Where We Stayed: Spain

Murcia area: InterContinental Hotel La Torre (http://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/hotels/gb/en/murcia/mjvtg/hoteldetail)
We spent a week at the golf and spa resort; after a 2 day drive from the Nice-Cannes area of France, it was a haven of peace and relaxtion. The hotel chain delivers to its high end reputation; lovely decor, very friendly staff (yes, they do speak English) and excellent value for money (check out their rates!). We opted to have breakfast at the hotel every day and it was well worth it. The lobby bar serves up great drinks and you can order up a meal there as well. The dining room is lovely and the food was very very good. We had the special paella dinner one evening and there were so many courses of large portions that we could hardly finish the actual paella, never mind the dessert! Outstanding value. We also did lunch on the restaurant's terrace and, that too, was very filling. The golf complex, in which the resort is located, also has several little eateries and we did sample a few during the week. Golfers might enjoy knowing you can have access to the 7 Jack Nicklaus designed golfcourses. This Intercontinental Hotel LaTorre is also a spa as well as the Intercontinental Hotel at the Mar Menor Resort.  (Update Sept 2015, sadly, this hotel has closed)

Valencia: Zenit Hotel (http://hotelzenitvalencia.zenithoteles.com)
This was a spur of the moment booking...we were leaving the Murcia area and decided we did not want our Spain vacation to end! We loved Spain and the people!! I did a quick search on the internet and found this hotel (free wi-fi and parking available for a reasonable fee). We've never been to Valencia, had no idea what we would find or what to expect. That aside, we booked the hotel online, made the drive up from Murcia on a fabulous new coastal highway to Valencia. Thank goodness for GPS, we were there 1-2-3. The hotel is "hip", very clean, comfy and quiet. The location cannot be beat: across from the main railway terminal, metro and buses across the street and a 5 minute walk to the central part of town and the food market. We used the bus to visit the Science Museum and the train to the beach (it was a fast ride!). I plan to make this my hotel on any visit to Valencia!

Barcelona: Catalonia Plaza Cataluna http://cataloniaplazacataluna.barcelonahotels.it/
Again another spur of the moment reservation enroute back to Nice. We booked the hotel because parking was available (underground garage). Upon arrival room was not ready and left our bags with front desk and proceeded to park our car in the garage (access right outside the hotel/reduced rate). The hotel is centrally located at the start of La Ramblas. Convenient to metro, walking tours, sights and neighborhoods of old town and gothic quarter. Perfect. We did not make use of the pool, bar or restaurant - there are so many choices in Barcelona. While the room was a bit "simple", it was clean, good value for money considering location and it was quiet! The room also had free wi-fi!