Crowds in Barcelona & Madrid in May?

For those with a wrong perception about some European cities: these are not theme parks nor summer resorts :)).... these cities are normally already crowded with their own inhabitants, after all, real estate in some of them (ie Barcelona) is scarce due to geological limitations. Tourists are "just" an added bonus so to speak -I hope you grasp my meaning. In any case, in Barcelona we have visitors (tourists, congresses and business travellers) all year round.

Madrid doesn't have the geographical constraints that Barcelona has, therefore Madrid has been able to expand over time as her population grew. Barcelona is limited by a natural park to the north, the sea to the south and both neighbouring cities (Hospitalet and Sant Adrià) to both sides, therefore she cannot expand hence the reason is always more crowded. To that, as mentioned earlier, add the temporary visitors, be tourists, be workers from other cities in the metropolitan area. In any case, the adjective "huge" seems to me way overblown, but that's, of course, opinable.

Many cities are crowded all year. But usually they are more crowded at some times of year than others. Is May more or less crowded than other months in Barcelona?

We have been in Madrid in May recently and the touristy sites were not at all crowded. We have been in Barcelona in May as well, but so long ago that it probably isn't useful information; it was not crowded when we were there however.

Thanks everyone for your responses thus far! Jen hit the nail on the head--I certainly appreciate that Barcelona will not at any time be uncrowded per se, I'm just wondering if May is better or worse than other times of year. For example, I've noticed a major difference in the times I've been to Paris in October as compared to the time I went in August. Same thing with Rome. Curious if in these cities May would be considered a "peak" time for additional tourist crowds or not. Thank you again!

Wonderful, on average, on any given day there aren't more than 10000 ship passengers (the only exception are a couple of days during the summer in which the 9 of the biggest cruise ships around all dock at the same time and that figure easily quadruples); this is a speck in relation to 1.6 million souls living in Barcelona plus 500.000 that travel every day to Barcelona from surrounding cities/towns for work. For reference... Sagrada Familia alone handles 2000 visitors per hour in July/August, Park Güell up to 800... In retrospective then, cruise tourism on any given day, while important, is not that big to be considered a deal breaker.

Margaret, May is "less" crowded than July/August, but this is not to say you can't find "queues" here and there.

Barcelona 'suffers' because it is a year round magnet for visitors, thanks to its wonderful climate. Away from the busy tourist sights, you can see some areas quite 'deserted' in August because locals are on holidays and a lot of shops, restaurants and businesses close. You will certainly face less traffic in August compared to other times of the year.

Thanks, all, for the helpful information!