Andalucia

My partner lived in Spain before it was a democracy and we have visited many areas of this amazing country. One of my favourite rural destinations in Spain is the Alpujarra, the name given to a range of hill villages located between the Costa del Sol and the ancient city of Granada. These villages are on the southern side of the Sierra Nevada with deep, sheltered valleys and gorges running towards the Mediterranean.

My favourite village for a visit to the region is Capileira, situated at the top of the valley, but really this is best for a day trip. To find a good base for your stay in this region think about hotels in Granada, Orgiva or Lanjaron.

The great thing about this destination is that you can choose cheap last minute flights to the main tourist airports like Malaga, hire a car and get a great price on a last minute hotel room in Andalucia.

At the other end of the spectrum is a stay in bustling Barcelona. This is a 24 hour destination and we stayed in an excellent Barcelona city centre hotel close to the Ramblas, where we could walk to most of the bars and clubs easily. We booked the hotel online, pretty much at the last minute, and it cost under 100 Euros a night. You can get organised, of course, if you have time to browse the hotels. There are some excellent hotels in Barcelona including, of course, the famous Claris Hotel - if you check out this booking site you can get a suite at this iconic hotel for 200 Euros instead of the regular price of 500+ Euros - a snip!