All Barcelona or Barcelona and Madrid?

A win-win situation.

If you love art, I would spend a couple of nights in Madrid to visit the Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen-Bornemisza. Otherwise, I would stay in Barcelona and a take a few day trips. We used Spanish Trails for small-group or private tours to Tarragona, Priorat Wine County and Girona/Costa Brava.

https://spanish-trails.com/barcelona-tours/

I am assuming that you don't need a summary of the fabulous attractions of Barcelona itself.

Another possibility: Spend most of your nights in Barcelona, but also a couple of nights in the old town of Girona, about an hour from a Barcelona, give or take. Girona itself is wonderful, the old town itself, with museums, fine churches, hikes on ancient Roman walls, narrow stone lanes, ancient baths, and great food. You could also easily take a day or part of a day for day trips to Besalu, Figueres (Dali museum), or the Costa Brava. I was in Girona for an afternoon in 2016 and it was nice, returned just a month ago for an overnight and it was wonderful!

Congratulations on making a fine airfare purchase to a wonderful destination. Barcelona is addictive - you will fall in love with it. The city has much to offer, the surrounding areas are diverse and worthy of exploration and the uniqueness of the cultural history will engulf you.
Barcelona is also a wonderful "walk around" city - with no agenda required and no daily plan to accomplish. I would give yourself at least one day where you wake up, have a coffee and just let the majesty of the environs wash over you. It is a special place.
Many RS publications address the "things to do - sites to see" menu. Familiarize yourself with Rick's excellent writings on Barcelona and nearby attractions. Pare them down to your liking and give it a go. You will not be disappointed.
Enjoy your week in Catalonia!

I like Madrid more.

Even though I like Madrid, I advise that you not try to include it on this trip of just 7 nights,. You will lose the better part of one day getting there. Since you have to go back to Barcelona for your flight home, there goes another day. Your time will easily be filled with what Barcelona and its surroundings have to offer..

huh?, obvious, isn't it? what a silly question, LOL!

A different take by someone who has never been to Spain, but is planning a trip there. I would try to combine the two--unless you conclude that Madrid is simply not a first-rate destination. I know that this question goes to the bigger question of how many nights in a particular destination are enough and what percentage of one's trip should be spent in travel. These are my thoughts--from someone who has been reading a great deal about Spain, is planning a trip there, and has been to Europe on five prior trips, but has never before visited Spain:

1. Barcelona is a city I want to visit. But I would not put it in the category of Paris and London as cities that could easily justify a week or more there for travelers with limited vacation time and travel opportunities. It seems that a full three days would allow one to see and experience much of what Barcelona offers. Admittedly, another day could be used easily. But at some point in travel for most places, there is a point of diminishing returns where the experience on, say, day 5 is less than the experience on day 2. And we are talking about the allocation of limited travel time.

2. Travel between the two cities is not difficult.

3. Madrid with its great art museums and Toledo nearby is worth a visit.

4. What if you find Barcelona less attractive as a travel destination than you thought? I personally found Rome a tad disappointing. Admittedly, one could say that had I spent more than two days there and not seen it at the end of my trip, I would have enjoyed the city more. But if I have limited travel time and am not sure I am going to love the destination because I have never been there, I might build some diversity into my trip. With four days, stay in one place. With seven days, the sweet spot for me would be to add Madrid.

For whatever it is worth, these are suggested itineraries for Spain based on time by Rick Steves.

3 days--Madrid and Toledo

6 days--add Barcelona

10 days--add Sevilla and Granada

Not that RS is the ultimate judge on how limited time in Europe should be spent. But his ideas are a good starting point when planning a itinerary. And I do understand that he has been to Spain.

So, the choice is:
a) visit a city re-built by Fascists with US money or
b) visit a city rebuilt by its citizens.

Really? You use politics to decide where to travel? And you recommend we all do so?

If you could I'd divide up the two. The high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid is easy, though I'd check the fares to see if there is any more turista fares left. Buena suerte.

Not visiting cities because of past political divisions would mean that 99% of the world would be off limits.

Hands down, spend the entire time in Barcelona! We were there five nights and could have easily stayed another five. It's a beautiful city with warm and friendly people. Loved everything about Barcelona! If you like wine, consider a day trip to the Penedès Wine Region; it made for a memorable experience. Madrid is one of my least favorite cities in Europe; didn't find it particularly welcoming to tourists; aggressive panhandlers; not a lot of charm. Full disclosure, we did not visit the Prado, because at that point we had toured enough art museums. The highlight of the Madrid stay was our day trip to Toledo.

How often to do you think you will visit Spain? If you're not anticipating a return visit soon, then I would split your time, although giving the majority to Barcelona.

I don't agree the above comment that moving between the two will take the better part of a day. Catch a fast train after breakfast in Barcelona and you will have dropped your bags in your Madrid hotel before noon.

Despite its reputation, Madrid does have more to offer than "just" art galleries (which even for a non art-lover like me contained some interesting/famous pictures) and a (to me, dull) royal palace. There is some interesting architecture and grand squares (Plaza Mayor in Madrid is much more impressive than Barcelona's version, Placa Reial).

