Spain:

We just returned from an amazing eight day trip to Spain!  We saw so many fascinating places, ate great food and enjoyed the Spanish culture.  We went to Europe almost seven years ago and since then have vacationed mainly in the Caribbean.  We decided it was time to go back to Europe and Spain was a country we hadn’t visited before.

How many miles/points:

60,000 Delta Airline Skymiles per person + $52 tax

$249 for the condo on the Mediterranean Sea

$150 Travelocity Incentive certificate for the Barcelona hotel

Flight:

I booked our flight in October using 60,000 Skymiles per person plus $52 tax (a $1,200 value per person). This is really a great deal to Europe!  Earlier this year the Delta Skymile AMEX card was running a 70,000 Skymile promotion that my wife and I took advantage of.  It really doesn’t matter what city in Europe you fly to because you can get virtually anywhere else using one of Europe’s low fare airlines like RyanAir or Vueling. 

Hotel:

We purchased a $249 resort week in September that could be used at over 2,000 resorts worldwide.  We booked a one bedroom condo at the Club Novelty across the street from the beach in Salou, Spain.  We had the condo reserved for an entire week, but we decided to only stay four nights. 

In Barcelona we used a $150 Travelocity Incentive certificate to book two nights at Hotel Gran Ducant in the center of the city.  Ther certificate covered most of our hotel expenses, but we still paid a little out of pocket.  It was a fantastic hotel and about the same price as a hostel would have been.

How we did it:

There are so many advantages to traveling to Europe in the spring or fall.  The weather is still really nice and it’s not too hot like it would be in the summer.  Prices are more reasonable and flight and hotel deals are more available.  Fewer people travel in the spring and fall so tourist attractions aren’t as crowded.  The only disadvantage is some tourist attractions have shorter hours, but that doesn’t really matter because you are able to do and see more with the time saved avoiding long lines and crowds.

Planning:
Initially I wanted to spend half of our time in Madrid and the other half in Barcelona.  However, during the planning stages of our trip I decided this would be a vacation and not a whirlwind trip dashing from place to place trying to see too much in too little time.  We decided to spend the first half of our trip relaxing at a beach condo on the Meditation Sea and the other half surrounded by the culture and city life of Barcelona.