Dates of trips: June 20th-27th, 2015
October 8th then 13th-15th, 2023
Spain was only my second big Europe Trip (back when I only took one per year and had to rent a portable WiFi device -gasp). We chose Madrid and Barcelona based on a coworker’s advice and ease of direct flights from Atlanta. It was my first trip to a Spanish speaking country and the first time I struggled with a slight language barrier. It was uncomfortable in a beautiful way. Steve and I returned in 2023 as a bookend to our Madeira trip. I felt like an expert and was able to show him around like an old pro.
In this blog post I’ll be highlighting my favorites in each city. My first trip we crawled over every inch of the city and the second with limited time, we hit just the highlights.
Here are a few sites that I used to orient myself to the neighborhoods in Barcelona and Madrid. Wherever I travel, I love researching neighborhoods, and I’ve found official tourism pages to be particularly helpful. Here are a few of my go-to sites for planning your visit
https://www.esmadrid.com/en/madrid-neighbourhoods
Barcelona:
Barcelona was my favorite by far. The weather was breezy, people were friendly and there was so much to do. Highlights were the food, the beaches, the architecture and just wandering the neighborhoods and parks.
🔹Airport basics: The 2015 visit we used AeroBus transport from the airport and I’d recommend them. in 2023, we attempted to use uber but there are restrictions and we had to wait almost an hour (there is a mandatory 30 minute wait for uber). So if you do a ride share, use the Cabify app or similar. On the flight out, note that there is a long immigration line to depart so plan your time accordingly.
🔹Getting around: we walked mostly everywhere but the metro was very easy, safe and convenient when we did use it. We did not need ride-share after the airport.
🔹Accommodation: I’d recommend the hotel from my most recent trip located in the heart of the Gothic Quarter— Chic and Basic: Habana Hoose. It felt very chic and not at all basic. It was relatively inexpensive and had a great breakfast.
🔹Food Lovers Tour: This was a fabulous experience I still vividly recall almost 10 years later. We had a local tour guide take us to all of his personal favorite spots (most seemed to me in the Eixample neighborhood). Even with a particular palate, I tried and loved everything we were served. It felt like going to dinner with friends.
https://foodlovertour.com/barcelona/
🔹 Food, Wine & History Tour with la Boqueria Market— Booked on Viator for $103 each. Great tour with really good food but not as wonderful as the Food Lover’s tour if you have to choose just one. This one was a lunch tour we chose due to our limited schedule.
🔹Mercat de Sant Antoni: Sant Antoni is one of my favorite neighborhoods as well. It had a very local vibe which I always enjoy. We stopped at this market after brunch and I got an antique Picasso book.
🔹Federal in Sant Antoni: my first trip we stayed in this neighborhood and found this great brunch place so of course I had to come back in 2015.
🔹Mercat St. Josep La Boqueria: I went here both trips, most recently we went with the tour. We didn’t buy anything but they had an incredible selection of inexpensive local foods
🔹Casa Mila: Antoni Gaudi is the famous architect whose work makes Barcelona so unique. This is one of his projects.
🔹Caso Batllo
🔹St. Mary of the Sea: Beautiful church from the 1300s in the Ribera district
🔹El Arco de Triunfo
🔹Park Guell: In 2015 we just walked right up and paid. In 2023 we had to buy a timed ticket. There were not many slots opened but the 7:30pm time made for a pretty sunset.
🔹Sagrada Familia: Sagrada FamĂlia is hands-down my favorite church ever, and it’s one you simply can’t miss. This is GaudĂ’s masterpiece project that is still being completed.
Even in 2015 it was crazy busy. We had to buy tickets ahead of time for a timed slot. Definitely include climbing one of the towers
🔹Port Vell Furnicular: Loved this ride for the views
https://www.telefericodebarcelona.com/en/telefericodebarcelonaen
At the top of the furnicular, we went to Mirador del Poble Sec for views of the city
🔹La Barceloneta: Okay, I’m not at all a beach person. In fact, I initially didn’t want to “waste time” at the beach, but the laid-back, friendly vibe completely won me over. We ended up spending so much time there on both trips, going back again and again. The rows of beachfront restaurants were irresistible—we enjoyed countless meals, snacks, and cocktails while soaking in the atmosphere.
On my first trip, we rented standup paddle boards and humorously tried to paddle the waves. It was fun but we didn’t make it far successfully. Here’s the company we used.
🔹Cathedral of Barcelona: Nice traditional church. We climbed to the top of the towers for city views
🔹Bobby’s Free: We noticed a line outside a barber shop every evening so we decided to just stand in it and see what the fuss was about. It ended up being a speakeasy and you were supposed to know the password from their Instagram (which I’ve linked). Luckily they gave us a few hints and we eventually guessed it. We entered through a barbershop then made it to the bar. We got several cocktails but missed out on the secret popcorn drink because we didn’t look it up on Instagram first.
https://www.instagram.com/bobbysfree?igsh=MXM2NnY5bmY0eDd5eg==
🔹La Placita del Pi Tapas Bar: We heard the Beatles playing in this courtyard and followed the music until finding this Tapas Bar. They had amazing sangria and as the biggest Beatles fan ever, this was a highlight of my first trip to Barcelona.
https://www.instagram.com/la_placita_del_pi?igsh=MTA2MHExYjJnMGtmaw==
🔹Tarrana in Sant Antony: Wonderful little cafe with American style breakfast.
