another great trip

 I love Santander and Valencia.  Great people and food to die for.

We´ve been told that Valencia is dreadfully expensive. Did you find it so?

Irene

 I found it no different than the rest of Spain.  My trip to Spain was the cheapest part of my vacation.  Forget Italy and greece.  A big rip off.  This was my fourth time to Spain. In my opinion forget San Sebastian go to Santander. Same great food and beaches but in a friendlier environment. I say the same for Valencia. I will never go back to Barcelona.  I found Valencia much safer.  From what I saw alot less pick pocketers and shady people.

We've (for some odd reason) never been to either of those places.  Now that the weather is cooling a little we are planning on visiting Valencia next month.  Everyone that I know that has been there has loved it.

I know what you mean about Barcelona but every time we've been there we've loved.  It is a great city.

Justin

 Irene, we have been to Valencia several times and haven't found it expensive - and we are budget-conscious pensionistas too!  Like anywhere, you need to look around as the obvious tourist places have tourist prices, but to be honest Valencia seems to have less foreign tourists than other Spanish cities we've visited.  It's a lot cheaper than Barcelona, for a start, and we definitely recommend a visit.  Having said that, I agree with Justin that Barcelona is a great city - and if you have never been there it is worth a visit.  Just watch out for pickpockets and, if eating out on a budget, stick to the side streets rather than Las Ramblas and the sea front!

Santander is on our list of places that we would like to visit.  San Sebastian is very pretty but we found it expensive and we much preferred Bilbao when we stayed in both places several years ago.

Sue

 My son and four friends have just returned from a couple of weeks in Barcelona - and after all  of my warnings about how it is different from the Spain he is used to in Almeria, he absolutely loved it, and had no problems whatsoever.  He did not think it was over priced generally, though he said to see all of the Gaudi stuff is expensive but fantastic.   But NO criticisms at all from the young folk- so I think we might go back and have a break there.   We tend to prefer Madrid, so may be a bit down on the Catalan capital!!