What area to stay in Madrid & Barcelona

I'm certainly no expert on either of these cities, but I have spent a week in each one in the last two years. I did lots of research before going; a combination of Rick's books, Lonely Planet, Moon Pubs, Guardian newspaper from the UK and lots of internet message boards/blogs. We chose the La Latina area in Madrid and El Born in Barcelona. Both had lots of attractions right there and were easy walking to other adjacent areas. But MORE IMPORTANTLY, they were close to lots of highly recommended tapas bars and restaurants. We love going out for drinks and eats! And we like to shop; mostly for unique clothing. Second choice for us in Barcel was Barre Gothic, but they are right next to each other, you couldn't go wrong with either. But El Born was a bit closer to Barceloneta for seafood and also closer to the Parc de La Cituadella and other parks in that area. We did not hotel it; we stayed in a room for let we found on the internet.

Thank you!!! Great advice!

For a first time visitor I suggest the Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol or near Plaza Santa Ana. All are very centrally located and you can walk just about anywhere.
In Barcelona highly recommend the El Born neighborhood. Very old and atmospheric, safe and hip with great shops and restaurants.

You're welcome.

We really liked the tapas bars on Cava Baja in Madrid. In fact, we stayed on Cava Baja.

In Barcelona, the area around the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar has great restaurants, shopping and art galleries and museums, including a Picasso museum.

We were in Spain in August.

We stayed for 3 nights in an apartment on Plaza Santa Ana, through Spain Select. Yes, it is a busy area, but there are excellent restaurants all along the plaza and it was centrally located to everything. We could walk to the Prado in 15 minutes or the other direction to the Palace in no more than 30 minutes.

In Barcelona, we stayed in the Eixample, in an apartment through Habitat.com. That area was also very centrally located and close to the metro, great restaurants, etc.

Thank you! This is great advice! Any thoughts on barrio de las letras in Madrid? The selection of hotels that meet my criteria in la Latina is very small.

I will also do some research on these other neighborhoods mentioned in Madrid! Mahalo!

I think you'd love barrio de las Letras. The epicenter is Plaza Santa Ana. Lively square with loads of cafes all around. Great tapas restaurants in neighborhood. Easy walk to Plaza Mayor and museums. Check out Roommate Alicia right on the square. Agoda sometimes has better rates than the hotel website. Choose a budget friendly standard interior. room.

I can only answer for Madrid. We stayed at Matute 11 Suites and enjoyed it. They have small apartments. It's located just off Calle Atocha near the Anton Martin subway station. It's about 2 blocks away from Plaza Santa Ana. It's on the east half of the city and fairly close to the 3 big museums: Prado, Thyssen, and Sofia Reina. If you need a taxi for anything, you can just walk the half a block to Atocha street and hail one going by in about 2 minutes. Their site is http://www.matute11.com/en/ or you can find them on booking.com.

For Barcelona.... http://bit.ly/BCNwhicharea and this is the map of the neighbourhoods: http://bit.ly/BCNhoods

Plaza Santa Ana area in Madrid is well situated. I have stayed a couple of time at Hostal Martin at 43 Atocha, but the last time was in 2005. They still get good ratings online last time I checked though. That general area, you can walk to everywhere from the Royal Palace to the Prado. In Barcelona we stayed at Hotel Lloret at the top of the Rambles. Last time I stayed there was 2010 after a business trip, also stayed there in 2005. I am not saying say at these places, just the area where they are located is excellent in both cases.

Our thinking was to avoid staying in heavily touristed areas. IMO, areas near the Plaza Mayor and Plaza Del Sol qualify as heavily touristed areas. Stay in quieter areas, walk to the heavily touristed areas. That's why we chose the La Latina area.

The area near Plaza Santa Ana would also qualify as less touristed, IMO. Those suites that someone mentioned look like a real good, convenient location.

Thank you all for your advice! I just booked an Airbnb in La Latina.

You may want to keep abreast of the Catalan Referendum repercussions. Apparently the Spanish government disagrees with the 90% of the Catalonians that voted: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41463719

You may want to check back with the American State Department as your trip draws near:
https://es.usembassy.gov/security-message-u-s-citizens/

Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Demonstrations regarding Catalan
political situation

September 28, 2017

The U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona reminds U.S. citizens that
demonstrations have been taking place at various locations throughout
Barcelona regarding Catalonia’s political situation. Demonstrations
might continue in Catalonia into the first weeks of October.

BTW, the Barcelona area could get very, uh, interesting, based on the news reports from the separation referendum. The end of October is not very far away.

Thank you for this information. We have not booked our hotel in Barcelona yet, so maybe we will hold off. We will be in Barcelona from 11/10-11/14, so hopefully things have settled down by then. We fly out of Barcelona, but I guess we could go to Valencia instead, and arrive in Barcelona the night before our flight, if the situation continues to in Barcelona.

Or if the entire state is unsettled, I guess we could just stay in Andalusia.

We're currently in Valencia and everything seems safe here. :)