Spain Master Thread

[Chai]

The Amex Starwood?

Yes SPG amex

[sky121]

Sky, do you mind directing him to the right thread instead of leading him in taking this thread OT? Thanx

Would this be the "questions for beginners" ? Or a whole new thread of it's own?

[Chai]

best cell phone to rent and use in spain for 3 weeks?
best plan ? or company to rent from
any deals available?

[sky121]

best cell phone to rent and use in spain for 3 weeks?
best plan ? or company to rent from
any deals available?

Do you plan to use it often? You could take an unlocked smartphone with you and just get a prepaid sim there and make most calls over wifi. 

[Medic97]

Hey guys taking my wife on a trip to spain. We plan on flying to malaga spending shabbos in Gibraltar then seen seville, cordova, grenada, alecante, toledo, segovia and finally last shabbos by relatives in madrid. Any recommendations for hotels or things to see in or around theses citys, I rented a car with Europcar and will be driving this whole stretch. Anyone have experience with Europacar is there something i should know or be concerned with?

Also i would also like to know about cell phones. if i bring an unlocked phone i should just buy a prepaid? what if i call the states? do you know what cell bands spain uses?

TIA for any help and advice you can give me
-Medic

[Drago]

Is this the best place to ask about the Canary Islands, or should I start a new thread?

[LAXtraveler]

Is this the best place to ask about the Canary Islands, or should I start a new thread?

I've been there. Very nice place.

[Drago]

I've been there. Very nice place.

Do all alliances fly there?
I'm thinking about using Avios to go from TLV to MAD, stopover, and then to the islands. The total one way cost would be 20k BA + $90 or so, assuming availability. But going back, I wouldn't mind flying a different alliance so I can stopover somewhere else?
Also, do you recommend any hotels?

[LAXtraveler]

Do all alliances fly there?
I'm thinking about using Avios to go from TLV to MAD, stopover, and then to the islands. The total one way cost would be 20k BA + $90 or so, assuming availability. But going back, I wouldn't mind flying a different alliance so I can stopover somewhere else?
Also, do you recommend any hotels?

I flew Spanair which was *A, but no longer exists. Not sure what else flies there. I can't remember the name of where we stayed, but it was not part of any major chain.

[Drago]

I flew Spanair which was *A, but no longer exists. Not sure what else flies there. I can't remember the name of where we stayed, but it was not part of any major chain.

a/t special there, or just nice beaches?
also, is it a series of islands, and if so, how do you travel btw them?

[LAXtraveler]

a/t special there, or just nice beaches?
also, is it a series of islands, and if so, how do you travel btw them?

Nice beaches and resorts. Very laid back atmosphere.

I was only on one island - Tenerife. There are other islands in the set. You can also look into Mallorca, which is another Spanish owned island.

[kivabb]

Anyone know the status of http://isamarkosher.com/ as far as reliability in Barcelona? Bringing food along but want to be prepared in case of emergency. I got their link from here: http://www.jabadbarcelona.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/1416707/jewish/Kosher-Food.htm

Thanks

[kivabb]

I have been looking for an opportunity to try to give back to this great site. My last 2-3 trips (Venice, Kauai, LA) were ideas that I literally copied from these forums. Not sure if this trip report will interest anyone but here we go:

My wife always had a fascination with Spain and Jewish history there, so that put this trip in the #1 slot.

Just to give a bit of background, I have BE”H 7 kids (ages 1-14) and it’s very difficult to make arrangements leaving them with family. So my choices are either to not travel for 20 years until they’re all out of the house or to take these 3-4 day escapades where I get a taste of the places I want to visit. In this case we left the 6 older ones at home and took the baby along. All babies are different, but in my experience under 1 year old is still tolerable.