🔹Citadel Park: We spent a few hours here eating a picnic and wandering through the park. It’s a free city park and it wasn’t busy when we were there.
🔹Great Art Galleries near Mercat de Santa Catarina
Galeria Maxó ⬇️
🔹City Sights: These are just some cool photos I couldn’t categorize
🔹Picasso Museum: We had to pre-purchase a timed ticket for this as well. I don’t generally prioritize museums but this was a great showing of Picasso’s work and I learned a lot.
🔹Story Cafe: Loved this little cozy cafe near the Picasso museum
🔹La Rambla: Busy shopping street. We didn’t spend much time here exploring but it’s a Barcelona staple and you’ll definitely see it as you wander.
🔹Recommendations from a friend:
Tapas/restaurants
 “Best tapas” Cerveceria
Catalana or Ciudad Condal.
• La Pubilla, Bar Pirineus Gracia
1931 (tapas), El Quim de la BoquerĂa (tapas), Restaurant Agua (on the beach), Petit Comitè ($$$),
Botafumeiro ($$$$ – for true foodies), La Balsa ($$$).
 Razzmatazz if you want to go out dancing.
 Harlem Jazz Club if you want amazing live music, and a more chill bar scene
 Madame George for cocktails
 La boqueria, no explanation, just trust me
 El Nacional, amazing food, its like 4 different restaurants in one, used to be an old factory
 Bunkers Del Carmel, Best free view of the city*** (9-7:30 pm)
 Seafood – la pardeta
Carrer de Blai – a street with lots of Pintos restaurants (like tapas but just bite size pieces on sticks)
Activities:
-Museu Nacional d’art de Catalunya.
-Flamenco show
-Casa camelot – walk by can’t go in (amazing) & next to casa Mila and
bastilla
-Casa de los punxes – walk by, gorgeous
-Casa vicenz (Gaudi)
-Paro de ciutella
-Lumbracle open 8-2 pm (botanical garden)
-Moco museum (next to Picasso)
Madrid:
My second trip we were only in Madrid for a 12 hour layover and unfortunately we were exhausted and spent most of that sleeping (I got a day-time hotel room using dayuse.com at Hotel Axor Barajas near the airport).
So most of my recommendations will be from my 2015 trip with a few pictures from 2023 sprinkled in.
These are my favorites:
🔹History Tour. I can’t find the one we did but we learned all about Spain’s history and royalty. We also did a separate Tapas tour which was a great way to meet people and have a taste of local food.
🔹Day trip to Toledo: We took an hour train ride from Madrid to Toledo and that was a highlight of our trip. We left from the central Atotcha station and bought our tickets last minute at the station. I’ve linked the Renfe site as I’d probably recommend buying ahead of time to avoid delays.
Our walking tour guide in Madrid highly recommended Toledo. He described it as a charming medieval city known as the “City of Three Cultures” where Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived in harmony.
We got off the train and could see the town above us and just walked up the stairs to the medieval city.
Our first stop before entering the old city was the Mercado de San Agustin for some fresh food. It was like a Whole Foods type of grocery store with lots of fresh options.
These are the photos I have from Toledo, mostly from The Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, both inside and from the bell tower.
🔹Retiro Park: This was my favorite area in Madrid. Especially at sunset
🔹Mercado de San Miguel: This is the first food market with upscale booths I had ever experienced. We definitely paid tourist prices but the food was worth it
🔹Royal Palace of Madrid
🔹Plaza de la Armeria
🔹Plaza Mayor
🔹Plaza del 2 de Mayo: We found lots of tents for thrifting and I got a “Rarities” Beatles album. Note the communism rally in the background
🔹Huge Saturday Flea Market: We got some shirts for five euros that we still have. Type in “outdoor market” into google maps to find it.
🔹Jardin de las Vistillas and Sabatini: surrounding the Royal Palace
🔹Plaza de la Villa
🔹Casa de Campo: I saw a green space on google maps which looked huge so we walked over an hour to Casa de Campo.
https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/casa-de-campo
We ate lunch and rode the furnicular back across the park for views of the city in the distance
🔹Recommendations from my friend who lived there
-Hike Peñalara – park car or take bus to RascafrĂa.
https://www.rascafria.eu/Las_Presillas.html
-The aqueduct in the town of Segovia is super cool – check and see if they have any festivals going on while you’re there.
-Las Presillas Piscinas Naturales de Rascafria, Valle de El Paular- Easy walk in the park hike to have a picnic
-La Chimenea Mountain Restaurant. Cozy with views. Famous for their croquetas. Make a reservation
-El escorial is beautiful. The cathedral and surrounding gardens are a dream. PLUS you are surrounded by the foothills of the Guadarramas and can do any degree of hike you can imagine. Abantos is the highest peak and there are tons of different ways to get up there. Afterwards walk around town. They have a pretty famous bakery called Paco Pastel – we would stop in there for coffee and Palmeras after running and get bread to bring home for la comida.
-If you’re downtown be sure to go to retiro park and wander over to the crystal palace.
-Tour of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is pretty amazing.
-Hike La maliciosa north of Madrid
🔹I’m dying to visit the rest of Spain particularly southern Spain so if you have some great recommendations, send them my way! If you’re planning a trip to Madrid or Barcelona, feel free to send me a message and I’d be happy to help!
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