Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Reus, Spain: a fantastic home swap in an amazing city

Our home swap coincided with a big festival in Reus

Reus, Catalonia, Spain: a fantastic home swap in an amazing city! "We have just returned from such a memorable home swap holiday in Reus. It’s such a gorgeous place, it’s everything that a Spanish city should be, but smaller friendlier and delightfully unspoiled. Matthew’s apartment is positioned perfectly for everything this town has to offer, there are literally cafes restaurants and bars within steps of the door, but the layout of the interior of the apartment means that the bedroom is restful. Matthew deserves a special mention as he is such a great host, and nothing is too much trouble for him. Public transport is easy and cheap, we enjoyed trips to the coast and Tarragona. We didn’t realise that our time there coincided with a big festival, so we were right in the thick of the action, human towers, fireworks runners and colourful parades with dozens of marching bands, dancers and the giant figures carried by teams of people. Reus is the centre of excellence for Vertmut production and we quickly got into the habit of sitting in the square with a vermouth, olives and crisps for some pre dinner people watching. We absolutely loved our time there!" - Dawn & Peter (Chester, UK)

Our home swap highlights: Festival fever in Reus Vermouth O’clock (plus olives and crisps!) Matthew the super home swap host

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Photos from Dawn and Peter's holiday in Reus

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Home Base Holidays members' offers:

Reus, Catalonia, Spain (HE41334) Matthew has a stylish apartment in right in the centre of the attractive city of Reus (close by Barcelona). View Home Base Holidays offer	Chester, England (HE41833) Dawn and Peter have a beautiful top floor apartment in Chester, just two minutes walk to the Roman Walls. View Home Base Holidays offer

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Home Base Holidays: join for free and start home swapping Sign up to Home Base Holidays two-week free trial or select a full membership (6-month membership is just £29 and 1-year at £49). Home swap guarantee: second year free if you do not arrange a swap during your membership.

Winning photo: home swap travel photo competition

Christine's winning photo from her family's home swap in the Lake District

A BIG thank you to everyone that sent in their photos to our home swap photography competition. We received over 200 photos making it extremely hard to select a winner.

The photos received included everything from fun holiday selfies, lovely photos of off-the-tourist trail discoveries, as well as several photos from professional travel photographers. However, we loved Graham & Christine's winning photo (above) which was taken during her family's home swap in the English Lake District. As the winner, Graham & Christine will receive an Amazon Kindle plus a one-year Home Base Holidays membership.

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"This photo was taken during one of our favourite home swap holidays. Here we are climbing a mountain in the beautiful Lake District... it was our second attempt as the first day we drank all our water mid morning and a dog ate our lunch!" 

- Christine (London, England)

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Meet the member:    Graham and Christine live in a lovely family home in Crouch End in North London with their two children. View Graham and Christine's home swap offer in London

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Competition runner up photos:

Shown below are the three runner up photos, each runner up receiving a one-year Home Base Holidays home swap membership (worth £49 each). As mentioned, we received so many excellent photos - we will share some more of these home swap experiences in a separate blog post. 

"Hi HBH team! We had an amazing house swap holiday with Nick and Jane on Vancouver Island last summer and also enjoyed a great swap this summer with Ben and Elisa in Capbreton, France. This photo was from our swap on Vancouver Island." View Tilly & Olly's home exchange offer in Somerset

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"This is from our excellent home swap in Warwickshire earlier in the year. We visited the National Trust property Coughton Court, where Paul was very pleased to be able to use the National Trust’s buggy to help explore the estate." View Paul & Jean's home Exchange offer in Snowdonia

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"We had a fantastic home swap experience with a family in San Sebastian, Spain. They, in turn, stayed at our apartment in Lisbon, Portugal and a wonderful time was had by both parties. Thank you to the home swap team for making sure people make good memories in a caring and supportive environment!" View Alex & Ellis's home exchange offer in Lisbon

We enjoyed a perfect home swap in Fowey, Cornwall

Fowey, Cornwall: perfect home exchange walking the beautiful coastal paths

Fowey, Cornwall: fisherman's cottage, coastal paths and boat trips "We had the perfect home swap holiday in Fowey exploring Cornwall's beautiful coastal paths. We stayed at Michele and John's lovely fisherman's cottage, which was in an ideal location in the prettiest part of the village. Fowey is such a cute and pretty village, we really enjoy exploring the quaint old alleyways on evening strolls. We had the choice of eating at the Crab Shack or North St Kitchen, which were both just yards from the cottage, or taking our own meals out to the tables overlooking the pretty harbour each evening, whish is literally just outside the front door! In fact, there were so many excellent places to eat and drink in Fowey, I think we managed to cover most of them, plus the walks to the pubs in Polkerris and Golant prompted by Michele's great suggestions. On one day during the exchange we hired a motorboat which was such a nice and relaxing way to explore the estuary. Further afield we caught the buses to Polperro and Mavagissy to enjoy more of the coastal path. In fact, we left our car untouched during the whole stay, leaving it in the handy Caffa Mill carpark (just £15/wk). Thanks again Michele and John for such a great home exchange in your beautiful cottage." - Rick & Jen (Yorkshire Dales, UK)

Our home swap highlights: Lovely cottage in gorgeous location Exploring the estuary on a hired motorboat Wandering the old alleyways in the evenings

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Photos from our holiday in Fowey, Cornwall

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Home Base Holidays members' offers:

Yorkshire Dales, England (HE39785) Detached stone farmhouse in quiet location at end of cobbled drive just off the main square in Grassington. View Home Base Holidays offer	Fowey, Cornwall, England (HE39531) Former fisherman's cottage just steps from Fowey harbour - take your morning cuppa across the street and watch the boats sail past. View Home Base Holidays offer

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Home Base Holidays: join for free and start home swapping Sign up to Home Base Holidays two-week free trial or select a full membership (6-month membership is just £29 and 1-year at £49). Home swap guarantee: second year free if you do not arrange a swap during your membership.