Planning the flights: I planned this trip well over 6 months ago. At first I only considered Air Canada to avoid the 10% infant fee from Unites and US Air but I was having trouble finding availability for the non-stop United flight from EWR-Barcelona or the United flight from Madrid-EWR on businessFirst. TAP Portugal had availability in business but I didn’t know too much about them and their seats weren’t lie-flats like on United. To satisfy my curiosity, I picked up the phone with United and asked them how much would the infant fare be for that flight. I of course was optimistic that I would be able to eventually switch over to United when it opened up. They came back with a ridiculous quote of $750+ for the infant ticket. I pressed the agent that when I did it online, it was coming up for $300. He was man enough to override the system and get me the $300. Yes it’s not the $100-150 I would have had on Air Canada, but it gave me hope that I would get on the United flight.  Flying on a 4 day trip to Spain with a 12 month old, getting some sleep on the flight was critical.

The outbound flight to Barcelona: In the end, we never got onto the United flights. We flew EWR-LIS-BCN business on Tap and we were pleasantly surprised. We got our kosher meals (something with Badatz from Manchester ) and the seats and service were pretty good. The connection in Lisbon was a bit of a madhouse but considering we left the Sunday night before Sandy, we were glad we made it out and that we made our connection.

Hotel in Barcelona: Our first stop was Barcelona. We arrived at like 10 AM and took a taxi from the airport (28 Euro) to the Le Méridien Barcelona. It was 12K points for a standard room and for another 3K points I was able to plan a junior suite in advance. I only have gold status so it was worth knowing I would have the extra space before I arrived. I requested an upgrade on top of that at the hotel but no go. The room was nice but the location of the hotel which is located on La Rambla was even better. Our room wasn’t ready but we checked in and they held our luggage while we went sightseeing.

Activities Day 1: We took a taxi(13 Euro) to Park Guell (free)and walked around this beautiful park designed by Antoni Gaudí. We then went to Casa Milla (33 Euro entrance fee for 2) to see more. Really beautiful.
https://www.google.com/search?q=park+guell&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=IyOYUMa5AayM0QHcnYG4Cg&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1625&bih=899
https://www.google.com/search?q=casa+mila&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QCOYUNfJG4XD0QHF2oDIAQ&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1625&bih=899

Activities Day 2: We took a walking tour along the streets of the Old Jewish quarter from the Middle Ages. Although most of the buildings are from later times (17th century and over), Dominique helped us revisit our past. We saw the remains of the Middle Ages synagogue restored as a small Museum, run by a Jewish association. Here is Dominique’s link: http://www.urbancultours.com/Pages/eng/programs_tours.html
We enjoyed it very much. 

Flight to Madrid: For 4800 Avios each (baby was $30), we got 2 one way tickets on Iberia from Barcelona to Spain. No frills but did the trick.
Hotel in Madrid: Although most seem to stay in Downtown Madrid, I found a bit out of the way this Sheraton Madrid Mirasierra Hotel & Spa that for 10K (+1 for an upgrade), had a free airport shuttle, gave us a beautiful suite and had very reasonable prices on massages for my wife. I’m guessing the gold status gave me an additional upgrade but I wasn’t asking too many questions once we saw our room.

Activities Day 3: This was the highlight of our trip. We were picked up at the hotel by Salomon who drove us to Toledo and gave us a fascinating 3 hour walking tour of history and Jewish perspective. Awesome. He then drove us to Madrid and showed us the significant points of interest in Madrid. He then drove us back to the hotel. Solomon’s website is http://www.jewishtoledotour.com/

Flight from Madrid-Newark: On the return we stopped in Oportu which was much nicer, calmer than Lisbon. We also didn’t have to clear security again which was nice. Food from Stogels.

Food: We brought everything. I took Chabad numbers just in case but didn’t want to spend time shopping….I have a cooler that literally holds ice for well over 24 hours. All you need to do is add a new bag of ice in the hotel the next night and you’re set. It’s expensive, but does the trick.
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Bear-Coolers-Cooler-Black/dp/B000YB6QLM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1352150694&sr=8-3&keywords=polar+bear+cooler

Baby: Let us sleep 4-5 hours a night (that’s being generous) but behaved during our outings. Like I said, it’s either 20 year wait or roughing it a bit. I sent my wife for a massage the last night at the spa and hopefully she’ll continue letting me pull these things off  .

