We will be traveling to Spain to visit our daughter who is studying in Madrid this semester and has the the holy week March 19th -27th as her spring holiday.
We would like to especially avoid closures, but also the parades and crowds associated with the holiday. Any suggestions? Should we just visit a different country all together or is there a way to avoid the holiday issues within Spain?
Closures? What closures? What issues? It is a working city and additionally a holiday. Bars/cafes/restaurants/tabernas/whatever and shops will be open for all nationalities' €uro including the ex-Madrilenos home for this time. The museums and art galleries you are likely wanting will be open, easily checked for holiday and Sunday hours on their websites.
How will you notice a difference as you do not know Madrid as normal to compare with? If you truly want to avoid processions and crowds, and not just go around if coming across them, obtain the itineraries from the tourist office.
If you want to avoid the holiday, visit Barcelona. There is almost nothing going on that week other than some extra masses at the churches. I'd expect Madrid to be closer to Barcelona than cities that have epic celebrations like Sevilla, Valladolid or Zaragosa.
If, however, you want a truly great experience. Get a room in Zaragosa for Holy Thursday (directly between Barcelona and Madrid by train) and see some of the roughly 26 processions that go all day and night. It's not at all touristy and a unique cultural experience. There are road closures around the processions; arriving by train you won't have an issue. Between processions, everyone - including people in the processions - ducks into corner bars for a beer or coffee. It might be crowded around the start and end points of the processions but not too much elsewhere.
We visited Pamplona during their Good Friday procession, right around sundown, outside of that marginally crowded hour - where the route was closed to traffic - nothing was closed.
I think Cordoba's celebrations are pretty low-key, the processions are silent, interesting without attracting too many crowds. Outside of Andalusia, it looks like there's not much happening. Barcelona may be more crowded since it's a vacation week for many, so expect cruise ships, students and Europeans travelers too.
