I will be travelling independently using public transport before and after a RS Best of Spain tour. The tour begins Oct 19. I have some plans made but am atill finalizing them. I know I want to spend more time in BCN before the tour, see Girona, Tarragon and Salamanca after the tour ends. I fly home from Madrid, so would like recommendations also for that city.,
I have not hostelled before. I prefer a private room, probably with ensuite.
Thanks.
That is what good guidebooks are for. Have you consulted Steves' Spain book? I know Salamanca and Madrid are well covered in his book. You might have to use Trip Advisor, or Hotel.com for Girona and Tarragon or another guidebook.
Since you want a private room, be sure to compare the price of a hostel with an inexpensive hotel (confusingly, in Spain this can be called a hostal).
In addition to what you find in Ricks' book, look at these websites which are geared toward your situation; the neighborhood reviews from Eurocheapo and the traveler's reviews from the last two can be especially helpful:
Eurocheapo: http://www.eurocheapo.com/
Hostelworld: http://www.hostelworld.com/
Hostelbookers: http://www.hostelbookers.com/
For Barcelona, check out hostals (different from 'hostels', hostals are small hotels with basic amenities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostal) and B&Bs: http://bit.ly/hostals_and_BBs_in_BCN
Try Booking.com to search for places to stay in your locations. You can limit the number of people to 1 by choosing 1 adult, 0 children in the "Guests" box on the upper left of the screen.
You can use the "advanced" search options there, too, but I prefer to get the initial results, then refine them using the options categories down the left side of the screen. I ignore the stars, but require that the review score be 8+. I sort the results by review score and I just noticed you can pick "solo travellers" from that drop down box.
You will need to do this for yourself. This is a little search I did as an example for you. One person, leisure travel, 1 night 16 October, breakfast included, review score 8+ and switched to 50-100EUR for the price. They are sorted by review score by solo travellers. All kinds of lodging options came up in the 57 results. For your own search, you could refine those, too.
Please note that I have never booked through Booking.com. I have only used it to identify possible lodgings, then contacted them directly to book. The place itself will likely have more availability than the rooms they give to booking agencies to sell.
'I have not hostelled before. I prefer a private room, probably with ensuite.' Then do not hostEl, but hostAl as advised or pension or whatever the title of the premises.
You confuse with reference to hostels and wanting a private room which is probably going to put you in different price brackets.
Use a directory like booking.com to identify what you want from the premises.
Thanks very much. I have not yet received my RS book that comes with the tour. Great to learn the differences between hostel & hostal.
