Just returned from Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon. Any questions?
 

Just returned from Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon.
Any questions my email is [email protected]

Love to know everything - what was your favorite thing about each city, where you went that was delightful, what was disappointing, what was a hassle - all the highlights! We are thinking about a vacation to Madrid and Barcelona this summer and we're hoping for decent accommodations for less than $125/nite. We're trying to balance guidebook info. with personal insights, so your experiences are much appreciated!

Going to Barcelona in June with children ages 10 and 13( first stop on Europe trip). Ideas for activities that would interest kids? not just museums, but fun things in the city? markets? cultural activities?

Going to Barcelona in June with children ages 10 and 13( first stop on Europe trip). Ideas for activities that would interest kids? not just museums, but fun things in the city? markets? cultural activities?

You went on my trip!!! LOL
I am planning to go to Lisbon and Madrid this summer(late July to late August). I would appreciate any "been-there-done-that"s that you can share. I plan to be in Madrid for a whole week alone!!! I want to keep busy and enjoy the city. I have not heard much cheering about my going to MADRID so your help would be much appreciated.

Txs.

I'm also planning to go to Portugal and Spain in June. Does anyone know whether Lisbon (and anywhere else in Portugal) will be filled up because of Expo98? Should it be avoided? Also, it seems that most people prefer Barcelona to Madrid. Any thoughts? Madrid is well located for getting to the south of Spain, but should we really try to get to Barcelona too? Thanks.

My wife &I are going to Barcelona,Lisbon &Porto. I've been to Portuagal before and some parts of Spain , but never to BARCELONA!!!! Please tell me everthing you know, FOOD , NIGHTLIFE , SIGHTSEEING Where did you stay ? What did you see? What did you eat &drink? We are staying at THE HOTEL ARTS (RITZ CARLTON) in OLYMPIC PORT. DID YOU SEE THAT PROPERTY? if so what did you think? Please tell all . We are going in june & spending four nights there.

I am going to Madrid and Barcelona
for a week and half this spring.
How many days would you recommend
I stay at each city?
Would you recommend visiting either Toledo or Segovia?
We are not planning to rent a car while staying in the city. Would we need to rent a car for a day trip from Madrid?
Any other suggestions?

I did exactly what you are planning. I stayed in madrid for seven days, barcelona for 2, and lisbon for 5. If i could change it, i would have stayed one more day in barcelona, maybe to go to the dali musuem, and one less day in madrid. I found madrid to be like new york. It had lots of bars and discos, the sofia and thyssen museum were great. I found the prado boring. My firned and i booked a day tour from lisbon to evora. The city has a chapel made up of monk bones. Unfortunetly, we missed our bus. I really wanted to see this town. it has roman ruins also. A couple of locals took us out drinking and we did not get home until 6 am. I have more insight and stories, email me at [email protected]

I know is getting crowded for the expo. Prices are also rising a little bit. BArcelona has more architecure and a good party life. Madrid is just like a large us city. I like madrid a lot though, do not get me wrong. i found barcelona to be dirty. Definitely go to sagrada familia church. It depends on personl taste. I think barcelona has more tourists and younger people. if you want to go south
madrid is the place to go from. You can take a train easily from there to sevilla. Lisbon i really liked. the portuguse were very friendly and seafood was so good.

Steve
I'm going to Mallorca, an island off of Barcelona 3/20 - 3/28. I return to Barcelona 3/28 for one night to catch plane back home 7:00a.m. 3/29.

Thinking of staying the one night I have in Barcelona at Espana hotel in Chinatown. Know anything about it? Or can you suggest a place to stay?

I have some time to sight see Saturday afternoon, but not much. Any "don't miss" sites I should see in that short time?

Thanks!

A friend and I are going to travel Spain, Portugal, and Maybe some of France from June 3-July 3. What suggestions do you have? What should we do in advance? How is train travel? Thanks!!!!

