Hi,
Would 4.5 days in barcelona and 2.5 days in madrid be enough? We are into food, wine, walking and seeing,sitting and people watching, museums and a little bit of shopping. We would fly into barcelona and out of madrid. What would be the best way between cities, train or flying? We will be going the beginning of November. Thanks for your help.

Yes, that sounds good. You could take one of the low cost airlines like Veuling between the 2 and I think there is also the high speed train maybe 3.5 hours but not sure on the how long it takes.

Take the high speed AVE train between Barcelona and Madrid. Much easier than flying.

If you book in advance on Renfe.com, you can get some great discounts on rail tickets.

Go to Maribel's Guides and you can see a "how to buy Renfe tickets online" link to guide you through.

http://maribelsguides.com/

2.5 days in Madrid my not be enough for all the great art musuems there.

"2.5 days in Madrid my not be enough for all the great art musuems there."

agree. Madrid is a huge city , museum and the Palace can take time .
Great park Retiro a worth a stroll... .

My daughter and I were in Madrid for 3 days this past August (4 nights, so we had 3 full days). We thought it was plenty of time, and spent the third day just wandering, shopping, eating and generally hanging out, after sightseeing all of the first two days. We are not huge art museum fans, but we loved the Thyssen (not so much the Prado, and we didn't do the Sofia Reina). If we were huge art museum fans, we could have used the third day for that purpose. Bottom line, I think your plan is good. BTW, we LOVED Madrid, so don't get the idea that we didn't, just because I think you can cover it in 2-1/2 days.

Hi, Quark -

I agree with those who say that 2.5 days is too little in Madrid if you enjoy art.

Hope that helps!

November might be a little chilly for sitting outdoors and people wathcing - esp in Madrid.