Top Spain hotels
Food / Drink Barcelona
92 Reviews The locals flock to get all they can of the ham and pasteries that abound around the city. We saw the real store that only sold the jamon, and yes; it is expensive no matter how you cut it, or how...
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Culture Madrid
56 Reviews In Spain, there's no need for a special reason to go out and celebrate, it's seems like the city is always prepare to go out and have good time. In Madrid, the official fiestas , by calender , are...
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April Fair Sevilla
9 Reviews Next to the Feria you find a huge lunapark, called "Calle del Infierno" - Hell's street. When you walk around there you understand why it got this name. You can find merry go rounds but also some...
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A matter of Lingo Palma de Mallorca
5 Reviews In Mallorca, anything goes. You will see old men at cafes drinking beer at ten in the morning, and young people going home from clubbing at four. There is supposedly a drinking age, but no one seems...
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FREE TAPAS Granada
10 Reviews We'd read about this, but didn't expect it to be as good as it sounds ... but it is ! We went into 5 bars, and in each one we had different tapas with each beer. Now granted they were not all to our...
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Food & Drinks Majorca Island
5 Reviews We just returned from Cala Millor resort and had been surprised to discover that practically noone was eating in the diners even as late as 9pm. Tourists and locals were mainly sipping on their drinks...
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Carnival Cadiz
19 Reviews All week long there is always something different to do and see. On the First Saturday there is a Cabalgata (parade) and a kiddie pageant. the Goddess of Carnival is also elected. On Sunday there...
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The Feria del Caballos Jerez de la Frontera
8 Reviews The Feria del Caballo - (Horse Fair) which is held annually in early May in Jerez was a highlight of our holiday. If you want to see a real Andalucian festival with flamenco dress, equestrian pride...
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Language Barcelona
54 Reviews Catalunya is a bilingual community. Everybody in Catalunya do speak Spanish (or Castellano as we prefer to call it here), but in fact NOT everybody do speak Catalan (about 60% in Barcelona, less in...
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Gastronomy Madrid
50 Reviews It's a fact that Madrileños love to stay out really late. They eat, they drink and dance till the wee hours, and then they eat chocolate con churros. (I guess they just dance off the fat.) San Gines...
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Semana Santa Sevilla
10 Reviews In Seville, they take Holy Week very seriously. Every day, at different times during the day, there are parades, and here is what usually happens for each parade: Groups of nazarenos in robes with...
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Luxury produce Palma de Mallorca
2 Reviews This street, storekeeper, is the equivalent of the Rue de Rivoli in Paris. Under the arcades one recovers all stores of luxury and the big dressmakers who settled in Palma. It is therefore there that...
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FESTIVALS Granada
14 Reviews This is a free techno/dance festival that takes place every spring just outside Orgiva (although in 2010 it was held in Santa Fe and was much smaller). The site is a quarry and dried-up river bed that...
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Language Cadiz
5 Reviews Angango: People that usually wear lots of gold and shout and fight about everything and anything. Aro- Shortened from the Castillano word claro which means 'of course'. Bastinazo- An extremely...
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Language and Local Customs Jerez de la Frontera
6 Reviews In the Cadiz province no one pronounces the any S in any word. So for example Despues becomes Depue and Estoy becomes Etoy or even toy. This is very useful when you are trying to understand what...
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City Highlights Barcelona
23 Reviews During the summer time from 15th to 21st of august, everybody are just waiting to celebrate the Gracia s Party called Fiesta major de Gracia. Gracia is a area in barcelona, this area seems to be...
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Entertainement Madrid
45 Reviews During my weekend in Madrid, I enjoyed listening to, and watching the various musicians, playing on the streets of Madrid. Three of my favourites were the trio in my 1st picture, who played near El...
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Alcoholic Beverages Sevilla
6 Reviews Sangria is lovely, because it has lots of fruit in it and I am a big fan of fruit. It is however, rather hard to get hold of Sevilla, if you don`t know where to go. On Calle Mateus Gago, the bar...
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SIESTA Granada
3 Reviews Shops usually open fom about 9 in the morning and close at 2pm (in Spain the morning (mañana) is considered to be up to 2pm not 12pm). They then open again in the afternoon at about 5:30-6 until...