The two tours we took did make the average cost of the trip more than usual (the hotel was free and the airfare was $430 for the 3 of us). But in my opinion with the time we had, the perspective and history we were given we couldn’t have really done on our own.

[moish]

how much was the toledo tour?

[kivabb]

how much was the toledo tour?

325 Euro (plus 15 Euro in entrance fees to museums) for the day

[sky121]

I have been looking for an opportunity to try to give back to this great site. My last 2-3 trips (Venice, Kauai, LA) were ideas that I literally copied from these forums. Not sure if this trip report will interest anyone but here we go:

My wife always had a fascination with Spain and Jewish history there, so that put this trip in the #1 slot.

Just to give a bit of background, I have BE”H 7 kids (ages 1-14) and it’s very difficult to make arrangements leaving them with family. So my choices are either to not travel for 20 years until they’re all out of the house or to take these 3-4 day escapades where I get a taste of the places I want to visit. In this case we left the 6 older ones at home and took the baby along. All babies are different, but in my experience under 1 year old is still tolerable.

Planning the flights: I planned this trip well over 6 months ago. At first I only considered Air Canada to avoid the 10% infant fee from Unites and US Air but I was having trouble finding availability for the non-stop United flight from EWR-Barcelona or the United flight from Madrid-EWR on businessFirst. TAP Portugal had availability in business but I didn’t know too much about them and their seats weren’t lie-flats like on United. To satisfy my curiosity, I picked up the phone with United and asked them how much would the infant fare be for that flight. I of course was optimistic that I would be able to eventually switch over to United when it opened up. They came back with a ridiculous quote of $750+ for the infant ticket. I pressed the agent that when I did it online, it was coming up for $300. He was man enough to override the system and get me the $300. Yes it’s not the $100-150 I would have had on Air Canada, but it gave me hope that I would get on the United flight.  Flying on a 4 day trip to Spain with a 12 month old, getting some sleep on the flight was critical.

The outbound flight to Barcelona: In the end, we never got onto the United flights. We flew EWR-LIS-BCN business on Tap and we were pleasantly surprised. We got our kosher meals (something with Badatz from Manchester ) and the seats and service were pretty good. The connection in Lisbon was a bit of a madhouse but considering we left the Sunday night before Sandy, we were glad we made it out and that we made our connection.

Hotel in Barcelona: Our first stop was Barcelona. We arrived at like 10 AM and took a taxi from the airport (28 Euro) to the Le Méridien Barcelona. It was 12K points for a standard room and for another 3K points I was able to plan a junior suite in advance. I only have gold status so it was worth knowing I would have the extra space before I arrived. I requested an upgrade on top of that at the hotel but no go. The room was nice but the location of the hotel which is located on La Rambla was even better. Our room wasn’t ready but we checked in and they held our luggage while we went sightseeing.

Activities Day 1: We took a taxi(13 Euro) to Park Guell (free)and walked around this beautiful park designed by Antoni Gaudí. We then went to Casa Milla (33 Euro entrance fee for 2) to see more. Really beautiful.
https://www.google.com/search?q=park+guell&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=IyOYUMa5AayM0QHcnYG4Cg&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1625&bih=899
https://www.google.com/search?q=casa+mila&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QCOYUNfJG4XD0QHF2oDIAQ&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1625&bih=899

Activities Day 2: We took a walking tour along the streets of the Old Jewish quarter from the Middle Ages. Although most of the buildings are from later times (17th century and over), Dominique helped us revisit our past. We saw the remains of the Middle Ages synagogue restored as a small Museum, run by a Jewish association. Here is Dominique’s link: http://www.urbancultours.com/Pages/eng/programs_tours.html
We enjoyed it very much. 

