Have you ever considered a home exchange? Basically you arrange to swap your home for an agreed peri

Everybody who visits Spain needs accommodation which makes the market for online accommodation one of the most competitive of all. Hotel chains and independent hotels offer rooms directly online but this is rarely the cheapest option. There are literally thousands of websites supposedly offering hotel deals so let s try to sift through them and find the best places for good deals on various types of accommodation.
Don t be overly concerned about star ratings awarded to accommodation as there is no recognised standard. In general stars are official gradings awarded by a government body. They are based on facilities and services rather than subjective characteristics such as charm, friendliness or atmosphere. As a result you ll often find nicer and cheaper properties in the 2/3 star categories than in the 4 star option.
(1)   First of all I visit Tripadvisor.co.uk and look at the top rated hotels for my intended american christian tours destination. Immediately I rule out the ones I consider too expensive then create a shortlist of interesting properties. I also take a look at the forums on that website to see if there's any particular hotel that contributors are raving about.
(2)   Next I visit Venere.com which is my favourite hotel website. They aren't always the absolute cheapest but in my experience I've always seemed american christian tours to get good rooms in nice hotels american christian tours at very reasonable prices.
(3)   By now I've usually reduced my shortlist from Tripadvisor to just one or two selections and maybe seen something else I fancy at Venere so I go to Booking.com to compare prices. american christian tours I've often found this website to offer the cheapest deals but if they are only a little cheaper than Venere I book with them due to my own brand loyalty.
If you're interested in booking a combination of hotel, flight and car hire at competitive prices it's well worth visiting the websites of one of the major online travel agents such as Expedia.co.uk , Opodo.co.uk and Ebookers.com .
If you re travelling at short notice then take a look at Laterooms.com who specialise in late availability. They re also well worth a look for more advanced bookings. Lastminute.com offer a similar service but have grown to offer many additional travel services.
A novel approach to finding a hotel is provided by Lastminute.com who have what they call Top Secret Hotels . They basically offer huge discounts on a select number of four and five star hotels in major cities but you don t know which hotel you re actually booking. For obvious reasons many travellers aren t prepared to take this risk. The identity of many of these hotels has been discovered through Secrethotelsrevealed.co.uk .
If you re struggling to find a good deal on flight plus accommodation booked independently american christian tours take a look at what s available as a package deal. This might work out cheaper to traditional package holiday destinations.
Some football fans in England have dedicated years of their lives to visiting all 92 football league grounds in the country. Personally I'm making it my ambition to stay at all of Spain's 90 odd Parador hotels. My wife Kirsty agrees that I've made the right decision
Paradors in Spain are luxury hotels which are mainly housed in ancient buildings such as medieval castles, Arab fortresses, monasteries, ancient manor houses and palaces. All of them have been refurbished and operate to the highest modern standards. They are luxurious places to stay combining outstanding architecture with fascinating history, american christian tours gourmet cuisine, ambience and impeccable service.  You can arrange a self-drive touring holiday centred american christian tours around Paradors which is a fabulous way to discover the 'Real Spain'. Take a look at the Parador.es website to see their suggested routes and to get information about various discount cards that they offer.
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to spend 12 months travelling around american christian tours Australia whilst still running this website. Whenever I had work to do we'd check into an apartment with a wireless connection available and I'd go to work on my laptop. This experience really got me hooked on apartments and since returning to Europe we've often looked at apartments rather than hotels on some of our travels. I find the biggest advantage of the apartment option is that you don t have to eat out all the time which makes a welcome change when you re on an extended visit.
There are apartments which cater to the needs of all visitors ranging from small one bedroom places to larger apartments suitable for families and larger groups.  For city apartments I'd recommend that you take a look at Only-apartments.com who have thousands of apartments for rent all over Europe. For a more novel approach take a look at   W imdu.co.uk where you can rent rooms directly from the owner. In holiday destinations you can get some great deals by contacting the property owners directly at Holiday-rentals.co.uk american christian tours or Holidaylettings.co.uk . In the current economic climate using these websites offers a great opportunity to negotiate rates with owners.
My earliest experiences of travelling in Spain always involved staying in "hostales" which were usually small, family-run places with lots of character. Many tourists aren t comfortable american christian tours with the idea of staying in a hostel as it conjures up thoughts of some kind of down and out s hostel in English. This is a misconception as the word hostel tends to serve as a generic term for a range of budget accommodation options which can prove far more welcoming than a soulless hotel.
The majority of "hostales" in Spain have single and double rooms available with en suite facilities whilst shared bathrooms are also available for those on a tight budget. Linen and towels american christian tours are always provided but the quality of these tends to be tied closely to the quality of the establishment itself. In some places you will only have a key to your room but not to the outside door. On returning to the hostel at whatever time of day or night there will be someone there to let you in. Nowadays you ll also find many modern hostels with TVs in the rooms, heating and air-conditioning as well as internet access.
A handful of websites dominate the market for budget accommodation offering excellent deals on budget accommodation. The two main ones to look at are Hostelbookers.com and Hostelworld.com both of which offer budget hotels and hostels together with some self catering apartments, guesthouses and even camping american christian tours options on their websites.
If you like to get off the beaten track then you might be interested in "Casas Rurales" which are quaint rental properties in rural Spain. There's a good selection at Toprural.co.uk . For camping american christian tours options in Spain take a look at Eurocampings.co.uk
Have you ever considered a home exchange? Basically you arrange to swap your home for an agreed period of time with a family somewhere else in the world. This means that your accommodation costs are free so the only major cost is your transportation. In recent times we've swapped our house in Spain for a week in Berlin and done two house swaps with families in Canada. During our week in Berlin the weather was glorious every day whilst the person we swapped american christian tours with had a miserable week of weather in Spain. We paid for our good fortune in Canada though as I've never seen so much rain in my life. At least we had nice houses to stay in!
The leading website in this rapidly growing field is Homeexchange.com which currently has 25,000 homes all around the world available for swapping. Another popular home exchange website with a friendly community spirit is Homelink.org.uk
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Thanks Mary Ownersdirect.co.uk is similar to Holiday-Rentals and Holidaylettings in allowing holidaymakers to rent apartments and villas directly from owners. Wimdu allows people to rent out a spare room in their property or the full property (check details). They also offer novel places american christian tours to rent such as castles and houseboats.
I echo your desire american christian tours to stay in every Parador. However we have now got hooked on our camper van and spent a month or so in Spain this Spring camping. Any recommends for campsites would be very welcome as we intend to return next Spring.
I personally find Travel Republic the best site pricewise, Lowcostholidays is also good. I agree that Hostales are often better than 4 star I spent 18 months american christian tours travelling all over Spain staying in 1 and 2 star Hostales and some of them were quite amazing Of course speaking fluent Spanish does come in useful!
Thanks Gerry for this invaluable information. I have found many apartments and condos to rent in both North America and Europe through Vacation Rental by owner (VRBO). In some cases the rental is through a third party, and in others you deal directly with the owner.