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What's going crazy on in Madrid Oct 10-13? Alternatives?

Posted by (San Diego, California, USA) on

I have plane tickets booked and was just putting together my itinerary for 16 days in Spain in October and something crazy is going on the 10th-13th when I planned to be in Madrid! The "reasonable" hotel Rick suggests is 299e a night! But if you check the week before it's 99e instead. Another hotel has vacancies everyday for three months except those three exact days which are booked!

I've Google those days in Madrid a bunch of different ways but can't find anything to account for this spike in price and interest in Madrid hotels to drive up prices by 3x.

My current workaround plan is to stay an extra night in Barcelona, train into Madrid in the morning, do left luggage, tour what I can in a day in Madrid and then train onto Toldeo to sleep and maybe spend the next day in Toledo instead of training back and forth from Madrid. Even those dates in Toledo are even more expensive but not by 3x as much.

Anyone know what I missed in my unfortunate timing for my Madrid planning? I'm afraid that this much interest may affect my day of sight seeing as well.

I was not expecting this at all... but it's always an adventure, right?
=Tod

Posted by
11189 posts

El Dia de la Hispanidad ( National holiday October 12th )

This is Spain’s national holiday and is celebrated on the 12th October each year. During the day, Spaniards commemorate the first >time that Christopher Columbus sailed for the Americas.

There is an armed forces parade held in Madrid and followed by the Royal family, a wide range of foreign dignitaries are usually in >attendance as well.

This might have some bearing on your plans

Posted by
2942 posts

For info, you may or may not be aware, but this "celebration" is not uniformly across the current territory of Spain. In Catalonia and his capital, Barcelona, it's like any regular Sunday. Period. There's no celebration of any kind. Catalonia's National Day, when we Catalans celebrate our "day", is Sept 11th.

Sunday in Barcelona is a day in which many residents go out to spend the day, be in the city itself, be in their Summer residences elsewhere in Catalonia (those that have one), be simply to spend the day outside the city in an escapade. Museums and attractions are open, same with most restaurants and public transports work as normal (less frequency on a Sunday but all lines are working). Shops, however, are closed, except for the Maremagnum shopping mall at the Old Port, and quiosks, bakeries, convenience stores, etc. in the morning. Cinemas, theatres, music halls (ie opera at Liceu or Palau de la Música Catalana) and clubs are also open.

Posted by
532 posts

Adding on to what Enric said, here in the Rioja the 12th is celebrated, but it is more the Pilar than the Dia de la Hispanidad. In Zaragoza the Fiesta del Pilar is on and runs from the 6th to the 15, and the hotel rooms that are left will probably also be very expensive.

Posted by
2471 posts

Rick lists holidays on the website under each country under Holidays and Festivals in the Explore Europe section. Fyi for future reference.

Posted by
814 posts

Thanks everyone, I knew the 12th was a holiday but I didn't anticipate it would necessarily affect reservations all the way back to the 9th in Madrid.

It looks like I will probably be in Sevilla for the 12th itself. I had a preliminary plan to rent a car and head for Los Arcos on the 12th.
Anyone have feedback on what the celebrations and closures might be like in Sevilla? Is it worth staying in the city for the celebration? Might I have trouble renting a car that day?

I've been in the south of France for Bastille Day and a lot of things were open but closed early and there were fireworks. But I know Spain varies from region to region but this is my first trip there so any feedback is helpful.

=Tod

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