Barcelona and Madrid first time visit itinerary help

May first 2 weeks is ideal whatever day;
Looks like you have incorporated enough day trips out of the museum painting oriented Madrid to suit staying there 8 days.

Looks like you organized this based on your research and interests.

Is Friday the day you fly arrive after an overnight flight?

If so, I think you're cutting Barcelona itself very short by really allowing only one day for seeing its sights. You may well be too zombified on arrival day to do more than wander around outdoors. Because of its tourist load, many of Barcelona's top sights pretty much require that you buy tickets (often timed tickets) in advance, else you may spend more than an hour standing in line. If you are interested in several of those most crowded sights (I include La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, the Picasso Museum, Casa Mila, Casa Battlo, the Palau de la Musica Catalana, and the Camp Nou soccer experience), you will have a lot of difficulty with such a short visit as you try to guess exactly how far apart to schedule your pre-purchased tickets. You'll need to build in extra time for safety, or risk paying Barcelona's rather high entry fees and having to leave sights before you've really seen everything. I am not suggesting that you should go to all those places, nor that my list represents the very top sights in the city. It's just a list of the places that seemed to have the worst lines.

I think trying to see both Girona and the Dali Museum in Figueres (which is beyond Girona) in a single day is quite aggressive, because to me Girona is a full-day sort of place. I will concede, though, that this is not impossible if you are prepared to skip the very nice small art museum in Girona.

I liked the small town of Besalu with its striking fortified bridge. I haven't been to Castelfollit de la Roca. Still, I'd recommend deleting this day-trip and substituting more time in Barcelona itself. If you do want to proceed with the Besalu day, you'll be facing a taxi back to Girona and about a 4-hour train ride to Madrid. This will mean two days on which you make round-trips over the same rail line to Girona. I hate changing hotels, but I'd at least consider spending two nights in Girona to eliminate one of those Barcelona-Girona round-trips. Not sure what I'd decide to do, but I'd think about it.

By comparison to the one fully usable day in Barcelona, you have three in Madrid. I think this is suitable only if you are very big art fans. (But in that case, have you allowed time for seeing the MNAC and the Miro Museum in Barcelona?) Three days in Madrid without art museums is a rather long time.

Avila is, to me, very skippable. I haven't been to El Escorial.

Check closing days in Toledo. Monday might be problematic there; I am not sure.

I think you have underestimated the amount of time required to move from place to place.
I think you have also underestimated the amount of time required for Barcelona.
Get a car perhaps for Segovia to Salamanca.
I would stay overnight in Segovia, Valladolid and Salamanca.

Day 0 Thursday – Arrive Barcelona (5)
Day 1 Friday – Barcelona
Day 2 Saturday – Day to Figueres & Girona
Day 3 Sunday – Barcelona
Day 4 Monday – Barcelona
Day 5 Tuesday – TraIn via Madrid to Segovia (1)
Day 6 Wednesday – Drive to Valladolid (1)
Day 7 Thursday – Drive to Salamanca (1)
Day 8 Friday – Train to Madrid (5)
Day 9 Saturday – Madrid
Day 10 Sunday – Day to El Escorial & Avila
Day 11 Monday – Day to Toledo
Day 12 Tuesday – Madrid
Day 13 Wednesday – Depart Madrid

Thank you all very much for your suggestions and comments. In my itinerary I actually listed only our full days since we are arriving on the day before our Day 1 and are leaving on the day after our Day 12. We are just casual fine art fans and during this trip are only planning to visit Prado, Dali place in Figueres and El Greco museum in Toledo. In Barcelona we are only planning the most popular sites like Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia, de Gracia with all famous Casas, Boqueria Market, Gothic Quarter and Barcelona Cathedral. I also totally appreciate the Salamanca - Segovia road trip suggestion, however my family does not want to change hotels and I also would like to simplify the logistic of this since non of us speak Spanish. I will fine tune our plans based on all your input. Please feel free to add anything that can be useful. Thanks again.

Madrid to Salamanca is over two hours one way by train. Salamanca has quite a large historic district, not quick to see. I believe the railroad station is about 1/2 mile from the nearest edge of the historic district.

I agree with Ann, skip Avila. The wall is the only draw and not worth wasting your travel time.

Salamanca is magical. I lived there for 2 summers while studying Spanish. Must see is the Universidad. The Cathedrals are also wonderful, but if you must go inside only one I would choose the Universidad. Stay the night so that you can see Plaza Mayor lit up. It will be worth it. There are tons of places to eat that are very affordable. Try to get a room near the historical center, everything is within walking distance. Everybody walks everywhere in Salamanca!

I consider El Escorial one of the top things to see around Madrid. The Pantheon of the Kings is so interesting on it's own; when combined with the palace, etc. it's truly something to see. If you can, combine that visit with the Valley of the Fallen which is only 6 miles away. It's not easy to get to with public transportation but easy with a car. Franco ordered a basilica to be be built inside of the mountain. A tribute to those who lost their lives during the Civil Way there are thousands it remains controversial. It is massive and profoundly moving.

