I was hoping I might get some assistance finding hotel recommendations for Madrid. Stay April 2026 for 4 nights. We have never traveled to this city and are looking for a nice clean two twin beds or king size room. Would like to keep costs to 300$ US equivalent. Thank you all in advance.
MCS

Assuming you are traveling after Easter , your budget would be sufficient for many hotels in the city
If you can be more specific about your interest , for example : the famous museums or tourist sights ( the Palace , Plaza Major, Sol),maybe an area of
upscale shops and restaurants , or closeness’s to the train station…etc, it may be be easier for posters to give you suggestions.

This map of hotels and landmarks might be useful to you.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...bPMEnX1QMXbrE0

This past April we stayed at Hotel Preciados in Madrid and really liked it. This was our first visit to Madrid and we found the hotel to be well well located and easy to walk to many sites. We payed a little under $300/night average for a deluxe room.

Enjoy your trip!

Damon, Revulgo and Tracilee. Thanks for your responses. The map helped out to narrow my search down. I had read in RS about Sol area and central location for our stay. I was nervous about so many apartment type woohoo spaces in Madrid. I also wanted a safe location. Tracilee your hotel looks great and was exactly the price you mentioned. Thanks for your advice. I’m going to lay out what I have for itinerary and would appreciate your suggestions.👍

Good evening, I am reaching out to you to ask for a recommendation for a Lisbon hotel. I would prefer to look into booking lodging from a personal experience more so than a guide book. We will be staying for 5 days in early May . Would like to keep it under 300 US . First time to Lisbon, books mention Biaxa and Chiado area. Appreciate your input.
MCS

If you search this forum (there is a search feature), you will find a number of recent threads about hotels in Lisbon.

KJA, thank you. I did not know that was an option on the forum. I was able to find lodging in Lisbon. Here is the itinerary for our Spain/ Portugal trip. We are planning on using public transportation. We are not so much art lovers, however we do find the cathedrals, temples and architecture within the cities and towns much more appealing. We skipped the Basque in Spain and the south in Portugal due to time constraints and traveling in April and early May. Pennies for your wisdom and restaurant favs.

Easter Monday 26, fly overnight Chicago to Barcelona
4 nights Barcelona Hotel Granvia , Barcelona RS guidebook sites and walks. Would like help finding a guide for more informed day, just not uber pricey. Day trip to Montserrat.
Have to book flight from Barcelona to Granada.
3 nights Granada Shine Albayzin, Purchased timed ticket for Alhambra. Not sure if we would day trip to Cordoba or Malaga and visit a coastal town?
Train from Granada to Sevilla.
5 nights Sevilla Hotel Fernando III, Day trip Cordoba or a hill town?
Train to Toledo via Madrid
2 nights Toledo Hotel San Juan de los Reyes
Train to Madrid
5 nights Madrid Hotel Preciados. Day trip to Segovia and or Salmanaca
Fly Madrid to Porto
5 nights Porto Casa Kala Guesthouse RS walk porto as well as guide if recommended. However we are thinking of using a guide for a douro valley day trip. Also day trip to Braga and Guimaraes if doable.
Train to Coimbra
2 nights Coimbra Story Studio Apartment. Visit sites in town, University. Day trip to Alcobaca Batahla
Train to Tomar
2 nights Tomar Casa dos Oficios Hotel visit Castle of Knights Templar, walk city.
Train to Sintra 3 Hrs.
2 night Sintra Chalet Saudade site overload with this region, book the guided trip of sites recommended by several fodors travelers.
Train to Lisbon
5 nights Lisbon BessaHotel Liberdade. Several walking trips in Lisbon and possible day trip to Evora
Fly out of Lisbon to Chicago May 12.
Appreciate all thoughts, recommendations and ideas . At this point all hotels are free cancellation. Thank you

Sorry, spellcheck, Easter Monday April 6 departure.

Should be a great trip! Some comments:

4 nights – which is to say 3 days during which you will be recovering from jet lag – is not much for Barcelona, particularly if you are a fan of architecture and you want to fit a day trip to Montserrat into that time. You will need to be extremely selective when choosing among the various Gaudi and Domènech i Montaner structures.

Many people visit Cordoba as a day trip. I was glad to have two very full days in that delighful city.

IMO, Salamanca is too far and too full of awesome sites to make a reasonable trip from Madrid. YMMV.

I don’t think you would have time for a day trip to Alcobaca or Batalha (they are separate places) with only 2 nights – one day – in Coimbra. When planning, note that each of those monasteries can take hours to visit.

