windance

I'm tacking on a couple of extra days in both cities on my first business trip to Spain at the end of this week. I could use some help with recommendations on walking tours or what not in that short a time. I followed advice in these forums on using Context Rome when I was in Rome and Florence in the fall and was very impressed. Is there anything similar in Spain?

Robert2533

Depending on where you are from, you could contact the local Tourist Office of Spain. They have a brochure of walking tours of Madrid. Otherwise, you can pick up information at the Madrid Tourist Office once you are in Madrid.

abram

The destination of this website has walking tours of both Madrid and Barcelona.

laclaire

If you want to have a little more control over your tour of Barcelona, I suggest taking the Bus turistic. You get a day pass and it drops you at different monuments throughout the city. The great part is that you have all day, so you can walk a bit, take the bus for long distances, and then walk more.

If you are looking for specific neighborhoods, though, the tourist office is best. The palau de la virreina on the Ramblas also has fold-out maps and mapped routes that you can pick up for free.

Claire

wco81

How much is the Bus Turistic? On barcelonaturisme.com and the TMB sites, they list 18 euros for one day and 22 for two days. (BTW, at the first site, they say the pass comes with discount to Barcelona Walking Tours).

But on fodors.com, they say a day pass is 9 euros and 6 euros for half a day. Maybe you don't get the discount booklet if you buy on the bus directly?

A night tour would be interesting. In the movie "Barcelona" they have some night time shots of presumably the Cathedral, all lit beautifully.

camp_packaway

In Madrid, the main tourist office at the Plaza Mayor organizes walking tours (in English and Spanish) on a different topic every day. For instance, one morning, you can take a tour about "Madrid & the Hapsburgs." On another afternoon, the topic might be "Madrid & the Bourbons." The tours seem to be scheduled at either 10am or 4pm. On some days, only one walking tour is offered. On other days, they schedule two.

Fees are a little more than 3 Euros. The tours last about an hour or just under. You have to make a reservation in person; that just means taking your name down. You can pay at the time of the tour. But make sure they jot your name down in advance.

I took two of these tours last week. On my first attempt, I was told I could reserve five minutes before the tour. But when I arrived at the office at the designated time, there was no guide available. On the other hand, when my name was recorded the day before, a guide was available -- even tho I (one person) constituted the entire tour group. It was lovely to have the guide's full attention. And I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't cancel the tour for lack of attendance.