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What the trip actually costs, and when
Two things determine the cost of travelling in Spain and neither is the one visitors expect. The first is the calendar and the second is the direction. The calendar matters more than the destination. Spain's tourist economy runs on temporada alta and temporada baja, and the gap between them is large: the same coastal room can triple between May and August, and the AVE fares Alex met in lesson 54 behave the same way. August is the worst month in every sense — it is the month Spaniards themselves take off, so the coast is full, the cities are hot and half the small businesses in Madrid are shut with a handwritten sign on the door. Sofía's advice is the local advice: if you can travel in June, September or October, you are paying low-season prices for high-season weather. The direction matters because the north is dearer and does not feel like it. The Basque Country, Navarre and much of Cantabria have higher prices than Andalusia for food and lodging, partly because incomes are higher and partly because their tourism is domestic and year-round rather than seasonal and foreign. What Sofía means by el gasto se reparte is that in the north you spend steadily on good food and short distances, while in the south you spend on transport and then very little — a menú del día in a Seville side street is still one of the better value meals in Europe. One number worth carrying, because it explains the rest. The menú del día — a set lunch with two courses, bread, a drink and often dessert — is a legal and cultural institution dating from the 1960s, and it remains the cheapest way to eat properly in Spain. Prices vary by region and have risen sharply in recent years, but a working-district menú is still far below what the same food costs à la carte at night. Eat your main meal at two o'clock like everyone else and the budget looks entirely different.