Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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humankeith
Posts: 42
Joined: 18 Aug 2020, 9:12pm

Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by humankeith »

As above really. Does anyone have any tips? I'm cycling from Santiago de Compostela to Santander next year. I'd like to book a day or so in advance. My initial thought is to use Booking.com, but I wanted to ask in case I'm missing any tricks. Additionally, how are Spannish hotels/pensions etc with taking a bike in to ones room?

Thank you for any advice.
simonhill
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Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by simonhill »

Are you cycling the Camino? If so, there are regular hostels for pilgrims along the way.

If not, then Booking or Agoda are probably as good as any, unless someone can recommend a Spanish alternative.

With small places, you may find contacting direct is cheaper. Use the app to locate, then use Google maps to find details. Give them a ring and ask price. The place I'm in tonight in Portugal is €36 on web, €31 direct. This is often the opposite in chain places.

Not sure about taking bikes into rooms, but most will have somewhere to store it. Small pensions often have small rooms and if owner run are more likely to be a but fussy.
eileithyia
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Location: Horwich Which is Lancs :-)

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by eileithyia »

Pick a town for the night, turn up and look for a hotel..... it's what I've usually done.
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
HarryD
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Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 5:44pm

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by HarryD »

Having cycled there many times you are in for a treat

Along the Caminos there will be plenty of good value accommodation and much of it is open to all. Pilgrim or not

Away from the Caminos both the coast and the mountains are popular tourist areas and are again well provided. July and August, weekends and particularly bank holidays tend to be busy so booking is advisable but generally not at other times. The exception is the Picos de Europa which can get full most of the year. As others have said bikes in pensions, hostals and hotels aren't an issue. You are visiting an area popular with cyclists and cyclists are accepted in a way not very often experienced in the UK. Often there is a garage, store room or secure courtyard you can use although ours have stayed in restaurants, kitchens and even a nightclub complete with sticky carpet and glitterball

If you Spanish (or Basque) is up to it then a telephone call is best. English is widely spoken but not always. Otherwise Booking.com is fine. You can always use it to search an area and date to see what is there and the prices then just turn up on the day

Have a great trip
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horizon
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Location: Cornwall

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by horizon »

A couple of reflections on accommodation in Spain:

1. Campsites are few and far between but do exist.
2. Many of the traditional roadside hostals have closed, usually where there is a new parallel motorway. That means longer gaps between accommodation and greater reliance on reaching a town.
3. On my last two trips to Spain I used a combination of Booking.com and AirBandB. Used together, you can usually get well-priced, good accommodation at reasonable distances apart. However AirBandB (AFAIK) doesn't tell you how many floors up the accommodation is and whether the lift would take a bike so booking is more complicated if you need to ask.

As others have said, if you are on a recognised route, then accommodation is a central part of that.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
brianleach
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Joined: 14 Jul 2007, 2:10pm
Location: Winchester, Hants

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by brianleach »

Have cycled in Northern Spain a few times and agree that the camp sites are few and far between. My son and I cycled from Santander to the Rioja region and back in 2014. I chose a town I thought I could cycle to each day and booked the accommodation the night before. Worked fine although from my last trip to France in 2019 it seems the prices have increased a lot since then!! The local tourist office might work although I was turned away from a hotel in Guenica in 2011 as they were apparently full.
brianleach
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Joined: 14 Jul 2007, 2:10pm
Location: Winchester, Hants

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by brianleach »

Forgot to say I used booking.com
simonhill
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Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by simonhill »

I think you answered your own question. Most agree that if you want to book a day or two ahead a booking site is the best option.

Booking.com isn't the only one and it's worth looking at a few others. Although Agoda is owned by Booking. I usually switch between those 2 as one sometimes offers a better price.