Flight to Madrid: For 4800 Avios each (baby was $30), we got 2 one way tickets on Iberia from Barcelona to Spain. No frills but did the trick.
Hotel in Madrid: Although most seem to stay in Downtown Madrid, I found a bit out of the way this Sheraton Madrid Mirasierra Hotel & Spa that for 10K (+1 for an upgrade), had a free airport shuttle, gave us a beautiful suite and had very reasonable prices on massages for my wife. I’m guessing the gold status gave me an additional upgrade but I wasn’t asking too many questions once we saw our room.

Activities Day 3: This was the highlight of our trip. We were picked up at the hotel by Salomon who drove us to Toledo and gave us a fascinating 3 hour walking tour of history and Jewish perspective. Awesome. He then drove us to Madrid and showed us the significant points of interest in Madrid. He then drove us back to the hotel. Solomon’s website is http://www.jewishtoledotour.com/

Flight from Madrid-Newark: On the return we stopped in Oportu which was much nicer, calmer than Lisbon. We also didn’t have to clear security again which was nice. Food from Stogels.

Food: We brought everything. I took Chabad numbers just in case but didn’t want to spend time shopping….I have a cooler that literally holds ice for well over 24 hours. All you need to do is add a new bag of ice in the hotel the next night and you’re set. It’s expensive, but does the trick.
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Bear-Coolers-Cooler-Black/dp/B000YB6QLM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1352150694&sr=8-3&keywords=polar+bear+cooler

Baby: Let us sleep 4-5 hours a night (that’s being generous) but behaved during our outings. Like I said, it’s either 20 year wait or roughing it a bit. I sent my wife for a massage the last night at the spa and hopefully she’ll continue letting me pull these things off  .

The two tours we took did make the average cost of the trip more than usual (the hotel was free and the airfare was $430 for the 3 of us). But in my opinion with the time we had, the perspective and history we were given we couldn’t have really done on our own.

What a nice trip report. Its great that you guys got to go! 3 days is def better than nothing!

[gunit770]

I have been looking for an opportunity to try to give back to this great site. My last 2-3 trips (Venice, Kauai, LA) were ideas that I literally copied from these forums. Not sure if this trip report will interest anyone but here we go:

My wife always had a fascination with Spain and Jewish history there, so that put this trip in the #1 slot.

Just to give a bit of background, I have BE”H 7 kids (ages 1-14) and it’s very difficult to make arrangements leaving them with family. So my choices are either to not travel for 20 years until they’re all out of the house or to take these 3-4 day escapades where I get a taste of the places I want to visit. In this case we left the 6 older ones at home and took the baby along. All babies are different, but in my experience under 1 year old is still tolerable.

Planning the flights: I planned this trip well over 6 months ago. At first I only considered Air Canada to avoid the 10% infant fee from Unites and US Air but I was having trouble finding availability for the non-stop United flight from EWR-Barcelona or the United flight from Madrid-EWR on businessFirst. TAP Portugal had availability in business but I didn’t know too much about them and their seats weren’t lie-flats like on United. To satisfy my curiosity, I picked up the phone with United and asked them how much would the infant fare be for that flight. I of course was optimistic that I would be able to eventually switch over to United when it opened up. They came back with a ridiculous quote of $750+ for the infant ticket. I pressed the agent that when I did it online, it was coming up for $300. He was man enough to override the system and get me the $300. Yes it’s not the $100-150 I would have had on Air Canada, but it gave me hope that I would get on the United flight.  Flying on a 4 day trip to Spain with a 12 month old, getting some sleep on the flight was critical.

The outbound flight to Barcelona: In the end, we never got onto the United flights. We flew EWR-LIS-BCN business on Tap and we were pleasantly surprised. We got our kosher meals (something with Badatz from Manchester ) and the seats and service were pretty good. The connection in Lisbon was a bit of a madhouse but considering we left the Sunday night before Sandy, we were glad we made it out and that we made our connection.

