The five members of my immediate family returned recently from an early May visit to Spain. We had a great time. Here's our lodging report:

First point...The deflation of the dollar when compared to the Euro made Spain about 50% more expensive this year than four years ago. It's still a great place to visit, but the days of super bargains seem a only a memory.

Madrid...We stayed at Hostal Lopez on the basis of Madridman.com's recommendations and found the accomodations delightful. We had two rooms and stayed 3 nights. Hostal Lopez is indeed in a choice location. We were five minutes from tehj Prado and in a very convenient area for restaurants, shops and general sightseeing. The family was very friendly and we'd certainly stay at Hostal Lopez on another trip. We would have preferred to pay by credit card but the cash policy probably helps keep rates down.

ON the way out of Spain at the end of our trip, we needed one night near the airport. We found an excellent small hotel, Hotel Pagaso through expedia.com and booked two rooms for one night for a total cost of about $100 (US). Hotel Pagaso only has 7 or 8 rooms and it's really an apartment building converted to hotel use, but the rooms were LARGE, BRANDNEW, air conditioned, clean and generally top notch. The Hotel is VERY hard to find the first time. It's about 15 minutes by car from the airport and so offers an excellent last night if anyone is looking for that option.

Seville....We stayed 3 nights at the Hostal Guadilquiver which is located IMMEDIATELY behind the Cathederal in another excellent location. We were very close to the center of everything and walked everywhere we wanted to go. Plenty of good restaurants, the touristy stuff, the bullring and so forth very close. The rooms were VERY nice, decorated well, air conditioned with TVs and nice bathrooms. Guadilquiver is somehow connected to the Hotel Marenstan (spl) and I think they are run jointly. This makes the decor and equipment of the Hostal better than most hostals I've stayed at in Spain. The rate was good although again, 50% higher than four years ago.

Grenada.....We stayed 3 nights at the Hostal Atenas and had very adequate rooms. The rooms were the smallest of any we had in spain. The Atenas was clean, comfortable, VERY easy to locate on Grand Via, right on the bus line and better equipped than most hostals we've frequented in Spain. Atenas has a garage which is rare and provides secure parking right nest to the hotel albeit at 11 Euros per night. Atenas has a fee based internet access in a nice lobby which we appreciated. Credit cards are welcome at Hostal Atenas. WHEN we go back to Granada we'll stay somewhere near Plaza Nuevo next time and skip the Grand Via experience although I don't hesitate to recommend Atenas. (My daughters really liked the access to nice clothing stores!)

The cost increase associated with the exchange rate for the Euro is a bummer. It's hard to accept such a dramatic increase in room rates. Still, we were staying downtown in 3 big cities and our average room cost for was about $65 for what I consider to be very nice european style rooms w/private baths.

My wife is now planning our third trip. Next time we're leaving the 23,20 and 13 year olds home.

Harley