For the family going to Barcelona with kids, it's a great kid city. The Olympic sites, Parque Guell (a Gaudi park with lots of crazy architecture), every Sunday late morning at the cathedral lots of people get together to dance a typical Catalan dance, the Sardana (spelling is off), the sea-port, and the Maritime museum is really a great place for kids -- pay the extra for the earphones and at the end of your visit you'll get to go through the history of navigation through different ships, including an opportunity to row a slave galley ship yourself. Up and down the Ramblas there are always interesting (sometimes crazy) people and things to watch. My own favorite is the recently renovated museum that has all the original frescoes from Romanesque churches throughout Catalonia. It's breathtaking, if you like romanesque art. And for the woman asking about staying in Chinatown, if you translated that from the Spanish, "Barrio Chino" beware that's the redlight district.

Hi Steve,

Early this summer, I'll be going on a tour of Spain, Portugal & Morocco with my 80 year old mother. We're arriving in Spain a week early to do a bit of independent travel before connecting with the tour group. How did you travel in Spain? We're flying into Barcelona -- any info you'd provide about that city, we'd greatly appreciate! By looking at the Michelin and Rand McNally maps we've bought, it seems we can go from Barcelona to Toledo -- then, to Segovia (through Madrid, I'd guess), to Avila, to Salamanca. And from Salamanca, we'd like to get to Lisbon -- probably by train??? or would bus be better? We'd like to stop in Caceres on our way to Lisbon if that's possible -- have you any ideas about this perchance?

Mostly my concern's about arranging transportation. From the research I've been doing on the internet it -seems- (always the operative word...sigh...) that it's more economical and also, very possible to just buy our tickets at each station rather than purchasing a rail pass of some form. But I can't quite get a grasp of the required connect times between cities, you know? Like -- is it feasible to travel from Barcelona to Toledo in a day? To travel from Toledo to Segovia? To travel from Salamanca to Lisbon via Caceres?

ANY information you would be willing to share about your experiences, I'd most like to know!

Thank you so very much for your help!!

Ginger :-)

Hope to go to Lisbon next week. Is it an expensive city. How far is the airport form the main hotels?

Ginger+Ruby
The food in lisbon i found to be expensive. About $12 for a dinner. Taxis are very cheap and definitely the way to go. The airport is about 15 minutes from where most of the hotels are. Prices could rise this month due to the expo.

I flew from Barcelona to MAdrid on Iberia. It was around $90 some dollars. It was a one hour flight. The "shuttle" as they call it runs every hour from Barcelona to MAdrid. The train takes about 6 hours. From Madrid you can take a bus to Toledo. I think it is like 17 miles outside the city. Not far at all.
We then took an overnight train from madrid to Lisbon. It was a 10 hr train ride that left at 10:30 pm and arrived at 8:30 am in Lisbon. We purchased a tourist class ticket. It was around $70. You could also purchase cheaper tickets for 1st or 2nd class. More expensive are also available. It cost me about $210 for 2 weeks of trains, taxis, subways, buses, and the iberian airlines shuttle. This does not include my airfare from Philly. We bought the tickets for the plane that day and the tickets for the train the day before.

Hope this helps.

Barcelona for Phish in July. Do you know where the bikini club is located, (district), and what would be a good, centrally located hotel for beaches, the club , and primo nightlife?

Steve,
I'll be in Spain from 6/1-6/14 - We're also thinking about traveling to Portugal if we have the time. Is it worth the visit? Also, can you get to Portugal from Seville or any other cities in Spain other than Madrid?! Any must sees during your trip?! We're also planning to fly to Majorca and spend some time in Costa del Sol. Any suggestions would be helpful!

Jennifer

Would love to know what you thought of Lisbon. what
were the better restaurants? what hotel did you stay at? I am going this summer during Expo 98 and
would love get some opinions. I was there for 4 days two summers ago which wasn't nearly enough to
do & see all!!! appreciate it. rmd

Hello1
first time web users - we are going to Spain, landing in Madrid on July 23. Planning to rent car and drive to Avila, Leon and onto Santiago de Compestlla. From there to Fatima, Portugal, then on to Toledo and finishing up in Alicante. We have the car for 7 days. Do road conditions permit this and do you have any advice or information regarding lodging at truck stops? If so, how to locate same. We have no hotel reservations is this wise? What is and where is EXPO 98?