Spain/Portugl in JAN/FEB of 2005!

[dgmaso]

Hi all! I'm Dan from the U.S., and I am graduating from college in December, and planning a month backpacking trip through Spain/Portugal in January/February as a little break before I come back and start getting ready for med school. I'm planning to travel on eurail, with a very loose schedule, or none at all. I am hoping that because it will be the dead of winter, room in hostels and on trains will not be too hard to come by.
First of all, has anyone ever done winter in spain? Would like to get a general idea of how "dead" it really is, meaning, will I still be able to meet a fair amount of other backpackers? Also I have heard that in some areas near the southern coast, it stays quite warm through winter, is this true?

Secondly, just wanted to see if anyone else had similar travel plans? The whole reason I decided to travel alone is that I figure it will be a bit easier to meet people solo..so I thought I would go ahead and start my search early. Thanks!

I like this guy

[U2fan]

Hey there, welcome to the boards! I spent two months in Spain and Portugal this past summer so let me know if you have any questions or want any advice, though obviously I can't help you with what it will be like in the winter....and I don't know if you've bought a eurail ticket yet, but I would strongly advise against it if you're just staying in those two countries. The prices of train tickets are not that expensive so I wasted a ton of money on a eurail ticket and didn't get my money's worth. You will save a TON of money if you just do individual trips on trains or buses, which I found preferable about halfway through my trip because the trains were always booked (though maybe that would be less of a problem in the winter but the locals take trains a lot).....

Love,
Lauren

[byler]

I'm going to Spain the last weekend of February 2005 (and will be celebrating my 20th brithday!), because I'll be on spring break... I'm looking for some people to go with or meet up with so let me know if you'll still be there. My screen name on AIM is nicoleONU if you wanna chat!

Thanks,
Nicole

[U2fan]

Hey Byler, are you originally from Ohio? I am originally from the Dayton area and went to school at Miami. I went to ONU once a few years ago for a college mock trial tournament. We almost got stuck there there was so much snow and the roads were so bad!