hey yall-
Well, we are planning on going to Spain from April 16 until April 27. However, it came to my mind that those dates are right in the middle of semana santa. So, would it be impossible to find a hotel/bed & breakfast room in Spain during this time? We are planning on spending 3-4 nights in Madrid and then heading south in a rental car, with stops in carmona, córdoba, Toledo, & sevilla. We have no exact plans and no reservations. Therefore, we are a little ancy about not having any reservations. We are very felxible as to where we go, but we would love to maybe have a room 50-100 miles outside of Sevilla and just go to Sevilla for the day to get a small taste of semana santa. Also, what about the rest of Andalucía & Madrid, what is it like to try and find a room during holy week??Any ideas?!?!?!?
-mil gracias!
-pato.

PFitz writes: You should be all right in Madrid except for the large number of kids on Spring Break who will be doing Student trips to Spain during the week of Apr 13. Many Office workers in Spain's large cities will be off from work from Thursday, Apr 17 thru Monday, Apr 21. They flock away from the cities to seashore (or mountain) resorts, some for that entire week. Most resort hotels (incl. Hostals) charge 'High Season' rates during Semana Santa. I know the Hotel Santa Maria where I usually stay in el Puerto de Santa Maria does! Sevilla and Cordoba have pretty impressive processions, mostly on viernes de Semana Santa 18 Apr. After 21 Apr., Sevilla will be getting ready for its annual feria de Abril which will kick off around 29 Apr. There's an autopista between Sevilla and Huelva; or, you might want to look south from Sevilla toward Cadiz, Chipiona, el Puerto de Santa Maria, Sanlucar de Barrameda.

As Eddie says, finding a room without reservations in Madrid during Semana Santa won't be TOO difficult but more difficult than non-holiday times. Other places in Spain, including BCN, will be more difficult finding available lodgings without reservations, particularly in Andalucía. And yes, I believe most hotels will raise their prices but don't think this is the case with "hostales" in general.

The whole of Spain is on-the-move during Holy Week and many want to find warmer temperatures in the south that that'll be your greatest challenge.

Almost every year my ladyfriend in Madrid and I always go to a travel agent a week or so before Semana Santa and the agent usually has to try several several several hotels before (s)he can find available rooms in our price range. This includes, in recent years, Barcelona & Santiago de Compostela. Over Christmas 2001 we had a tough time finding a place. We wanted to stay in a parador de turísmo and most all were all full around Spain until we found one in Tordesillas in the province of Valladolid.

Have fun and gooood luck! Saludos, MadridMan