My wife and I are planning to go to Seville mid to late april (avoiding the 4/2-4/9 and 4/23 - 4/29 festivals). We plan on Seville first, four full days, and of course booking everything for Seville in advance. My wife wants to play it by ear for accommodations in the other cities, making hotel reservations on-the-fly. Has anyone had experience traveling in Spain this way? I'm a bit more hesitant and prefer to book in advance, so any advice is very much appreciated.
Posted by
Hudson Valley
2267 posts
It's probably fine, provided you're fairly flexible on standards, prices, and locations. Flexible in all directions, upgrades or downgrades...
Posted by
Chicago
2047 posts
if you don't care about the cost or cleanliness of a hotel, go for it. While you might find rooms, they may be higher than if you paid ahead of time. I'd also bookmark lastminute.com which has rooms available for last minute bookings.
I won't say anymore as I always like to know my hotels and prices in advance and no reservations travel to me is not a relaxing way to spend a vacation. BUT there are people that do this and live to tell the tale:) if you have a car and don't mind staying in a nearby town or out of the city centre it will work.
Posted by
Washington DC
28082 posts
I travel that way a lot, including in Spain, but I am now more likely to book rooms 2 to 4 days ahead rather than 1 to 2 days ahead. The best-value places are seldom available at the last minute, so you may have to pay a bit more, stay in a plainer place and/or be in a somewhat less convenient location than would otherwise be the case. That's likely to happen even when there's nothing special going on. For me, that's a reasonable trade-off for the flexibility of being able to adjust the number of nights I stay in a particular city. (I virtually always stay longer than I originally intended in cities of any size.)
If you were hitting Semana Santa or the Seville Fair, that would be a different story.
You can keep your eye on the lodging situation by checking booking.com frequently to see what remains available in cities you plan to visit. You can mark places that look like good options for your so they are easy to focus on when the time comes to make a reservation (even if you opt to go to their own website instead).
I don't think it's safe to roll into Granada without a ticket to the Alhambra, though.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you everyone. Your advice is so very welcomed! I think after Seville we'll wing it and see.