making calls in Spain to Spanish hotels, etc.

I am unfamiliar with which iPhone models even work in Spain, but assuming one of them does, you would have to sign up for the international roaming that ATT offers. There is no other way to use them there unless they are unlocked and you can buy a local SIM card. But if you only plan to make a few calls, it might be the easiest way to go.

Thanks. My options are to either (1) illegally jailbreak my iPhone and buy a local SIM card in Spain, or (2) sign up for an international calling plan thru AT&T. I'm wondering which makes more sense if I am only planning to make calls to Spain while in Spain (no international calling).

Like I said, signing up for the international plan makes the most sense for such a brief trip. In reality, how many calls do you intend to make over the course of the trip? Many people speak of calling hotels and such but I sometimes wonder how many times they really do it. If you take the international plan, you will keep your same number so you would need to let people know that you will be traveling so that they don't call you (except in an emergency).

Nancy, If you only expect to be making a few in-country calls, using your present phones with an AT&T travel plan is a reasonably cost effective option. If you're planning to take both phones, you'd have to purchase a plan for each number. However, one important point to keep in mind is that if anyone calls your cell number, the call will be routed to wherever you are and you'll pay for the incoming call. It's especially annoying to get trivial calls at 03:00 from people that didn't bother to check the time difference. You'll have to be especially careful with the data portions of both iPhones, as they typically access data "in the background" even if the user is not directly accessing the web. I'm assuming you plan to switch "off" cellular data and only use only your iPad? I'm not entirely clear on your question regarding "the best way to make calls within Spain while we're in Spain?" The dialing codes are listed in each Guidebook, so just dial the number using the appropriate prefix for the country. If the Hotel needs to call you, they will have to dial your U.S. number and pay their applicable long distance rates. Happy travels!

Thanks, Ken. We do not plan to make calls between the US and Spain. We'll only use the phone, while we are in Spain, to call hotels in Spain.

Nancy, Thanks for the info, but be sure you give some thought to the aspect of incoming calls from the U.S.

If you are just going to be calling hotel while in Spain, why go through all of this brain damage. Buy a 5E phone card and make the calls using the local system. No point in having an international calling option unless you are going to use it. No sure you can shut off in coming calls.

Ditto Frank. If you just want to call Spanish hotels, a phone card should do the trick.

Thanks. Haven't been to Europe in 3 years, so wasn't sure if hotel rooms have phones anymore. Sounds like they still do...

Nancy, While most Hotel rooms have phones, it's VERY important to check on the costs. At one time, phone charges were a huge revenue generator for Hotels, so they may have a charge even for local calls. Regarding Phone Cards, Phone Booths are becoming less common, so there may not be one conveniently available when you need to make a call. IMHO, using one of your Cellphones with AT&T international roaming is by far the easiest and least complicated method (subject to the "issues" which I mentioned previously). I've travelled with a Cellphone for a number of years, and have found it to be VERY useful on several occasions. For example, while travelling in Italy last year, the train I was using was "delayed" unexpectedly. I was able to phone the Hotel from the train and confirm that I would in fact be coming, and asked them to hold my room. They must have appreciated the call, as they had a Taxi waiting for me at the station. That same scenario wouldn't have been possible with a Phone Card. Cheers!

We decided on buying a cell phone locally (25 euro included ten euro call credit) for booking hotels while on the road. We also took an Ipod touch and used Skype for calls home (plus one to book a room) when we had wifi.

You can use Skype on your iPhones/ iPad as long as you are in a high-speed wifi zone. A $10 Skype credit would be enough to last for your whole trip. You can call anywhere for just pennies.