Traveling alone in Spain - how to meet other travelers, and how to book rooms and train/air tickets on the fly?

I'm married to a Spaniard and have lived and traveled all over Spain. There is some truth to the statement that things don't work in Spain - at least not the way Americans expect. Just roll with the punches and enjoy. Spaniards enjoy life fully and the food is wonderful, the night life is great and it's safe to walk the streets at night. I would buy an official hotel guide (available at any official tourist office). This book lists every lodging establishment in Spain and the prices they can charge, as well as amenities and phone numbers. If you can afford a night in a Parador, do so. If not, at least stop by one for a drink and some tapas. The Paradores are state-run hotels and most of them are housed in castles or other historic buildings. Spaniards appreciate anyone attempting to speak their language even if you don't conjugate your verbs and just use the infinitive all the time. To meet someone, just ask a question: Where is the closest bar with good tapas? Where is the subway entrance? Just about anything can be used as a way to start a conversation. Just be friendly.

When you are in Barcelona, find the bar Tres Flores, behind the post office. Look around for the owner Eric, and tell him Con sent you. He'll introduce you around.

I remember now that I stayed in the Hostal Helena in Madrid 2 years ago. The accommodations were more than adequate and it's centrally located on Gran Via.

Thank you SO much for all of the amazing information, everyone! I have not had time to thank you all individually or MeFiMail each of you, I'm sorrry - I wish I had asked this question sooner! I am leaving tomorrow and I'll be taking printouts of your answers with me to refer to. thanks again, you're the best.

The best thing to do is to buy a prepaid SIM card; they're pretty ubiquitous in Spain now, and they're an easy solution, since you can just throw them into the phone you've already got. http://www.220-electronics.com/simcards/spain.htm.

Do people actually have much success calling places? It seems like finding a phone to use nowadays is almost as hard as finding a place to stay. Or do you have cell phones that work locally?

And, is a Eurrail pass worth it? No. Repeat: no. Check the prices and you'll see; it's vastly overpriced. Unless you travel every moment of every day, or go from country to country, it's cheaper to buy tickets at the train station than get one of those godawful Eurrail passes. Airfares are rising in Europe now that the shock of deregulation is over. The most pleasant, cheapest overall, and most efficient way to get around Spain nowadays is the train system, Renfe, which is timely well-serviced, and goes almost anywhere you're likely to go, in addition to being very affordable. It's actually cheaper than taking a bus on most commuter routes, like routes to and from major cities and nearby. Going further-- say, from Madrid to Barcelona-- will cost more than it would on one of the many bus lines in country, but it'll still be affordable, and it'll be faster and a lot more pleasant. (Just for example, I see that the night train from Madrid to Barcelona is 38.10 EUR, or about $56. See what I mean about the Eurrail pass being a rip? Even if you go back and forth every day for three days, you'll spend less than that $200.) And one of the great things about Renfe is that they have http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html; peruse it, get used to it, and you'll soon be a pro at scoping out tickets and routes on the fly. If your departure or destination station isn't listed on the main page, pick a larger station that seems to be on the same line; there's probably a stop where you want to go, and if you click through, you can check. Also, without fail, I've found that the prices in the station are the same as the prices you can get for tickets over the internet; in other words, the train is great for on-the-fly planning. So, if I were you (and I wish I was) I'd plan on hitting internet cafes, which are common, and using the Renfe web site in conjunction with Google Maps, which has pretty great coverage in Spain, to find train stations and routes you can use. A few last words of advice from a lover of Spain: (1) Ten days is not very long. Resist the urge to see many things. Try to spend less time travelling and more time being in certain places; personally, I'd scrap trying to see more than two areas. Remember that travelling from Madrid to Barcelona will eat up at least seven hours; you can minimize the impact on your timing if you take night trains and sleep the whole way. It seems to work well for a lot of people to return to Madrid a day or two early, which leaves just enough time for the museums there and allows travellers to enjoy the last few moments in Spain. (2) HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal goes into the Spanish temperment above; I'll only add that, if you end up going to Barcelona, you'll find that Catalans are both very open and cosmopolitan people and that they're very helpful about helping non-native speakers, given that they're used to speakers of Castellano and other languages having trouble with Catalan. Note, by the way, that Spanish is called "Castellano" (cas-teh-YA-no) in Spain, because there are a number of other "Spanish" languages, like Catalan, Galician, and Basque. (3) You're very lucky. I wish I could go with you. Someday, I'll get back to Spain. There are many, many places I could recommend, and I haven't even seen a lot of Spain, but if I could go to just one place, just one place in Spain, it would be Navarra. The area north of Pamplona is, in my view, some of the most beautiful country in Spain, ancient, rolling hills; the people are quiet, intelligent, and noble; the land has much interesting history. If I could spend ten more days in Navarra, I'd be very happy. Enjoy. You can MefiMail me, if you like, with particular questions. Also, by the way, I recently posted http://ask.metafilter.com/74087/Girona-to-Barcelona-on-a-shoestring#1102435.

I wouldn't get the eurail pass. Buses are a great, cheap option for seeing the country, although perhaps a low-cost flight for Madrid-Barcelona. You can go from Madrid to Toledo on the Cercanias, which are the commuter trains around cities. There is also nice high speed trains with sleeper cars that go between Madrid and Granada and Madrid and Barcelona. Madrid probably has more great art than any other city in the world. The Prado, Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza are enough for several days worth of viewing. Take cmgonzalez's advice on the neighborhoods of Madrid. I think Madrid, Barcelona and Granada would give you a very good experience of their respective parts of the country. Those are the defining areas of Spain as well. The food in Spain is wonderful. Make sure you have tortilla española, churros con chocolate (not the kind ludwig_van mentioned, though it would be good), gazpacho, queso manchego and as many tapas as you can handle. If you cannot get a great cup of coffee and mouth-watering pastry for breakfast in the morning, you have a serious problem. In Granada please don't eat the meals provided by the hostel. It's one of the few cities where every beer you order is still accompanied by a tapa in the traditional style. The beers are little cañas that are cheap and not too filling. Order enough and you have dinner. I believe they stop handing out the tapas around 8 p.m. which is two or three hours before dinner starts in Spain, especially in Andalucia. As far as booking accommodation goes, a few phone calls when you arrive in a town or the night before should set you up nicely. Take a guidebook or look online before you go for a list of those to call. In Granada you might, just maybe, be able to find an older, motherly woman renting out a room. Pay for a hostel in Madrid and look up conifer's friend in Barcelona and you're set. Spaniards that don't speak English usually do know the language but are mortified of speaking it to a native speaker. They are not being haughty. For the most part they are very friendly and open people especially away from the actual tourist attractions. (Speaking of which, the gypsies around the Alhambra are a nuisance. Don't accept anything from them and otherwise steer clear as much as possible.) For a quirky point of view and some photos in need of rotation, check out the blog of my former roommate in Madrid who was living in Barcelona this summer. http://bcnhostia.blogspot.com/2007_07_15_archive.html He does a comparison of Madrid and Barcelona that might be elucidating. MefiMail me for more info is you want. You'll have a great time.

The cheapest and best way to get around to all the nooks and crannies of Spain is by bus. Madrid has several bus stations, most notably Moncloa, Avenida de America, and Plaza de Castilla. Pick the closest one to where you are and see where you can go from there. Train is obviously quicker and sexier but more expensive. Trains also do not go to many places that the bus will take you. El Valle de los Caídos is a prime example. I would skip the Eurail pass if I were you and even skip trains altogether.