Parador de Mérida - we stayed for one night at the youth rate (only one person needs to be the right age to qualify) of about 75 euros/night including a wonderful buffet breakfast that includes many hot foods like eggs, sausages, bacon, and pastries like churros, croissants, etc. Our room was huge, including a sitting area and a balcony overlooking the "Garden of Antiquities", a garden/pool area with a display of Roman ruins found on site or nearby. Mérida is a one-stop, compact way of seeing a full range of Roman ruins: a still-used theater, an ampitheater, a circus, a villa with floor mosaics and wall decorations, and of course, a Temple of Diana. All are within easy reach of the Parador, where if you are lucky, like us, you can park in front without charge. The best thing about the youth rate is that multiple day stays are not required. We ate dinner at Briz, which looks like unfriendly bar from the front, but has a nicely decorated dining room in back and a well priced menu del dia. When we asked the waiter about Bolleta (a local acorn liquor), he brought out 3 other kinds of liquor (de la casa) for us to sample! No doubt, this was one of the best stays we had our entire trip.