BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Spanish Culture Paradors

What do you think of Paradors?

Which ones have you stayed in and did they live up to your expectations?

From modern to rambling ancient castles and beach-front to natural parks I'd love to hear your tales about your Parador visit.

Rachel

I�ve just visited the modern parador in Nerja, I prefer the historical buildings myself but the odd modern hotel on the seafront who can turn down?

See Paradors in Andalucia for some more of these great Spanish hotels.

Sounds interesting!

We stayed at this one in Santiago de Compostela
Hotel Hostal dos Reis Catolicos
It was gorgeous, historic, and the service was lovely.

We also stayed at the monastery next door. It was excellent and very historic as well.

Hi Angie,

I�m so jealous, that parador is near the top of my list to visit. With over 90 to see the choices are tough but Santiago....

Everyone I know fell in love with it, even the Spanish.

Rachel

There was a photo of the plaza at Santiago in our newspaper. When the pope visited there, it appeared that a building had been constructed to provide covering during the Mass.

Was that a temporary building or permanent?

Hi Angie,

Having not seen the photo I don�t know. All the photos I�ve seen have a huge open air plaza, so my guess is that it was temporary.

The weather up there tends to be wet!

I�ve not been yet but want to very much, maybe to escape the Andulcian summer next year we�ll head up north to greener and cooler climes.

Rachel

Northern Spain was gorgeous - We thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

At the risk of asking a 'dumb question' (scream of horror), What IS a Parador?

Hi Anne,

A Parador is a state-un hotel. The first ones started in the 1930s now there are over a hundred.

Some are beautiful old monuments, palacas, monasteries etc. There are also some new and pretty boring ones, but all offer the same standard.

I love the idea of your Spanish learning method. I learnt by becoming inmersed in the culture but I know many people who live here and are struggling to learn Spanish mainly because they live in isolated areas and don�t really get the opportunity to hear it and use it.

I have an English/Spanish group to help both parties learn the other language and I�ll tell them about your method.

Rachel