Getting Around Spain
Getting around Spain quickly and comfortably has been quite difficult until very recently. Transportation has had to overcome many obstacles: above all distances are great (from Barcelona to Cadiz, for example, it is 1,152 kilometers) and Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe, after Switzerland.
Now, however, it is quite easy to travel in Spain, and there is a varied selection of modes of transport to choose from.
Take your Pick
For those in a hurry, there are now many more airports throughout the country, and the national carrier Iberia, plus other domestic airlines, such as Air Europa, Spanair, and even international low-cost carriers such as Easyjet, connect most of the major cities.
Train travel in Spain has also improved beyond recognition in the past few years. The high-speed AVE trains are among the fastest and most comfortable in Europe. They can compete with airlines because journey times are surprisingly not much longer. The stations are usually in the middle of the cities, unlike the airports, and passengers don’t have to check in so long before their journey – or wait for their luggage afterwards.
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September 24, 2007
Spain General Information
For anyone going to Spain, travel information is essential. But if you’re going to understand everything that’s going on around you, so is more general information about the country.
Why You Need Good Information
At a very general level, for example, it’s important to know what kind of weather you normally get in the different regions of Spain at the time of your visit, so you know what kind of clothes to take with you. Or which recipes are local specialties, so you have a better idea of what to order in the restaurant.
You obviously need to know what the currency is, and what different denominations of coins and notes exist in Spain, so you don’t get cheated with your change. And you don’t want to be seen as a complete outsider and foreigner (even though you are!), so it’s a good idea to know what Spanish customs are in different situations.
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September 22, 2007
Vacations Spain
It seems such a natural association of words: vacations - Spain! It’s becoming harder and harder to find anyone who hasn’t taken their holidays in Spain at least once.
And it’s easy to understand why. For beach lovers there are miles and miles of coasts, some with beautiful long sand beaches, other with quiet little coves. More important, the weather is extremely reliable in the summer, so you don’t have to pack your umbrella, jumper, jacket and raincoat just in case! And since it’s such a popular destination, it’s easy to find tours of Spain and vacation packages that often work out cheaper than staying at home! You might even find yourself in a wonderful villa right next to the beach for a very reasonable price.
For nature lovers, there’s wonderful countryside: mountain ranges, gorges, lakes and wetlands, forests… The network of highways and motorways is good – and getting better all the time – so it’s easy to get from one part to another quickly and easily.
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September 21, 2007
Accommodation Spain
When they hear the phrase “Accommodation in Spain”, most people immediately think of a hotel on the beach. There are indeed many hotels at the seaside, but the offer of accommodation in Spain is in fact much more varied and stimulating.
But perhaps the greatest attraction of accommodation in Spain is that the average hotel, or apartment, or villa, is still not prohibitively expensive. Although there are many luxury – and expensive – accommodations to be had, you can still find excellent value almost everywhere. In fact, if you travel with some kind of package deal, you can find extremely cheap accommodation in Spain, especially on the coast.
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Spain Trip Planner
Most people’s first question, when they’re planning a trip abroad, is: which part of the country shall I go to? And then, if you’re lucky and can choose your dates, you’ll probably want to know the best time to go. For a Spain trip planner, the answers are not easy!
The problem with a visit to Spain is that the country is big and extremely diverse. It’s a land of many contrasts: the language may differ from one region to another; the climate changes considerably from north to south; the geography is astonishingly diverse; the food is extremely different in the different regions; and the people cling strongly to their regional and local traditions.
How to Choose?
When you start planning your travel itinerary in Spain, you soon realize that you just can’t see it all in one trip. And the best time of year to go depends entirely on which part of the country you finally choose.
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