We spent the first 3 weeks this May touring Spain, taking advantage of cheap flights into Madrid and home from Barcelona. After additional research (thank you fellow Fodorites) we decided to stop in Picos de Europa, Bilbao, San Sebastian, and La Rioja along the way.

Madrid was a surprise. Neither one of us expected to enjoy it so much, although perhaps visiting early season and having near perfect weather helped. And Picos de Europa was stunningly beautiful.

Here’s the link to my husband’s trip report with photos:
https://qumahobby.wordpress.com/2017...pain-may-2017/

We loved Spain and have added it to our ever-growing list of places to which we must return. This is not helping shrink our bucket list.

Thanks for posting. We love Spain ...

I enjoyed your report and photos. What did you like most about Madrid? We will be there and Andalusia from sept 18 to Oct 3. Hope we have nice weather like you did. I hope it won't be as hot as the summer months.

Do you need to be experienced hikers to hike in Picos de Europa?

Thanks for the report. I really enjoyed seeing a rural side of tourist travel. I am staying very close to your Madrid apartment, so now know where to grocery shop....look for the green wall��

KarenWoo: What did we like most about Madrid? Well, the highlights were the Royal Palace, the Prado, and Retiro Park. But really, it was the overall feel of the city. Madrid is both elegant and approachable with beautiful architecture and plazas, and wide, tree lined boulevards, but also mazes of twisting streets to lose yourself in. It has a compact city center that was easy to navigate both on foot and by metro. And we found the people to be hospitable and kind.

I thought the day hikes we took in Picos de Europa were fairly easy. We’re in our sixties and had no trouble. Big payoff in views for fairly minimal effort. All the hikes we took were no more than 2 ½ hours long and were well sign posted. If you click on the “Walks” link at the top the website for Hotel del Oso, you’ll find hike descriptions and maps: http://www.hoteldeloso.com/ We did walks 3, 4, and 6. Highly recommend staying at Hotel del Oso in Cosgaya, by the way, one of the nicest places we’ve ever stayed.

What a wonderful trip report and photos! Liked how you did both the big cities and smaller, rural spots. I'd love to return to Spain, too.
I think we gave the Prado too much time. The Louvre was a "most of the day" expedition but 2 or 3 hours would have been enough for the Prado since it didn't have the variety of artwork that the Louvre does -- it is almost entirely paintings from a particular era.
The Royal Palace and Retiro Park were both great.

" What did we like most about Madrid? Well, the highlights were the Royal Palace, the Prado, and Retiro Park. But really, it was the overall feel of the city. Madrid is both elegant and approachable with beautiful architecture and plazas, and wide, tree lined boulevards, but also mazes of twisting streets to lose yourself in. It has a compact city center that was easy to navigate both on foot and by metro. "

Agree.
Madrid is one of our favourite big cities in Europe. We usually stay just north of Retiro in Salamanca district full of great restaurants, galleries,the best shops.
We also like the possibility for easy day ( or longer ) trips to many lovely
towns near Madrid...Toledo, Segovia, Aranjuez, Alcala de Henares, Escorial,
Cuenca, Chinchon . ...

Thanks for sharing your report with us. I especially loved hearing about your hikes; we'd like to explore that area ourselves. We were pleasantly surprised by Madrid as well, for the same reasons you mentioned. We were there in March during some lovely weather. The city felt festive to us; perhaps everyone was celebrating spring's arrival. We look forward to returning.

Thanks for this excellent report! We're visiting Barcelona and Madrid in September and our Barcelona hotel is quite near where you stayed so this will be very helpful!