9 nights in Spain before Leon study abroad

It’s obvious you’ve done your homework. Hostal Oliva is in a great location and Trip Advisor does not show any recent bad reviews. I stayed at Hotel Europa on my second visit to Madrid and it’s worth the money.

Even in March you'll most likely need to buy your time-specific tickets for La Sagrada Familia, the Picasso Museum and any other Gaudi sights before leaving home. I don't believe any of them sell out really early, but ticket lines can be horrendous, and individual time slots (especially those in the early morning) can fill up. With only three nights in Barcelona, you won't have a lot of flexibility to fit the puzzle pieces together if you run into only spotty ticket availability. Easter is March 31 next year, so there may be more people traveling in late March than usual, and Barcelona is super-busy year-round.

Keep in mind that some of you may be somewhat sleep-deprived and/or jetlagged on your first full day in Barcelona. Given that Barcelona is your first stop after what can be a sleep-disrupting overnight flight and the fact that your activity list for Barcelona seems longer than the one for Madrid, I'd be inclined to spend 4 nights in Barcelona and 3 in Madrid, but that's a matter of personal preference. Each city could easily keep you occupied for more than four nights.

I also like Toledo a great deal, having spent 3 nights there back in 2016. Because of the potential for higher visitor levels around Easter (Toledo's a popular day out for folks from Madrid), you should keep an eye on train-ticket availability as you get close to your travel date. It's a short trip from Madrid to Toledo, but the fast trains sometimes sell out, including the late-afternoon/evening trains back to Madrid. You don't have to worry about the price going up, though; tickets are always the same price. (This is not true for tickets from Barcelona to Madrid; you'll probably save a lot of money if you buy those tickets early. They're already on sale for your travel dates on renfe.com. Just pay attention to the change/cancellation policies.)

You could run into a bit of a ticket line for the Toledo cathedral, but I don't know of a way around it. Perhaps heading there on a weekday rather than a weekend would help. Based on my one-time experience on a religious holiday (but not around Easter), I don't think you'll run into a major delay at the cathedral.

Segovia is also totally worth a visit. There's a much longer list of sights in Toledo, but you can only see some of them on a day trip, so that's not really a reason to favor Toledo over Segovia. As an example of what can happen with train-ticket availability in Spain: I just looked at the Madrid-Segovia schedule for tomorrow (Monday). There are 33 fast (half-hour) trains on the schedule. Sixteen of them are sold out. Fares to Segovia can vary, so that trip could conceivably cost a great deal more (up to more than 70 euros per person, round trip) than the trip to Toledo (fixed at about 22 euros round trip).

In Madrid some visitors have found it helpful to buy online tickets for the Royal Palace ahead of time. This is a popular place with Spaniards themselves, many of whom may be visiting the capital around Easter. Conceivably there could be something of a line at the Prado as well, but I suspect the Royal Palace is the riskier sight.

I have only spent one night in Leon, more or less in transit, but I liked the city. The historic center now has a lot of lively restaurants and bars, so you might want to stay a bit outside that area if you're concerned about noise at night. Spaniards eat dinner astonishingly late--often after 10 PM--so there will be lots of people walking home or returning to their hotels at midnight.

Casa Botines in Leon was designed by Gaudi. There's now a museum there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Botines

Gaudi also designed the Episcopal Palace in Astorga, not far from Leon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EpiscopalPalace,Astorga

I live in Bilbao and have just stayed three nights in León as a weekend getaway. You cannot absolutely miss San Isidoro basilica and its frescoes, the amazing cathedral, the walls...and of course, Palacio Botín designed by Gaudi. And San Marcos Parador. Wonderful off the beaten path city.

Mikel mentioned the places in León I was going to mention. When we visited there we stayed at the Parador he mentioned. The convent beside it is worth visiting. From it we walked around the city. San Isidoro basilica Is amazing and only a few blocks from the cathedral. The Camino de Santiago crosses directly in front of the Parador, cathedral, and basilica.

For Zarzuela, you may want to see it while in Barcelona since it’s from that region.

Edited: I stand corrected. I learned something new.

A small correction to great Jaime El Sabio...Zarzuela is more common in Madrid (the name comes from the Palacio de la Zarzuela and the small theatre next to it), but it´s kind of an "outdated" show and popular only at some times of the year. Most stories are based in late 19th or early 20th century, a show very popular in those times but it´s on show much less now. A small operette, with touches of humor and very local flavor.

With a 20 year old I don't think an outdated Zarzuela will be top of the list ha ha.
Looks like the San Marcos Parador might be booked but I will try contacting them because it looks amazing even if not quite as "budget friendly". We just decided to do this trip w/our daughter so not surprised we will run into this at times especially the week before Easter.
As soon as we confirm our number of nights in each city we will definitely make the sight seeing and train reservations ahead of time, thank you everyone for all that info! Does everyone book directly through the Renfe site?
Now I'm thinking instead of just a day trip out of Madrid that we do Madrid-Segovia and spend a night, then Segovia-Leon and my husband and I leave back to Madrid after 1 night in Leon for the 9th night in Madrid close to the airport. That saves us a return train trip and we just keep moving forward. In 2022 when we visited Italy we took a day trip from Florence to Siena and we all wished we would have spent a night in Siena. The prospect of a smaller city (Segovia versus Toledo) w/possibly less tourists right before Easter sounds good after a busy few days each in Barcelona and Madrid.
Again open to any feedback or recommendations!

Add the train ticket to Leon to the list of things not to be left until you've arrived in Spain. I just checked renfe.com (which is where I'd buy the tickets unless I ran into payment issues, which can happen), and I found a lot of sold-out trains heading to Leon. I don't know how much less-busy the trains will be around Easter, and this is another case when you can save money by buying early. Again, check the change/refund policies.

I am looking into sending my son to the study abroad program in Leon. Is your daughter doing it through her college? How is it going so far for her?

Cloversmom, it is through UW and it's for Spring Quarter so she hasn't started yet but she knows someone that did it in the past and recommended the program.