Holiday in Spain search

You can search for a holiday property in Spain in many different ways - after all, different people have different starting points for the kind of holiday and holiday property in Spain they want. All searches that return more than 10 holiday properties give you the opportunity to refine your holiday search. All the searches can either be carried out directly from the home page or have links to them from the home page. Starting with the most specific searches, here are the possibilities:

1. Search by Property Reference

If you know the holiday property reference of the property you’re interested in, you can enter it directly and go straight to that property.

2. Advanced Search

This is for people who have a good idea of what they are looking for and when they want to go. In addition to dates, it allows you to search on criteria such as swimming pool, setting, suitability, local activities, price, number in party, location etc. Examples:
house + pool + Cataluna + Costa Brava
apartment + pool + Malaga + Costa del Sol

3. Search by Place

The database of places includes the names of towns and villages, areas and provinces and the names of the holiday properties themselves.

4. Search by Region or Costa

If you know where you want to go, use this search. You can select the region (the 17 autonomous communities of Spain) or the coastline, either from the drop down menus or by hovering your mouse over the map (or the Costa) and clicking when you find the one you want.

5. Search by Airport

This search is useful for people who have either already booked their travel or who know where they’re going to fly to and don’t want to have to drive very far at the other end. The search will generate all those properties which fall within a 50km radius of or under an hour’s drive from the point of arrival you specify (from the drop down menu).

6. Search Ideas

This search is good for people who haven’t got a fixed idea about the location, but who have another criterion which is important to them. It enables you to view the properties (by province and region) which are: in the city; in the country; in the mountains; on the beach; have golf nearby; have horse riding nearby; have skiing nearby; are suitable for kids; are wheelchair accessible; have a swimming pool; have a garden or patio.

7. Search Questionnaire

If you don’t know Spain very well, but do know the sort of things you like doing on holiday, this questionnaire will make some suggestions about the areas you could look in. For example if you’re interested in wine and like exploring up and coming, relatively unknown wine-producing areas, then the questionnaire results will point you in the right direction.

And finally if you’re simply open to ideas and looking for inspiration, have a browse through the Colours of Spain Travel Guide section. You can access this either by region or by topic.

How to use the Travel Guides

The Travel Guides have been written by people who live and work in each of the regions and therefore have an “insider’s” view of what there is on offer and the best way to go about enjoying this offer. This section is being constantly expanded, but you can check what guides are available by ticking the boxes (either by region or by topic) from the main Travel Guide page. Unlike most travel guides, which are aimed at tourists staying in hotels, this guide is aimed specifically at holidaymakers who are “residential tourists” ie are staying in a self-catering home. Additionally its modular approach allows you to pick and choose according to the region you’re staying in and what topics are of interest to you. You can add the “local guide” written by the owner of the property you’re renting, which provides their own recommendations for the top 3 places to eat, the top 3 places to visit and the top 3 things to do or see. Once you’ve made your selections, you can save it to a printable format which automatically generates a contents page and sequentially numbers the pages. You can even send it to a friend with your own message!

How to contact the property owner

When you click on “Contact Owner” from the property details page you will see how the owner wants to be contacted, eg by email, phone etc and in which languages. In most cases the owner is either English or is a Spaniard who speaks English. If the owner doesn’t speak English, you should first check to see whether you share another common language with the owner. Maybe you both speak French? If so, you can fill in the email contact form in French or speak French on the phone. However if you don’t share a common language, you can still contact them by using the bilingual (English/Spanish) phrasebook. This is a series of pre-set phrases and questions which allow you to choose what you want to say in English and it will automatically be displayed in the email in both languages. The property owner will use the same facility to reply. If you can't find what you want to say, please contact us and we will be happy to help out, by adding your request to the phrasebook.

Phoning internationally

To phone a number in Spain from the UK, dial 00 (international access), followed by all the numbers after the + sign in the contact details.

Availability

You should always double-check the availability of the property. We strongly advise owners to keep this updated, but we can’t check its accuracy.

How to complain

You should try to resolve the problem immediately with the property owner. This is the person who is best placed to sort out the problem on the spot and make sure you enjoy your time in his or her property. If you are still not satisfied, you should contact Colours of Spain with details of the problem. We are committed to providing the means for the holidaymaker to have a unique and enjoyable holiday experience and therefore investigate all the complaints we receive.