Hello Starprotected! Welcome to our Spain-loving family.
Ooooh... October in Spain. That's a GREAT month, if you ask me. I spent a couple weeks in Madrid in October 2000.
In the list of cities you're visiting, other than in Madrid, I've never stayed at any hostels there so I cannot advise you on this portion of your question. Hopefully others can/will. In the meantime, be sure to take the SEARCH function (upper right) for a test drive and use keywords like
CORDOBA HOTEL or
CORDOBA HOSTAL.
What is the difference between Hostel and a Hotel...they all appear to look the same except where the prices are concerned.
I'm sure most of our long-standing members are sick and tired
of ready my explanation of this and some disagree. But here goes....
Okay. Short answer first.
Hostels in Spain are typically simple, basic, budget hotels with private rooms with few decorations & amenities, usually much smaller rooms (and smaller bathrooms), maybe a phone, maybe a TV, maybe a balcony.
Now the long answer...
You may be asking yourself the question "THIS is a hostel? It sounds more like a hotel than a hostel. Don't hostels have bunkbeds and 'community showers' and lockers?" Herein lies the confusion in translation. You've seen all the photos of "hostales" through their websites already so you have a good baseline understanding of how they look and what they have. Spain's "Bureau of Tourism" translates the Spanish word "hostal" to the English word "hostel" when referring to them in text as a kind of lodging category. But in non-Spanish-speaking countries we use the English word "hostel" to mean "youth hostel" when the English word "hostel" is, to us, simply the abbreviation of the term "youth hostel". In Spain, a "youth hostel" is, in Spanish, "albergue juvenil". That's why when we... err... when I'm speaking in English and talking about hostels I'm referring to "hostales" but when I use the proper Spanish name of the establishment, for example, "Hostal Plaza Mayor" I'll use "hostal". Confused yet? No? Okay. We'll keep trying. hehhehe.
Now the difference between the two. Well, typically hotels are ALMOST ALWAYS much more expensive than hostels in Spain - - but not in every case. There are some cheaper hotels that rival the prices of some hotels. Sometimes these hotels are
better than most hostels but not always. I've seen some pretty amazing hostels, at least in Madrid, that are more expensive than most other hostels but have been VERY impressed with their decoration, furniture, service, etcetera. So why aren't these "amazing hostels" not called hotels? Well, you can thank the government's defintion of a "hostel" for that. It all depends on a long list of criteria that must be met in order to be licensed as a "hotel" or a "hostel" or a "youth hostel".
Now. How many days should you spend in each? I usually say 3-days would be minimum in Madrid itself. If you're pressed for time you could simply make a day-trip to Toledo. This is enough (minimum). If you'd like to see Segovia too you might consider 4-5 days in Madrid and use one of these days for a daytrip to Toledo and another one for a daytrip to Segovia. Hopefully the train line from Madrid to Toledo will be finished for your trip in October.
3-days in Sevilla is also a minimum. LOTS to see there and it should be very very nice in October. 1-day minimums for Córdoba and Granada. Making these two cities a "daytrip" from Sevilla would probably be too much. I believe they're quite a bit further from Sevilla than is, say, Segovia and Toledo from Madrid. You might want to spend a night in Córdoba and Granada. Try NOT to spend just one-day-here-and-one-day-there. I don't know how much TRAVEL TIME you'll have away from the wedding and family, etcetera but Madrid PLUS Sevilla alone would "cost" you about a 1-week. Then add single days for daytrips or smaller cities/destinations.
Again, try the SEARCH function for hostes in Spain. MANY MANY have been reviewed, particularly in the larger cities like those you've mentioned above.
Saludos, MadridMan
Previous Topic
Index
