and these were the only rooms with a terrace, but it was a large terrace and had amazing views of the cathedral. We got a bottle of wine from a vinoteca we passed and drank it while sitting on the terrace and looking at Santiago at night. Definitely great experience.
Restaurants - None that I'd recommend.
Overall experience - We could have probably spent one night there. I booked two nights because of the long drive from Salamanca. Not my favorite experience of Spain, but it's worth a visit only if you have enough time to devote to my recommended spots.

Santiago to Santander - 2 days, 1 night.
Hotel - Hotel Onix Rambla - The parking for the hotel is public parking, therefore open to all. It was completo (full) when we arrived and had to park far from the hotel. There was a cigarette in our sealed (they seal the toilet with paper indicating the toilet has been sanitized) toilet. The bathroom stunk for the entire length of our stay. I complained, but they did nothing about it. It made me rethink how our lawsuit happy America as less negative aspect...
Overall experience - Not worth the trip unless you have family here. They have a beach, which we missed...perhaps that would have changed my negative opinion about this town.

Santander to Hondarribia
Hotel - Iketxe, recommended by Maribel's guides. Iketxe is definitely worth it. It's hard to get to, you think you had to have passed it until you see another sign to Iketxe. Once you are there, Paxti is very friendly. Unlike Maribel's guides, he speaks SOME English...he was delighted that I spoke Spanish (a rare experience for me). It was definitely a setback if you do not speak fluent Spanish, because he would give extensive comments and recommendations to fellow guests who were fluent in Spanish. That is my only "negative".
Overall experience: Hondarribia is a great base. We stopped by the Guggenheim in Bilbao on the way to. Most exhibitions were closed due to the transition of exhibits. Unfortunately for us, but the entry fee was halved. I would recommend staying one night in Bilbao. If I could do it again, I would skip Santander and stay in Bilbao to experience it outside of the Guggenheim. We also spent a (rainy) day in San Sebastian on the last day of the film festival. Richard Gere was there, but we never saw him. We knew what hotel he was staying at from the hords of people waiting outside. We did not eat at Casa Nicolasa as I wanted...I would have spent the money for the experience, but we were in gym shoes and I felt like we'd get turned away at the door. We did the tapas thing though and found a great tapas (pinxtos) place. I don't have the name, but I will update later.

Hondarribia to Rioja - 2 nights 3 days.
Hotel - Antiguas Bodegas Don Cosme Palacio in Laguardia - I would recommend this hotel. However, I would NOT recommend being in Rioja on a Sunday or Monday if you want to eat. Most places are closed. We took a stab at visiting some Maribel recommendations, but most were closed. The restaurant at our hotel was closed the entire time we were there. It was totally unfortunate and made me wish even more that I had bumped up our schedule and taken out the stop in Santander. I would definitely make a room request as ours had a view to an adjacent roof, not Laguadia :-(.
Overall Experience - Good. We visited Ysios and Marques de Riscal wineries. I would recommend both, but Ysios more than Riscal. Keep in mind, you need prior bookings to visit most wineries, so do your homework and make appointments!

Rioja to Barcelona - 3nights, 4 days.
Hotel - Onix Rambla. It was not cheap, but well located and relatively inexpensive compared to other hotels I saw online. Staff was not friendly, but not unfriendly. Just, as I found typical..indifferent. The breakfast is not included and 10 euros. It'd be great if we were earning the British Pound.
Restaurants - I could not recommend Senyor Parillada (SP?) more. I picked it out of "top 10 Barcelona" guide because it was in the lesser expensive range. The food was awesome. The place was packed with locals, which is always a good sign. But MAKE A RESERVATION. We didn't, and had to wait...but it was worth it. If you want to get seated right away, make a reservation. It is like living that "phone first" commercial.
Overall - I booked a "gourmet tapas tour" through Ocio-Vital foodwinetours.com. WHAT A TREAT!! Our German guide, Hans was so entertaining. We had some unique tapas at Tapelia and got a tour of Ramblas, the Market, and the Gothic Quarter...stopping at some shops he liked like wine, nuts and Chocolate. It was such a perfect way to start our time in Barcelona. We lucked out and were the only participants in the tour that evening..so it was like a private tour. One note, we arrived on September 25th and apparently were a day late on a festival in Barcelona...that sounded great. (Another reason I wish I didn't go to Santander) The next day we hit all of the hot spots, Gaudi...Montejuic. I gave Barcelona the most time on our trip and it still didn't seem like enough. The next day we did another tour of Torres Winery, Montserrat and Sitges. Torres Winery, after Rioja, was a tourist TRAP! What a waste. There were too many people on the tour and they were not organized enough to tour us around the winery and do tastings with the short time we had there. We spent too long in Montserrat and again not enough time in Sitges. If you do this tour. I would recommend bringing beach gear if it's warm to take advantage of the beach. I wish I had my suit so I could go in the water as we were blessed with beautiful weather. I wish I could have spent a night in Sitges. It looked like a fun place to be. If you are a gay male, it looked like THE place to be. We left Barcelona the next day for Madrid.

Madrid (one night)
Hotel - Room Mate Alicia - Not cheap, not the most expensive. Great location, and modern. I would not bring kids to this hotel. The shower is open to the room, which is strange, but I guess you can get away with it if you are only with your sweetie. Breakfast was included.
Overall experience - I wanted to leave Madrid with a bang. Really show my husband the epitome of Spanish culture...or what seems to be...Flamenco at Corral de la Moreria. It was $300 for the show and dinner (there are cheaper eats options, but we really wanted a certain menu). We had a terrible table location as the stage was blocked by a column and a very large man who sat right in my line of sight. The tables were tiny, the place was tiny and it was overall a tourist trap that I will not recommend or repeat. It is my biggest regret of the whole trip (it even surpasses Santander). They advertise that they are in "1000 places to see before you die." and have had celebrities visit. Well, don't fall for that. You can spend your money in better ways. A couple got up and left after looking at the menu. I wish I had followed suit. I hoped the show would make up for the space, it may have...I couldn't see. The food was probably the only redeeming factor, but was negated by the expense. In the end the waitress asked us how much we wanted to tip. I have never been put in that position. Especially in Spain where you only tip if the mood strikes or service deserves. The pressure to tip made an already upsetting experience the worst. I really hope I can spare someone the experience I had and stress to chose other options if you want to see Flamenco. I don't remember where I have been before, but it was in the basement of a building. The layout of that place lent to great views no matter where you sat, and the food was equally as expensive, but at least worth it.

When we were in the Madrid airport, instead of calling people by row to board the plane, it was a free-for-all. Total chaos and put an exclamation point on my desire to leave Spain.

Trips should be an experience of the culture and you should leave feeling enlightened and happy. I left feeling depressed that I had spent my hard earned money and vacation time on Spain alone. They did not deserve it...but made me feel like I did not deserve them. I don't know where the French get such a bad rap. Spain beats them in snobbery hands down!

My experience may be unique, but after telling a few friends about my trip, they seem to have had the same experience or know someone who has (where was this when I was planning the trip?)