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Relics Cadiz
3 Reviews the business of the relics at the Medieval times was very important. A good church or cathedral with a relic had a promising future and many incomes. Here the one in Cadiz had two, this one is from...
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Fiestas de Otono Jerez de la Frontera
1 Review During the autumn festival in September, the bars in Jerez participate in a competition called Tapa Centro. Over 50 bars take part, and a booklet is published giving the list of bars, their locations...
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Sundays / La Sardana Barcelona
15 Reviews If you're in Barcelona on a Sunday, try to see the people dancing the Sardana, the Catalan national dance. Try near the Cathedral. When I saw people doing the Sardana it was in the afternoon in the...
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Local Festivities Madrid
27 Reviews FORUM REPLY. I have been in Madrid in May as it is a fine period for the weather between cold winter and super hot summer. No particular problem with the Feria di San Isidro; Madrid is always full of...
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Flamenco Sevilla
6 Reviews I am by no means an expert on Flamenco, so I would ask you to research a little yourself - you might want to start with the link I gave you below! Flamenco is not the happy, outgoing way of dancing,...
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THE ALHAMBRA Granada
4 Reviews La Alhambra: es una roja fortaleza que domina la ciudad. En el Patio de los Arrayanes se reflejan los palacios y sus filigranas de piedra, en medio del perfume de las plantas aromáticas. Los...
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In Spain it is very common to kiss women on the cheek twice while saying, hello, goodbye or thank you for something.Men do not kiss each other, but shake hands.When you say hello to a group of friends it is customary to kiss each and every girl on the cheek twice and shake hands with all the men. Do not leave anyone out. The same goes for saying goodbye.
Once every year in February Cádiz city holds its own Carnival where Chirigotas sing satirical songs and the people get dressed up and go on la marcha (a VERY big drinking session) all night long in the streets. Honestly, the whole city and surrounding towns come out dressed up in 'interesting' costumes (see photo- of course I don't know any of those strange strange people!)Not even the rest of the Spaniards can understand well what the Chirigota groups are singing about because they sing in the local accent which is very thick with many of their one words. Of course they sing about Cadiz so if you don't know the town you will not catch everything. Although other towns in the area may have their own carnival singing contests the biggest is in Cádiz Capital.It is well worth going IN February to see this because it is such an important part of life here.THIS YEAR (2008 CARNAVAL WILL BE FROM...
An alcoholic drink originally from Cartagena in Spain. It is very sweet, fruity liquor with a hint of vanilla. it is 31% and is normally mixed with orange, coke or lime. I think I have tried it with lemonade too!It is easy to drink but because it is so sweet I can only really have one at a time!So if you are here and have a sweet tooth give it a go!
on the 31st January the Spanish are either in their houses with their family 8at least in the south of Spain) or in a Cotillon (ball). No one is really in the bars and in fact many are closed except if you go to a touristy town which open for the foreign customers I suppose. In larger towns you may also find open air concerts. Prices in the bars go up and you may even have to pay a lot to get into some places. To go to a Cotillon is VERY expensive.In Madrid (the capital) you can go to the Puerta del Sol to ring in the new year with a large street party. In Barcelona, Bilbao, Sevilla, Valencia and other provincial capitals you can find large street parties too.At 12 o' clock it is traditional to stuff 12 grapes into your mouth as you hear the chimes. on the 12th chime you have to have finished all the grapes. Just about everyone does this in Spain. You even sit peeling the grapes and...
Here in Spain up and til recently Santa Claus was virtually unheard of, but due to the influx of American films now a days he is a house hold name and even brings a present to some of the children on Christmas Eve (like in Germany, but not like the UK where Santa comes on Christmas day).Well, if it is not Santa who brings the children presents here then who is it? The Three Wise Men of course. Which in my opinion sticks to the whole idea of why Christmas is celebrated anyway as, if you believe in the story, it was the 3 wise men who brought gifts for the baby Jesus, therefore shouldn't it be these guys who bring gifts to all the children?Los Reyes Magos (the 3 wise men) don't bring gifts on the 24th or the 25th December (when people celebrate the birth of Jesus, not when, if you believe in the story, Jesus was supposed to be born), but on 6th January when the 3 wise men would have...
