I'm going to be in Madrid for one week in April. I'm trying to decide how to call home while I'm there. I can think of a few options. We will have wifi where we are staying, so I should be able to use skype while at their home. I'd like to figure out the best way to call home while I'm out walking around town.

(1.) It seems you can buy a gsm cell phone and sim card, and while that will work, it looks like it's probably minimum $150.

(2.) My wife and I were in Rome and Munich a few years ago and found it was easy to find an internet cafe that had phone booths, and you just pay as you go. I think it was around 7 cents/minute.

(3.) I have a small laptop that I could walk around with. I could use it to get a wifi connection and use skype.

Does anyone have any advice? Thanks.

I use onesuite.com from landlines in hotels and pay phones. It's very inexpensive and easy to use anywhere. Just sign up before you leave and jot down the toll free number for Spain.

Look for locutorios while you are out and about-cheap places wher ethey will place your calls!

The least expensive way to call home, to the US, is with a calling card. Otherwise use email. We use a Vodafone calling card and Skype on both the computer and iPhone.

we used an international calling card that we bought at a kiosk at Sol for 5 euros. We made a handful of calls and still had some minutes left on the card when we left Spain. just ask any kiosk if they have them. I think I asked at two and the second one had it. enjoy!!

as mentioned the easiest is to find a locutorio ( internet cafe with phone booths)and just do your calls when you find one. very very cheap satellite calls. phone card from public phones does cost a lot more than from soemone's home.. but it will also work.