peterh

Good morning everyone, my wife and I are planning a cruise out of Barcelona in early October. We have never been to Spain before but wanted to visit Madrid and Barcelona as a pre-cruise options. We are planning to fly into Madrid six days ahead of the cruise departure. The plan is to spend 3 nights in Madrid and train to Barcelona and spend three days touring Barcelona before embarking on the ship mid-afternoon.
Again, as we haven't been to either of these cities prior, we were hoping to get advise from the more experienced travelers as to best options for hotels and restaurants and must see sites in both of these exciting cities. In most of our travels, we tend to try to find the hop on hop off bus tours first thing to get acclimated with the city and scope out spots of interest to visit. So, any suggestions of hotels within walking distance of HOP stops would be excellent.
We don't need five star accommodations but do enjoy a more upscale lodging experience. Additionally, we are not certified foodies but do enjoy finer dining experiences especially in foreign countries.
We would very much appreciate the expert advise of travelers who could recommend hotels, restaurants and must see options for these cities as I'm sure a couple of in each city will not be much time to visit...
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Peterh

ekscrunchy

Before soliciting advice about hotels, it might be good to put your daily budget, in euro.

And also what do you plan to do in those cities: Museums? Strolling around? Shopping? Parks?

bilboburgler

do you intend to modify your hours to those of Spain or stick with your present daily schedule?

BTW I think the plan is basically good, price in E is everything and the realisation that the European hotel system does not line up with the US star system. Stars in Europe are more to do with facilities than quality. So if you must have a pool or a life it has a big effect.

I'd thought reading the Rough guide for Barcelona or Madrid would be better than an HOHO,

peterh

Thank you for your response. i'm not sure what to say about a daily budget but I'm expecting to pay around $4 -6 hundred per night plus B/L/Diner ...so say $1,000.00 per day. I also think it would be a shame to not attend one of the better Museums one of the days. I don't see us doing a lot of strolling if we're taking Hop on /off buses.

Thanks again for reaching out

danon

If I may suggest, taking taxis in both cities is easy and inexpensive.

Revulgo

The Royal Collections Gallery is my new favorite museum in Madrid because it not only houses paintings but also tapestries, armor, furniture, clocks, carriages, a whole series of objects collected by the kings of Spain over the centuries.

peterh

that's awesome that's for the video...

KarenWoo

The Prado in Madrid is one of my favorite museums. I like it better than the Louvre. We also enjoyed the Reina Sofia, where you can see Guernica by Picasso.

Visit Retiro Park and have drinks at a cafe overlooking the lake in Retiro.

The Gaudi sites are wonderful in Barcelona. We particularly enjoyed Sagrada Familia, Casa Battlo and Casa Mila. It’s imperative to buy tickets in advance.

I recommend buying some good guidebooks, such as Michelin Green Guide, Rough Guides and Lonely Planet. Personally, with a few good guidebooks in hand and a good map of each city, I prefer wandering through neighborhoods instead of the HOHO.

ekscrunchy

Great video, thank you, Revulgo.

One tip from me is that you should think about booking restaurants in advance of arrival if you have certain ones in mind.
Madrid just might be the best food city in the world right now, although Barcelona is no slouch!




Agree about ditching the HOHO..just walk....different area every day. Put a lot of thought into the areas where you want to stay in both cities..

danon

“Madrid just might be the best food city in the world right now, although Barcelona is no slouch!”


I returned from Paris a week ago. While there,
I found myself wishing for the food
variety and restaurant hospitality of Madrid.

Madam397

In Barcelona in addition to the Gaudi sites which are so worthwhile to visit there is the Miro Museum and the Picasso Museum. It's been too long since I was last in Madrid but have been more recently in Barcelona and we really enjoyed staying in the Hotel Jazz which was walking distance to Sagrada Familia and to several of the Gaudi sites. It was easy walk to the Paseo de Gracia train/metro station and we did use the train to go to and from the airport. We did use the Metro several times to go to Barceloneta area and so on.

Maribel

I agree with ekscrunchy and danon.
“Madrid just might be the best food city in the world right now, although Barcelona is no slouch!”

I also agree with ditching the HOHO.
In Madrid you will not need one, and in Barcelona, while the HOHO routes could serve as an orientation to the city, where sights are more spread out, and to get one's bearings, the trouble with the Barcelona HOHOs currently, is that the lines can be very long and they get very, very crowded. There is no "low season" in Barcelona anymore. It's extremely busy with tourism at all times of the year, now especially since it serves as a virtually all year major European cruise port.

peterh

Wow! you're not kidding about the restaurant, there seems to be hundreds to choose from. Any restaurants in particular that stand out or that you would recommend. We haven't made the finale decision on a hotel but seem to leaning toward the gothic area near gran via. It seems to be pretty central and close to restaurants, shops and cafes etc...We would love to nail down an outstanding dinning locations one night while we're there. Thanks again everyone for your suggestions.