IMO, even though you have the luxury of a long trip, your plan is very ambitious, verging on overly rushed. If you haven’t already done so, I suggest that you lay it out on a calendar with reasonable transportation times, times to check in/out, pack/unpack, get to/from bus or train stations, time to actually see the places you want to see, time for meals, etc. FWIW, Barcelona is among the easiest cities to reach from Chicago, so you might skip it on this trip and allocate that time to your other destinations.

My time in central and southern Spain was too long ago to permit reasonable restaurant recommendations. For the places you plan to stay in Portugal, my favorites included:

Porto: Barrica by Yours Porto and ODE Porto Wine House

Coimbra: Refeitru da Baixa

Sintra: COMO and Tia Tapas

I hope that helps!

KJA thanks so much for your response and recommendations. I do share some of your concerns about a rushed itinerary. I tried to not do one night stays and my best at reading previous trip reports about towns/ cities that seemed interesting to us. I try to get feedback from those who have been there before and then modify. I also am excited about your food suggestions. Thank you.

The Michelin Green guides to these areas are excellent. IMO, far better than trip reports as a source of info!
(Though trip reports can certainly be of great help.)

Here are a few ideas for restaurants in Sevilla; I've been there quite a few times and these are from my visit earlier this year:

If you are on a budget, I highly recommend:
BARRA DE INCHAUSTI (sit in the front room/bar area; there are tables in that room). Limited English but wonderful food at very reasonable prices. MITO ice cream is a few steps away.


HIJOS DE E. MORALES. THe quintessential Sevilla tapas bar; great local fare at low prices. Tons of atmosphere. Go at opening times to nab a seat.

Try to avoid eating in the Santa Cruz barrio; with some exceptions, most places will be very tourist-oriented.

https://www.hungryonion.org/t/sevill...-2025/42810/29


For lunch in Cordoba, EL PISTO is fantastic! You have to book ahead. Another quintessential Andalusia restaurant with low prices and tons of atmosphere


https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/sevilla-and-costa-de-la-luz-march-2025-focus-on-food-1728590/

We loved spending 2 nights in Cordoba. Cordoba is such a pretty town with white-washed walls, narrow lanes, and pretty patios. The Mezquita is outstanding but there is more to Cordoba than just the Mezquita. Of course, if you don't have the time to stay overnight in Cordoba, then seeing it as a daytrip from Seville is a good idea. Better to visit Cordoba as a daytrip than not at all. And I would choose to visit Cordoba over a hill town. Cordoba has so many very rich historical and cultural sights.

You could visit Malaga as a daytrip from Granada. I think the bus is about an hour or hour and 30 minutes. But there is also a lot to see in Granada, too.

While your itinerary is ambitious, I think it is doable. This past May and June my husband and I spent 5 weeks traveling through northern and central Italy by train and rental car. We had a total of 12 destinations. We were tired by the end of the trip, but I would not have done it any other way. And you do have four 5-night stays, which gives you a chance to relax and catch up on laundry, etc. And if you find your energy level flagging, you don't have to do those daytrips.

@KarenWoo: I'm curious! I know you've spent some time in parts of Spain (but, I think, not Barcelona) and had thought your time in Portugal to date has been limited to Lisbon, which makes me wonder how you decide whether an itinerary is doable or not. I'm not questioning you -- honestly, I'm just curious because for me, deciding whether an itinerary is doable generally depends on my personal experience of the places on the itinerary, with attention to the interests expressed by the people planning to pursue that itinerary.

kja, I understand what you are saying. Firstly, we did spend a week in Barcelona about 15 years ago, including staying at the same hotel as the OP, Hotel Granvia. And we have visited all the other places in Spain the OP is planning to visit. And you are correct that the only place we have visited so far in Portugal is Lisbon with a daytrip to Sintra. I based my advice on the number of nights the OP is spending in each place, and then the number of destinations they are visiting, and I compare that to trips we have done and what our experience was including fatigue. Our trip to Italy was exactly 35 nights on the ground, and we saw and did a lot. And I wouldn't change our itinerary. But it was also tiring by the end. I also know from our experience that 5 nights, for us anyways, is a more relaxing stay. Regarding daytrips, they can sometimes be very busy and stressful, so sometimes we decide at the last minute to forego the daytrip and stay where we are. We just did that recently in Budapest. The OP has quite a few daytrips planned, and if they are not booked in advance with a tour or guide, they can always decide not to do the daytrip if they find their energy is lagging.