I do use a Japanese site in Japan, so you could have hunt and see if there is a Spanish one, although no one has mentioned it. Booking is Dutch, so European to start with.
jacobean
Posts: 120
Joined: 12 May 2009, 11:57pm

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by jacobean »

humankeith wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 8:11pm As above really. Does anyone have any tips? I'm cycling from Santiago de Compostela to Santander next year. I'd like to book a day or so in advance. My initial thought is to use Booking.com, but I wanted to ask in case I'm missing any tricks. Additionally, how are Spannish hotels/pensions etc with taking a bike in to ones room?

Thank you for any advice.
First you don't really need to book in the remote / small town hotels or pensions. (That is assuming you're NOT traveling in period mid-July to Aug). Booking in advance can make you feel like you're tied to a schedule and can detract from the enjoyment of your trip.

Booking.com is fine.

If you want to treat yourself to a 4* in one of the bigger cities along the route. Lastminute.es or hotwire.com will sometimes clip 30% off the booking.com site rate.

Spanish pension / hotel staff will automatically direct you a place to locate your bike. This could be in an nearby tool / car garage or in their hotel's conference room. In about 1/10 cases, they will simply tell you to bring it with you to the room.
LollyKat
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Joined: 28 May 2011, 11:25pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by LollyKat »

eileithyia wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 9:50pm Pick a town for the night, turn up and look for a hotel..... it's what I've usually done.
This. One small village we stayed at didn’t have any hotels so we just asked in the shop- we were soon fixed up with a local family.
eileithyia
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Joined: 31 Jan 2007, 6:46pm
Location: Horwich Which is Lancs :-)

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by eileithyia »

LollyKat wrote: 19 Oct 2021, 9:19pm
eileithyia wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 9:50pm Pick a town for the night, turn up and look for a hotel..... it's what I've usually done.
This. One small village we stayed at didn’t have any hotels so we just asked in the shop- we were soon fixed up with a local family.
Same happened in a village in Corsica once, the hotel was shut and we were directed to a house back up the road, I called her Widow Twanky as she was of (probable) French Vietnamese origin and clearly all the village knew she provided bed and breakfast while it was clearly under the radar of the authorities as she kept asking us 'Who sent you?'. And we weren't to tell the owner of the local shop where we had stayed that night ..... :lol: But we had a great evening and shared their meal, and watched the opening of Disney Land Paris on the TV (shows how long ago it was).
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
borisface
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Joined: 19 Feb 2010, 3:48pm

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by borisface »

eileithyia wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 9:50pm Pick a town for the night, turn up and look for a hotel..... it's what I've usually done.
Nowadays I tend to use a mixture of a using a booking site such as booking.com to book ahead and just turning up and looking around. I have also used booking.com to research towns to get a handle on whether there is a range of accomodation or not and the likely prices. I have arrived in towns to find the only hotel is outside my budget or really grotty (some parts of Greece for eg.) only to have to press on to the next place several miles away which depending on your state of tiredness/time of day etc can be a challenge. Booking.com do charge hotels quite a hefty commission and so many are happy to pass on some of the savings to walk-ins.

As it was nearly 15 years ago since I did the camino I can't recall whether refugios allow you to stay if you don't have the credential. But if you do stay in refugios remember you'll need a sleeping bag and that they (used to at least) expect you to be back by 10pm which can make eating an evening meal a bit tricky in Spain. Also take ear plugs.
simonhill
Posts: 5227
Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by simonhill »

Next year we will be seeing the fall out from COVID. It may be that people brush it off and carry on as before, welcoming strangers into their homes. I might not be that way

I'm currently touring and apart from the screens, masks, pre-wrapped breakfasts, etc it seems OK.

Nonetheless, it is certainly something to throw into the mix. There is a certain certainty of pre booking a place.
st599_uk
Posts: 1092
Joined: 4 Nov 2018, 8:59pm

Re: Finding accommodation while on tour in Spain

Post by st599_uk »

One other thing to throw in to the mix is that without pre-booked accommodation, the required proof of finances for entry of third country nationals in to some EU countries increases dramatically.
A novice learning...
“the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
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