A realistic programme for me allows 4 days to take in Barcelona’s main sights. If you are not so fussed on art museums then 3 days would suffice, but you may be disappointed with any less time.

Day 1
•Sagrada Familia (BOOK)
•Hospital Sant Pau
•Passeig de Gracia - Casa Mila & Casa Batllo

Day 2
•Palau de la Musica Catalana (BOOK)
•Ramblas - Boqueria markets & Placa Real
•Bari Gotico - Cathedral

Day 3
•El Born - Picasso Museum (BOOK) & Basilica Santa Maria del Mar
•Parc de la Ciutadella
•Barceloneta

Day 4
•Park Guell (BOOK)
•Montjuic - MNAC, Olympic Ring, Castello & Miro Museum

Dear Experts, thank you very much for all your wonderful suggestions. This is our first time on this site and we are very happy with the feedback. We now have plenty information to work with when finalizing details of our trip and are really looking forward to it.

David in Brisbane, thank you very much for your 4 days Barcelona itinerary suggestion. If my family still insists on day trips from Barcelona and we only have 2 full days there, say Friday and Saturday, what and in what sequence would you suggest to see. We usually don't have long sit down meals, start our days really early and walk a lot. We are not planning museums in Barcelona, not even Picasso. Also, with this new Norwegian Air very affordable direct flight from Oakland, Barcelona for us is the most convenient entry point to Spain and I hope to be back to Barcelona in the future. Therefore, this said, how your two days in Barcelona would look like.
Also what would be your three full days in Madrid itinerary, incorporating at least half a day in Prado?
Thank you very much again.

Skipping the art museums in Barcelona, David's Days 1-2 are probably your best bet. I would try to fit in Santa Maria del Mar. Barceloneta is eminently skippable. I would still try to add one more day to Barcelona.

I haven't been to the places on Day 4 of your original itinerary. . . if you keep that plan, will you be able to store your luggage during the day while sightseeing?

I agree with Chani, including that Barceloneta is skippable: Restaurants with outdoor tables, fairly ordinary-looking low-rise apartment buildings; lots of tourists. Not much compared to other neighborhoods in Barcelona except for eating outdoors near the water. Not at all worth the time on a short trip, to me.

The question about luggage handling on Day 4 is a good one. Besalu is approached by bus from Girona. It's is a tiny town with no bus station, thus no bus-station storage lockers. I think it would be very prudent to stash your luggage at Barcelona Sants before heading to Besalu. Note, though, that I had no need of luggage storage in Barcelona and don't know that it is available at Sants.

Here's a recent, surprisingly long article about Besalu from the LA Times. I obviously missed some stuff!

The bus drops you off on a road near the small historic area in Besalu. You will have passed the tourist office on your left shortly before the drop-off. The fortified bridge is between the bus stop and the tourist office. It would be smart to print a map of Besalu off the internet and take it with you so you can get oriented. It won't take more than 2 hours to see the entire historic area (not counting going inside churches or other buildings); 90 minutes might do it. I always like to walk every street in the historic area when I visit a small town, and 60 minutes wasn't long enough for that.

I don't know about the availability of taxis in Besalu but am doubtful. You need to verify this ahead of time, or be prepared for perhaps not being able to get to Castellfollit de la Roca after all. The email address for the Besalu tourist office is turisme@besalu.cat .

One thing about buses and Besalu: After visiting Besalu I traveled on to Olot by bus. That onward bus left Besalu at least 8 minutes early. I can only assume the same thing might happen with a bus heading back to Girona. Those buses are not frequent, so do not cut it too close. I must also warn you that the bus I was to take from Ripoll back to Girona (on a Sunday) never showed up at all, leaving me to find a local hotel room and pay for two rooms that night. I think Sunday might be a rather dangerous day to plan this somewhat complicated trip out into the wilds of Catalunya.

Following on from Chani ... with only two days, and without any museum visits ...

Day 1
•Sagrada Familia (BOOK)
•Hospital Sant Pau
•Park Guell (BOOK)
•Passeig de Gracia - Casa Mila & Casa Batllo (exterior view only)

Day 2
•Ramblas - Boqueria markets & Placa Real
•Bari Gotico - Cathedral
•El Born - Basilica Santa Maria del Mar
•Parc de la Ciutadella & Barceloneta

Dear Experts, based on your suggestions and after some more reading, if Besalu and Castellfollit day trip becomes logistically too complicated, we will skip it and spend that day in Barcelona. We also decided to skip Avila, make El Escorial and Segovia one long day trip from Madrid and use the newly found extra day on overnight stay in Salamanca by double-booking. Thank you again.

Easing up logistics as you describe will certainly add to your overall enjoyment. Good decision.