1st time to madrid and barcelona...should i add more cities?
 

hello,

I will be in planning a 1 month trip around europe, and morocco, and I will be in spain from sept 9 to sept 17th, 8 days. i fly into madrid and fly out of barcelona. i was planning on spending 4 days in madrid, 4 in barcelona...but i felt like i had too many big cities in my trip... i thought maybe i should visit some lesser known cities around these major ones. anybody have suggestions or are these days allocated fairly well among these 2 major cities. i was thinking of stopping by another city on the way by train to barcelona, or do day trips from these major cities. i wana see alot! is there somewhere u can suggest to stop by on the way for a day or 2 or do day trips from madrid or barcelona?? help me plan my trip please! thanks so much!

From Barcelona you can visit Girona and/or Montserrat. Both are lovely!

I daytripped to Monserrat from Barcelona and Segovia from Madrid and enjoyed them both. Toldeo also came recommended (from Madrid), as Girona seems to get mentioned every now and then (from Barcelona). I don't think you should add another city, but merely plan a day trip or two.

girona huh...thats great cuz i fly out of girona back to london actually hehe. any more suggestions for day trips from barcelona and madrid? just one or two more so i can research them...thanks!

I haven't been to Madrid.

Others may suggest Figueres and/or Cadaques from Barcelona... I think given your interests, Montserrat (although not a city) and Girona would be the best trips from Barcelona. You should spend your last night in Girona, it's lovely after the daytrippers have left. I can highly recommend the Hotel Hisoric in Girona's historic district.

Skip Madrid. It's the most boring capital in Europe after Dublin.

Madrid has among other three great museums-Prado, Thyssen, and the Sofia Reina.

It is also centrally located to take day trips to Avila, Segovia, Salamanca and Toledo.

There is more night life in Madrid than any other capital but it starts about midnight.