According to some travel guides it can be very difficult to find available rooms in Spain during Semana Santa (Holy Week). Is this true? Will I be relegated to a youth hostel? I will be traveling through Spain/Portugal during this time period.

I just decided to visit Ubeda and Sevilla (where the most famous Semana Santa processionals are held) during the week leading up to easter. Depending on where you'll be visiting you may have trouble finding a room. I emailed over twenty five hotels/hostals in Sevilla and finally found a room. Of course, prices are doubled during this period. Two weeks after easter in Sevilla is the April Fair and you'll run into the same issues. If you're planning on Sevilla during this time then you need to start looking now. I have the names of a couple of hotels that had availability but were a little outside of the Santa Cruz barrio. If you need them let me know and I'll get you their names and information. I think that the towns in Andalucia in particular will be harder to book. I know Granada is also difficult.

Hope this helps.

My ladyfriend and I had some difficulty finding lodgings in Santiago de Compostela last Semana Santa. We used a travel agent in the neighborhood but the agent tried about a dozen hotels before finding Hespería Compostela and actually got a good price!

For Sevilla, try a www.Google.com search using the keyword HOSTAL +SEVILLA and you should find lists of them. Also, as CathyM says, START RESERVING NOW. You may even have to TELEPHONE some of those which don't have websites. This is always kind of ...unsettling, at least for me, because you have NO idea what you're going to get.

HERE\'S a pretty complete list (I think) of hostels, pensiones, and youth-hostels in Sevilla which have websites.

When my ladyfriend and I went to Sevilla for Semana Santa in 1998 we slept in the nearby town of Alcalá de Guadaira and took a bus (20 minutes maybe) into Sevilla each day.

But yes, BOOK NOW!! MANY MANY Spaniards are traveling during this holiday. Oh, and here's a word to the wise, DO NOT TRY to enter any of Spain's larger cities on Easter Sunday. You'll be stuck in traffic jams for hours as everyone returns home at the same time.

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks for the replies. Fortunately I'll be in southern Spain the week prior to Semana Santa. But I plan to return to Madrid via Portugal about 13 or 14 April. I'll keep your recommendations in mind as I plan my itinerary. Thanks.

I would highly recommend that you call ahead and schedule lodging. I've had the pleasure of being in both Granada and Sevilla during Semana Santa and it gets crazy. Even Madrid can be tough. Just play it smart and you'll enjoy!

I was living in Seville during Semana Santa in 1995 and had to find a hostal when my husband was visiting as we could not stay with the woman I was boarding with. I had no trouble finding rooms even a month in advance, but of course, I was living there and I just wandered from hostal to hostal until I found one I liked. We stayed in Hostal Capitol on Calle Zaragoza. It is a five minute walk from ground zero (the cathedral)where all processions must pass. In fact, one procession goes right past the hostal. I have often stayed in hostals. This is not the best, nor the worst I have stayed in. Service was not very friendly although I speak Spanish quite well, the beds were lumpy and the bathrooms a bit rusty. However, it was clean and safe.

Hostal Cairo on calle Reyes Catolicos and the corner of c. Pastor is much nicer but it fills up early. Friends of friends of mine run this hostal and restaurant and I still couldn't get a room because I delayed too long. It sits above their restaurant, also called Cairo. They have excellent food, especially grilled shrimp and mixed fried fish platter pescaito frito (very typical of Andalucia, not a New England or British kind of thing) El Cairo restaurant

Try this list for all hotels in Seville. I can't vouche for it being up to date as I don't know how much time the webmaster (an acquaintance) has to maintain the site anymore.

Turista Virtual de Sevilla (Spanish only)

Donna

speaking of Semana Santa...I am doing my confirmation this year and I chose saint Esperanza to be my saint name. When I was looking for pictures, I found a lot of good pictures of floats and statues from Semana Santa 2002. Here is one of them.
*marisa*

I am also right now trying to find a hostel or cheap hotel for semana santa (at least Wedn-Sun if possible!), and am having NO luck . So if anybody know ANYTHING I would would really appreciate the lead!!! What other towns in spain have large semana santa activities? I am studying here in Granada, and I know that things do take place here, but I would really like to travel elswhere (will I regret this later?)

Update! Right after making the previous post, I was able to book a hotel online for Thurs, Fri, Sat nights in Sevilla. I got it off student universe (Im not sure if they actually check to see if you are a student...) www.studentuniverse.com I was able to book a room for 4 people at Hotel Acor for around 41 euros a person per night. Not cheap, but better than other things I have been finding!!! It says on the webpage it is in the city center....dont know that I believe that, but I dont really care as long as I am in Sevilla!!!
Kelly

Kelly writes: If that's the Acor Monte Olivos it's a few blocks from Sevilla's Santa Justa Renfe Station (i.e., definitely not in the city center). But you can get the Exterior Loop bus (on Avda. Kansas City) in front of the station that will take you to el Portal de la Macarena and the Basilica.