Apart from the things I have explained before in other tips, here are some typical things you may on the menu:Patatas Bravas: Not brave potatoes as some places may translate, but simply roast potatoes with a spicy sauce on top.Pinchos or Pinchitos Skewered meat.Ensaladilla Rusa Potoato salad with vegetables such as peas.Cazon en Adobo: battered dogfish with a spicy marinade.Boquerones en Vinagre:A small fish marinaded in vinegar, garlic and parsley.Patatas Ali Oli: Potatoes dressed in mayonnaise and garlic.Patatas Aliñadas: Potatoes in a oil, vinegar dressing with onions and maybe tomatoes.jamon York: cold ham, Jamon Serrano cured ham.Rabo de Toro: ox tail.Carne al toro: Can be beef or bull's meat in a tasty sauce.Paella: rice and seafoodPulpo a la Gallega: Sliced octopus with paprika sprinkled on topMorcilla de Burgos: Black pudding with rice mixed inTortilla de Patata: Spanish omelette...
Now for the more difficult parts:BEBIDASRioja: Red wine from the area of Rioja in the north of SpainFino: a type of extremely sweet white wine, bordering on sherry, from the province of Cadiz. It is an acquired taste.Rebujito: Fino mixed with 7upCalamoche: red wine and coke.Tinto de Verano. Red wine mixed with fizzy drink or lemonade.Bitter Kas: a non alcoholic drink, red in colour and with a very unusual bitter taste.Moscatel: a dark sweet 'wine' similar to sherry.Manzanilla: Camomile teaCafe con leche: white coffeeCafe solo: black coffee (be careful Spanish coffee is a lot stronger and thicker than that of America or Britain).Te: Tea (fruit teas and Arabic teas are far more popular here than 'English' tea. Sangria: (not as typical as some may think) Red wine and fruitMojito: a latin American drink popular here made of rum, mint and lemonade.Zumo de Naranja Natural: Freshly squeezed...
Menus are sometimes difficult to work out, especially if they are translated in to bad English which is often the case, especially in the south!Here are some translations of some common foods and dishes you may find on a menu in Spain. I have left out words which are virtually the same as in English such as Sálmon. I'll start with the basics:Food (Comida):Carne: meatPollo: ChickenTenera: beefCerdo/lomo/solomillo: different cuts of porkjamon: hamHigado: Liverriñones: Kidney Cordero: LambPescado: fishMarisco: seafoodAtun: tunaBacalao: codMejillones: mussels Gambas: Prawns or shrimpsAlmejas: clamsPulpoArroz: ricePatatas Fritas: chipspatatas potatoesEnsalada: saladQueso: CheeseSopa SoupTarta/pastel: cakeNatilla: custard Helado: Iice-creamCaliente: hot Frio: coldFrito. friedAsado Roasted A la Plancha cooked on a hot plate with little or no oilGuiso Stew Relleno stuffedDrink (Bebidas):Vino...
In Spain it is the done thing to recycle your household waste. Not everyone does it but if this is the case it is down to pure laziness or lack of concern for the planet, because they make it easy for you. In most streets and squares you find four distinct containers. A yellow one for metal and plastics, a blue one for paper, a green one for glass and a grey one for organic waste.Furthermore once a month a 'punto limpio' (literally 'clean point') comes to your area where you can deposit used oil, clothes, electrical appliances and so forth. If you have a car you can always go them whenever you want. They even sell different coloured plastic bags of bins with coloured lids to make it easy to separate the waste in your house.
One of my favourite winter, perhaps not so healthy foods from Asturias in Spain.It is a kind of stew or casserole made from white beans and chorizo (spicy sausage), morcilla black pudding) and pork. It is well worth trying if you are in Asturias or any other part of Spain where you see it on the menu. A nice home cooking style dish.These days you can buy it in a can from any supermarket, like the one in the other photo included!
Jazz Barcelona
6 Reviews and 1597 Opinions So it costs a fair bit...but the location is perfect, right in between Eixample and Las Ramblas,...
Hotel Atlantico Madrid
7 Reviews and 1990 Opinions With most four-star hotels in Madrid (and throughout Western Europe) charging US$400 or more, the...
San Augustin Beach Club Canary Islands
40 Opinions
Reviews and photos of Spain attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Spain sightseeing.
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Q: Hi everyone, I really need some help to decide where to bring my young family this year for holiday. I am keen on going to the...
A: all there is child friendly catering to families like yours. Great area indeed. y ou can check on destination above tips by posters like us or the tourist office...
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