I am looking to take a trip to Madrid and Barcelona (and some day trips from each)in the April timeframe but am trying to avoid the major religious festivals. Nothing against any religious festivals, just trying to avoid the huge crowds and booked hotels. From my research Easter week -March 28th-April 4th - is one of those times. Any other times I should be aware of? Thanks
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
You've got it. Holy week is the big one that time of year.
Posted by
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
348 posts
We were in Madrid on Easter two years ago and it wasn't actually as inconvenient as I thought it would be. Expect smaller sites to be closed, especially on Good Friday. I was surprised at how much was open over the weekend itself. I think Good Friday is a bigger holiday in Madrid than Easter Sunday. We had to do a little more planning to make sure we knew when things would be closed, but we still saw everything we wanted to with the exception of two very small sights. We didn't find hotel bookings to be difficult, although we did specifically avoid Sevilla until late in the week after Easter because of their large Easter festival.
The advantage is that you get to see the Good Friday processions and many churches have their floats out for viewing the following week.