I'm pre-booking lodging in the major places where I'll spend several days. Right now I'm planning to be in each of these places for one night and I don't have a sense that I need to pre-book, with the possible exception of Ronda, which I gather gets a lot of visitors (this is for April).

Any particular recommendations on places to stay in these towns? I realize that Algeciras isn't highly regarded, but hear the road down from Ronda is a spectacular ride as well as the train back up, which I will take the following day. I've also heard that touts can be as much of a bother here as at Tangier, while the old town is actually quite nice.

When are you planning on coming? that could influence whether you should book in advance or not.

The old town of Algeciras is quite nice, Im not sure about the touts in the port as I have never noticed a problem; another interesting town very nearby is Tarifa which offers more pleasant atmosphere than Algeciras and also has a ferry to Tangier if that was your intention....

This will be April 18-28. I know of Terife, but won't have time to get around to that side.

HI,
I will be in that area as well in June. In ronda, you should look at the hotel san gabriel www.hotelsangabriel.com , that's where i will be staying. you can also check out reviews of the hotel at www.tripadvisor.com

sote23

Thanks, Sote, but I'm looking for something about half that much.

no problem, good luck in your search.

sote23

I can't tell what your trip style is but I just came back from Spain and one place we stayed was San Jose, Almeria. It's a little beach town about 25 miles from Almeria. We looked at going into Almeria to see the castle but decided against it. San Jose has a great beach with more short walking distances away. It is definitely a seaside town, without any condos. It is mostly a Spanish young person/ family haunt. Although it was packed during Spring break, any other time would probably be much more relaxed. We stayed at the Hotel Atalaya right in downtown ( they have a website ). The website doesn't show the rooms but they are big and nice. The Hotel messed up our booking, blamed it on a fired employee and found us space even though they initially said they were all booked. So if you are interested make sure you confirm your reservation sufficiently. The only downside to this town was that food was pretty high priced. ON the other hand, there was great fresh fish.