Spain--Sevilla, Rascafria and Marbella
 

We are going to Spain in July, and I have been checking out properties where we can potentially use points/miles. Three look promising. Has anyone ever stayed at any of the following:

Hotel Alfonso XIII in Sevilla (a Luxury Collection property, requires 10,000 Starwood points per night)

Hotel Santa Maria de el Paular , a Sheraton property, north of Madrid, in a 15th century monastery. Looks like could be a nice central place to stay while doing day trips to El Escorial, Segovia, Avila. It is only a Category 1, requiring only 3000 Starpoints a night, which looks to be a real bargain. Check out www.usplanb.com/rascafria.cfm


Marriott Vacation Club Marbella Beach Resort--haven't decided if we will go to the beach on the Andalusian coast yet, which we may do if we decide to go down to see Sevilla and Granada and possibly Jaen. Again, looks like a place where we can use some points to vacation. I could get 4 nights for 110,000 Marriott points. (I have signed up for their contests several times and expressed an interest in timeshares in Marbella, in hopes of being offered a cheap rate to sit through a time-share presentation, but no luck to date).

Any thoughts about any of the above would be appreciated, if anyone has any experience with any of them. Rudi or other world travelers??

There don't seem to be too many other opportunities. Marriott has little else, Hilton has 2 in Barcelona (which we are not going to visit this trip), and don't have many Hyatt points left, having just used them recently.

We always trade timeshares for condominiums on the Gibraltar Straits so I don't know about hotels, but I do know that to miss Granada and the Alhambra would be a sad thing indeed. It might be a good idea to spend a night up at the Alhambra because they only issue a very limited number of tickets per day and frequently run out fairly early in the morning.

Oh you are so lucky, I can't wait to go back next fall.

sorry - no tiene personal experiencas en este locaciones.

Punki--have you stayed at the parador at the Alhambra? We are considering staying there for a day or two. It is right in the Alhambra, and allows one to walk around the grounds all day and night. I have been told that we should definitely stay there if going to Granada.

Djlawman

No, Djlawman, I have not, but I certainly wish I had. The Alhambra is such a fabulous experience, and I know Joe and the kids are dying to go back and spend more time soaking up all that history. The last time we were there we had our former exchange student and his sister, who is an architectual student at the University in Granada, as personal guides to the cathedral, The Alhambra and all of the truly amazing tapas bars. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The other experience which I thought was amazing, was visiting Palma on the island of Mallorca (Rudi's old stomping grounds). It is pretty awe inspiring to be in a building that was 300 years old before Columbus sailed for the Americas, and still be in short walking distance of an internet cafe.

You can use your Marriott Rewards points at the Marriott Palma de Mallorca, the Marriott Marbella resort and at the Ritz Carllton in Barcelona.