Let’s go to Barcelona and Madrid.
Misertravel has toured all of Barcelona and Madrid and suggest you go to both. Especially, if you coming to Spain for the first time all the way from North or South America or any other country outside of Europe. Barcelona is more touristy and misertravel prefers Madrid for long time stays in Spain.
You can familiarize yourself with both cities transportation networks however, both cities schedules, with walking directions are incorporated in Google maps. Misertravel finds it a lot easier to plan trips with Google maps.
This link is for Barcelona public transportation. https://www.tmb.cat/en/home
This link is for Madrid public transportation. https://www.metromadrid.es/en
Where to stay in Madrid?
Misertravel stays in the Gran Via neighborhood since it’s the best place to be day and night in Madrid. There are a few trains stops nearby which place you walking distance to many hotels. When booking your hotel, use the map function to pick a hotel near a train stop based on your budget and likeness. You want to be in the Gran Via neighborhood. You can be out all night here and walk back to your hotel since the Madrid Metro close around 1:30AM. Madrid is really a city that never sleeps.
What to see in Madrid?
If you going to be in Madrid for over 3 days, go to all the tourist attractions by walking and public transportation. If you don’t have enough time, take the hop on and hop off bus.
Where to Stay in Barcelona?
Misertravel recommends using the walking distances around Cathedral of Barcelona as a reference point when selecting a hotel in Barcelona. The top neighborhoods to be are all walking distance from here. You can walk to La Rambla from here.
What to see in Barcelona?
Unlike Madrid which is more walk-able, Misertravel prefers the tour bus in Barcelona. Barcelona is more touristy and the buses come often. If you going to be in Barcelona for a long time, than you can tour the city at your own pace using public transportation and riding the Teleferic de Montjuic/Barcelona Cable Car.
Traveling between Barcelona and Madrid.
Although you can find one way flights between the cities for around 50 Euros, you want to take the high speed train between the cities. It’s faster and the scenic route through the mountain and tunnels are amazing.
Many third parties sell tickets for this route, however, here is the train operator actual website https://venta.renfe.com/vol/home.do?c=_neNn. You want to visit it for most current operational information due to COVID-19. Misertravel paid a lot less buying the tickets directly from Renfe.
You probably notice cheap flights to and from Madrid and Barcelona from many other cities in Europe, North and South America… If you booking any flight on any cheap airline or any airline in Europe, research their check in procedures to get your boarding pass and carry on baggage allowance before booking. Read their online reviews. You can ruin your trip before even starting if you don’t understand exactly what you are booking.
