Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SEASONS
Prices throughout this guidebook are high-season maximums. You may be pleas-
antly surprised if you travel at other times. What constitutes low or high season de-
pends on where and when. Most of the year is high season in Barcelona or Madrid,
especially during trade fairs that you're unlikely to be aware of. August can be dead
in the cities. Winter is high season in the Pyrenees and low season in the coastal is-
lands (indeed, the islands seem to shut down between November and Easter).
Weekends are high season for boutique hotels and
casas rurales,
but low season
for business hotels (which often offer generous specials then) in Madrid and Bar-
celona.
PRACTICALITIES
•
»
Currency
: euro
•
»
Weights & Measures
: metric
•
»
Electric Current
: 220V, 50Hz
•
»
Plugs
: European-style, two-pin
•
»
Major newspapers
: centre-left
El País
(
www.elpais.com
in Spanish), centre-right
El
Mundo
(
www.elmundo.es
in Spanish), right-wing
ABC
(
www.abc.es
in Spanish). The
widely available
International Herald Tribune
includes an eight-page supplement of art-
icles from
El País
translated into English (
www.elpais.com/misc/herald/herald.pdf
).
•
»
Radio
: Radio Nacional de España (RNE)'s Radio 1, with general interest and current
affairs programs; Radio 5, with sport and entertainment; and Radio 3 ('Radio d'Espop').
Stations covering current affairs include the left-leaning Cadena Ser, or the right-wing
COPE. The most popular commercial pop and rock stations are 40 Principales, Kiss FM;
Cadena 100 and Onda Cero.
•
»
TV
: Spain's state-run Televisión Española (TVE1 and La 2) or the independent com-
mercial stations (Antena 3, Tele 5, Cuatro and La Sexta). Regional governments run local
stations, such as Madrid's Telemadrid, Catalonia's TV-3 and Canal 33 (both in Catalan),
Galicia's TVG, the Basque Country's ETB-1 and ETB-2, Valencia's Canal 9 and An-
dalucía's Canal Sur. Cable and satellite TV is becoming widespread.
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