Hotel in Barcelona: Our first stop was Barcelona. We arrived at like 10 AM and took a taxi from the airport (28 Euro) to the Le Méridien Barcelona. It was 12K points for a standard room and for another 3K points I was able to plan a junior suite in advance. I only have gold status so it was worth knowing I would have the extra space before I arrived. I requested an upgrade on top of that at the hotel but no go. The room was nice but the location of the hotel which is located on La Rambla was even better. Our room wasn’t ready but we checked in and they held our luggage while we went sightseeing.

Activities Day 1: We took a taxi(13 Euro) to Park Guell (free)and walked around this beautiful park designed by Antoni Gaudí. We then went to Casa Milla (33 Euro entrance fee for 2) to see more. Really beautiful.
https://www.google.com/search?q=park+guell&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=IyOYUMa5AayM0QHcnYG4Cg&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1625&bih=899
https://www.google.com/search?q=casa+mila&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QCOYUNfJG4XD0QHF2oDIAQ&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1625&bih=899

Activities Day 2: We took a walking tour along the streets of the Old Jewish quarter from the Middle Ages. Although most of the buildings are from later times (17th century and over), Dominique helped us revisit our past. We saw the remains of the Middle Ages synagogue restored as a small Museum, run by a Jewish association. Here is Dominique’s link: http://www.urbancultours.com/Pages/eng/programs_tours.html
We enjoyed it very much. 

Flight to Madrid: For 4800 Avios each (baby was $30), we got 2 one way tickets on Iberia from Barcelona to Spain. No frills but did the trick.
Hotel in Madrid: Although most seem to stay in Downtown Madrid, I found a bit out of the way this Sheraton Madrid Mirasierra Hotel & Spa that for 10K (+1 for an upgrade), had a free airport shuttle, gave us a beautiful suite and had very reasonable prices on massages for my wife. I’m guessing the gold status gave me an additional upgrade but I wasn’t asking too many questions once we saw our room.

Activities Day 3: This was the highlight of our trip. We were picked up at the hotel by Salomon who drove us to Toledo and gave us a fascinating 3 hour walking tour of history and Jewish perspective. Awesome. He then drove us to Madrid and showed us the significant points of interest in Madrid. He then drove us back to the hotel. Solomon’s website is http://www.jewishtoledotour.com/

Flight from Madrid-Newark: On the return we stopped in Oportu which was much nicer, calmer than Lisbon. We also didn’t have to clear security again which was nice. Food from Stogels.

Food: We brought everything. I took Chabad numbers just in case but didn’t want to spend time shopping….I have a cooler that literally holds ice for well over 24 hours. All you need to do is add a new bag of ice in the hotel the next night and you’re set. It’s expensive, but does the trick.
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Bear-Coolers-Cooler-Black/dp/B000YB6QLM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1352150694&sr=8-3&keywords=polar+bear+cooler

Baby: Let us sleep 4-5 hours a night (that’s being generous) but behaved during our outings. Like I said, it’s either 20 year wait or roughing it a bit. I sent my wife for a massage the last night at the spa and hopefully she’ll continue letting me pull these things off  .

The two tours we took did make the average cost of the trip more than usual (the hotel was free and the airfare was $430 for the 3 of us). But in my opinion with the time we had, the perspective and history we were given we couldn’t have really done on our own.

Awesome Trip report! I'm going to BCN for winter break and have the Le meridian reserved for cash & points (4,500+90). DO you think its worth it for the upgrade to the junior suite for 14,500? They also have the prestige suite for 24,000 but I think thats a little over the top, opinions please...

[txtmax4]

we got 2 one way tickets on Iberia from Barcelona to Spain.

Great post regardless

[Ergel]

Can people please stop quoting the entire post

[kivabb]

Awesome Trip report! I'm going to BCN for winter break and have the Le meridian reserved for cash & points (4,500+90). DO you think its worth it for the upgrade to the junior suite for 14,500? They also have the prestige suite for 24,000 but I think thats a little over the top, opinions please...

The junior suite gave us a couch and some extra room with the crib although we didn't spend too much time in the room. Bathroom was really cool too but I didn't see a regular room to know what to compare it to. For me it was a no brainer going from 12K to 15K.