Nevertheless, Barcelona, in my opinion anyway, has more to see and more variety of sights so I'd go for 5 nights there and 2 in Madrid. Or 4 nights in Barcelona and 3 in Madrid if you want to include day-trip to Toledo from Madrid. As for day-trips, I think Toledo (from Madrid) is more interesting than Girona (from Barcelona), but opinions no doubt vary.

I'll go back to the first poster, Trayla. If you love European painting, you will want two full days in Madrid for its 3 art museums. If that doesn't float your boat, you'll have a much better time staying in or near Barcelona. If you had more time, I'd encourage you to visit Toledo and/or Andalucia, but you don't. 7 nights gives you 6 days. That's not enough . . . unless, at Trayla said, you really want to spend a couple of days in the top-notch art museums.

Plan carefully even if you stay in Barcelona. There is so much to see and do, you won't be able to fit in half of it.

I'll go back to the first poster, Trayla. If you love European painting, you will want two full days in Madrid for its 3 art museums. If that doesn't float your boat, you'll have a much better time staying in or near Barcelona. If you had more time, I'd encourage you to visit Toledo and/or Andalucia, but you don't. 7 nights gives you 6 days. That's not enough . . . unless, at Trayla said, you really want to spend a couple of days in the top-notch art museums.

Plan carefully even if you stay in Barcelona. There is so much to see and do, you won't be able to fit in half of it.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions . After reading the replies and doing a little research we’ve decided to skip Madrid. Just not feeling it. Great fun for the mentions of Girona. I think it would b a great day trip and we actually considering training to Girona and picking up a car to drive to Cadaqués. Just nervous about the drive but really want to go Cadaqués and the thought of a bus on those roads scares me even more. A question, we would have to do that part of trip on weekend in order to get car in Girona. Will the drive b overly crowded on the weekend?

We would spend prob 2 nights in Cadaqués leaving 5 nights Barcelona. I think we’d still have enough time to do everything in Barcelona we want

I'm confused about the car rental on the weekend. We usually hear from travelers who cannot conveniently pick up a car between noon on Satuday and Monday morning.

How do you plan to spend your full day in Cadaques? If not at a nearby beach, you may feel antsy by early afternoon (the town is not large) and start thinking about driving somewhere. You might get to experience that road three times! There's a lot more to do in Girona, and Cadaques is a convenient day-trip from there. Do be sure you know where you can park a car and how much it wil cost.

Sorry to barge in but I have a question and seems so are very knowledgeable with Girona. We are stationed in Barcelona for 5 nights (part of 26 day trip between Spain and Italy) however we want to use one of our Barcelona days to go to Girona and Costa Brava.. Should we drive ( we have the international permit that Steve recommends) or do the day tour? It seems we waste too much time on the bus... Or do we do the train to Girona, but then how do we get to Costa Brava..
Has anyone done the drive and is it a safe one and worth it? We are travelling with 2 kids ages 9 and 10...

Hi @marticabellido,

1.) To travel to Girona from Barcelona, the definitively best choice is high-speed train... in 40' you're easily and comfortably set in the middle of Girona, no parking worries, no tolls (if you choose the motorway), etc.

2.) The question about safety I don't understand, why shouldn't it be? As per worth, again, what's worth in driving a motorway?

3.) "how do we get to Costa Brava.." ... where is EXACTLY you want to go? Costa Brava is not a place, is an area covering three counties, from the town of Blanes to the town of Port Bou by the French border. If you want to "wander around" then you need a car, but if you just want to get to "a" town in Costa Brava (say Cadaqués or Calella de Palafrugell or Roses for example), then you can catch a bus from Barcelona, from Girona or from Figueres.

HOWEVER,

4.) Note that visiting Girona would take most of a day, if not a full day at the very least (*) I wouldn't necessarily plan a visit elsewhere too far or else you'll end up spending half of your precious day in a vehicle. Note distances are short and not comparable to Australia but the area of Costa Brava it's full of county and also secondary roads with twists to go from A to B, so you wouldn't be able to drive fast.

5.) If you decide to drive, with two kids, I would consider Besalú -about an hour north-west of Girona -hence, inland-, a Middle Ages fortified enclave worth visiting.

6.) If you definitively want to visit the area of Costa Brava, do rent a car in Barcelona and here some ideas for planning a route.

Enjoy!

(*) Actually, to be frank, Girona is a wonderful city which requires a couple of overnights to do some justice as it has plenty of places to explore and discover.

Day
1. Arrive Barcelona. Pick up car. Drive to Girona (1N)
2. Drive to Cadaques (1N)
3. Drive via Figueres to Barcelona (5N). Return car
4. Barcelona
5. Barcelona
6. Barcelona
7. Barcelona
8. Depart Barcelona

I was thinking of going to Costa Bravo just because I wanted to take the kids to a beautiful beach but we are open to other ones if there's anything closer