Maribel

I could recommend dozens and dozens in both cities that will provide you with a fantastic dining experience. It would depend on your tastes, your budget, where you're staying, even your dietary restrictions, in any.

You might want to use the Macarfi guide, English version, be sure to download the app, as a starter, if you are a real food lover.
The guide lists the fine dining establishments in both cities (and now the Basque Country & Rioja) in their order of preference.

https://macarfi.com/en

My only quibble with this guide is that for the very high end restaurants they list the average price per diner as 100+, and many of these will cost far, far more, as you will see on their own individual restaurant pages.

Here is a list of great ideas, and also my favorites, that revulgo posted for Madrid.
Madrid. Some tips for serious foodies

On his list, I haven't yet been to QU by the Sandoval brothers, although I've toured the hotel. They also supervise the dining at the Relais Chateau Orfila Hotel. If you´re up for a 2 Michelin-starred fine dining extravaganza by this dynamic duo, I would book at their COQUE, or if you want to sample their cooking style for far less, visit their COQUETTO BAR, open for breakfast, weekend brunch and dinner.

https://www.restaurantecoque.com/en/

https://www.coquettobar.com

Here's another of those highly subjective, arguable, lists for Madrid, but I actually find it not bad at all. The top 50:
https://www.lagastrolista.com/lista-...op-100-madrid/

And another from one of Madrid's leading professional food critics that I assiduously follow:
https://abcblogs.abc.es/gastronomia/...drid-2022.html

If your dining habits/tastes run more on the casual, gastro bar/taberna side, here's his other casual dining list. His number one, for several years running, is also my favorite.
https://abcblogs.abc.es/gastronomia/...drid-2022.html

Maribel

My personal favorite, traditional (non fusion/world cuisine/trendy) gastro bars, contemporary tabernas in central Madrid for good value rather than "blow the budget" gastronomic experiences:
Some of these have a Bib Gourmand designation in Michelin or a Sol in the Repsol guide.

In the Retiro district: (best RCP or highest quality for moderate price)
Taberna La Catapa
Taberna Laredo (an ekscrunchy favorite)
La Castela (the queen took Michelle here) & sibling, Castelados
La Raquetista & sister, Salino
La Montería and sibling La Monte

In the tony Salamanca district:
Taberna Pedraza
Taberna Recreo
Santerra (upstairs sit down tables at the bar)
La Maruca Velázquez (Cantabrian fare)
Treze (not a taberna but outstanding food at a moderate price)
Surtopía (Andalusian)

In Cortes:
Casa Mortero
Vinoteca Moratín
Vinoteca García de la Navarra

In Almagro neighborhood of Chamberí:
Taberna Garelos (Galician fare)
Las Tortillas de Gabino and Fismuler (members of La Ancha group)

In Chueca:
Taberna La Carmencita (beautiful tiles, a renovated classic "casa de comidas" founded in 1854)

In Ponzano:
Santerra Neo Taberna

peterh

Maribel, thank you so much for all this information. It looks like there is a 2 star Michelin restaurant in our hotel called Atico restaurant. Have you heard anything about this restaurant ? I didn't see it in any of your lists reviews you posted ...

peterh

Also, we are looking at "The Principal Hotel" in Madrid. Has anyone had experiences with this hotel or are there other recommendation in Madrid ? I'm actually not sure what district this hotel is in but it looks to be central on the map.

Maribel

Hi peterh,
Thanks for your PM!
Yes, I had dinner at El Ático on Christmas Day. Because we weren't hotel guests, even though we had booked far in advance on The Fork, we weren't given one of the coveted window tables facing the Gran Vía to enjoy the Christas lights, but it's completely understandable that they're reserved for hotel guests.

It's the second, less expensive non-Michelin starred restaurant of catalán chef, Ramón Freixa. It does have one Repsol sun.
The Principal Hotel sits on a side street at the very southeastern end (nicer part, imo) of the Gran Vía, near Banco de España. Yes, it's s a central location. I remember that poster HappyTrvlr stayed there and enjoyed it. I haven't stayed but I've taken a tour of the rooms.

Just a correction to my list above-
Vinoteca García de la Navarra sits on the eastern side of the Paseo del Prado on Calle Montalbán, so it is located in the Jerónimos barrio of Retiro, still very walkable from The Principal, a 10 minute walk.

Maribel

make that "Christmas lights".
We dined at El Ático specifically because it was one of the few Christmas Day options where we could dine a la carte rather than spring for a gala, very expensive tasting menu feast.

Besalu

Hello! If you tell me a bit about the areas I can recommend restaurants in Barcelona but in general I don't even know where to start As a general rule, I recommend you avoid all those on Las Ramblas and those that have a sign outside with images of paellas.