To keep Escapas free and independent, my business model relies on affiliate marketing. What is affiliate marketing? Let me explain!
If my articles have helped you plan your trip, you can use the links below (or the ones in my articles) to book your accommodation, rental cars, and activities. The price is exactly the same for you, but the platform pays me a small commission. It’s a direct and transparent way to support the blog.
These are the tools I actually use myself to explore Spain (and beyond).
Find accommodation
Booking.com : The platform I use almost every time to compare and book hotels and apartments in Spain and abroad.
Note: I use Stay22 technology. Basically, it’s a small tool that automatically turns my regular booking links into affiliate links, pretty handy!)
Book activities
- Manawa : My absolute go-to for outdoor activities (hiking, kayaking, paragliding…). I love working with them because the team behind it is genuinely lovely too.
- Civitatis : Excellent platform, particularly well established in Spain (their offices are in Madrid), for guided tours and activities often available in English.
- GetYourGuide : Very handy for booking skip-the-line tickets or tours with great cancellation flexibility. (Also via Stay22 for them).
- Tiqets : Another booking platform focused mainly on entrance tickets.
Getting around
- DiscoverCars : The comparison tool I use for car hire. Very effective for finding the best local rates.
- Yescapa : Do you like van life? It’s the Airbnb equivalent for renting camper vans and converted vans between private owners. Perfect for a Spanish road trip. I tried it in Galicia and it was incredible!
- SNCF Connect : For train journeys, whether crossing the border or travelling around Europe.
- Ferryhopper : The essential tool if you’re planning to travel between the Canary Islands or the Balearics. Clean interface and direct booking.
Affiliate transparency: a few examples
To give you a concrete example: I work a lot with Manawa for outdoor activities, especially in Tenerife (where I live). On several occasions I’ve had the chance to try out a boat trip (as well as surfing, kayaking, etc.) through them, so I could then share my experience on the blog and social media. When I share that experience, I pass on my Manawa affiliate link. And if you decide to give it a try, I earn a small commission.
What this means: I’m not paid to talk about it, and I have no obligation to do so if I didn’t enjoy it. But if I love it and recommend it to you, I’m rewarded in the long run through the affiliate scheme.
In this example, Manawa invites me, but most of the time I pay out of my own pocket. To give you an idea, my last trip to Fuerteventura for the blog cost me around €1,200 — my own money (but happily, it’s an investment!). After that trip, I share the hotels I liked and stayed in through my affiliate links.
For me, it’s the ideal system: it lets me keep 100% independence over what I share, while having a sustainable business model.
What about traditional advertising?
You may have noticed there’s also some advertising on the blog. I’ve chosen to keep it as unobtrusive as possible (you’ll only see it at the bottom of articles or in the sidebar — no big pop-ups jumping out at you!).
To be fully transparent, every view of those ad banners earns me a few cents. Honestly, I earn very little from this, but added up over a year it helps me cover part of the technical costs of the site (such as hosting or the domain name). Thank you to those who don’t use an ad blocker on Escapas — it’s also a small but appreciated gesture!
100% free support (that means a lot!)
What if you’re not planning to book a trip right now? There’s another way, just as valuable, to help me… 😇 and this one is truly free (it doesn’t even involve getting your card out for a booking, hehe!): interacting with my content.
- Read and share : Sending an article to a friend planning their holidays, or sharing it on your social media, gives the blog huge visibility.
- Comment : A short comment at the bottom of an article or on an Instagram post makes a real difference. It signals to the algorithms that the content is valuable, but above all it recreates that human connection which is the very essence of this blog. Knowing that my tips are useful to you is my greatest reward!