In fact, I would advise the OP not to go to Montserrat because 4 nights is not a lot for Barcelona, and they will suffer from jetlag when they arrive. The daytrip takes them away from Barcelona for a day and will also be tiring. They may not have overcome jetlag by then.

So when I say I think an itinerary is doable, my opinion is based partly on having visited some, but not necessarily all of the places, but also on length of time in each place and how many cities/towns they are staying in. So how much moving around they are doing, packing/unpacking, etc. Moving around a lot and especially with short stays can be tiring and stressful, and therefore not necessarily "doable". Longer stays give you time to relax and catch up. I think the OP has a good number of longer stays, such as the 5 nights, so the trip won't feel overly rushed.

We just returned from Spain. Spent six great nights in Madrid at Room Mate Collection Alba in the Barrio de las Letras. Perfect location, wonderful room with comfortable king-size bed, a sitting room and a bathroom that had both a bathtub and a walk-in shower. People at the desk were very helpful, and bartender Sebastian made a mean Old Fashioned and was fun to talk to and had some great suggestions about his favorite tapas spots. 10 on a scale of 1 - 10. One of our favorite hotels on all our trips. (photos below). Have fun. We love Madrid!

@KarenWoo: Thanks for your explanation! You clearly have a different approach than I to trip planning, and you have helped me understand why you approach it as you do. For me, the critical factor is what I would want to see / do in each place, and some places "take more time" than others. So, for example, five nights in (say) Rome is not the same as five nights in Porto. (Or more to the point, given the OP's draft itinerary, 2 nights in Tomar is not the same as 2 nights in Coimbra.) Perhaps the difference is in our ambitions? If I visit a place, I want to see and do everything that makes me want to go there. I hate skimming! I'd rather limit the territory I'm trying to cover, with the hope that I can take a different trip another time -- but I know not everyone contemplates that luxury or has that viewpoint. If nothing else, it seems we agree that the time the OP plans for Barcelona is on the short (very short) side. I hope this discussion about trip planning proves useful to the OP.

Incidentally, I agree that day trips can be stressful -- it's one reason I generaly opt against them, instead going for one-night stays instead. I actually find relocating LESS stressful! I think that makes me a bit unusual.

KJA, KarenWoo, EKSCrunchy and Maitaitom thank you all for your comments and recommendations. I want to confess that my wife and I are not real art lovers. we have been to Paris 3 times and have yet to see the inside of the Musee Louvre. we really enjoyed the Musee de l'Orangerie though. We love the architecture and overwhelmed by the size of the famous cathedrals. Contemplating all the souls that have entered a building that took hundreds of years to build. The Picasso museum in Barcelona and a few others are on our list. I will most likely take your suggestions to eliminate Montserrat. Thank you.
I am more interested in seeing Cordoba in Spain then the southern beach area. Thank you for that information and a great lunch spot.
So I have to admit I am a bit stumped south of Porto. I can train to Coimbra from Porto. This town seems to have more sights then Tomar. Bus trips from Coimbra to Alcobaca, Batahla or Fatima are all 2 hours. 1.5 hours from Tomar. My question is with the allocated time would you add a 3 day to Coimbra and make Tomar only 1 night. We basically were visiting the Templar. I could still take the bus just make a long day trip from Coimbra. I could also rent a car just for the day but would prefer not as it would take the headache and time. Again thank you for all your help in advance.MCS

FWIW, I noticed, when you posted your draft itinerary (post #8) that you are not art lovers. My belief that your itinerary is rushed took that comment into consideration, meaning I adjusted my estimates of ideal times for each destination downward to “eliminate” time for art museums. That said, I could (perhaps) have noted that you might consider shortening your time in Madrid in that case – but probably not if you want a day trip to Segovia. (As already noted, an architecture lover would likely want at least 2 days in Salamanca.)

If you liked the Musee de l’Orangerie, my guess is that the art you most appreciate is Impressionist. If so, you might want to spend some time in the Thyssen-Bornemsze in Madrid. It has some wonderful examples of that genre! There are, IMO, some other magnificent Impressionist works to be found in other cities you will visit, but as a rule, those works would be a relatively small part of larger and broader collections.

If architecture holds more appeal for you than art, I’d recommend focusing your time in Barcelona – if you go there -- on architecture. I do love art, and would not rank either the Picasso Museum there, nor it’s Miro museum, as among the most memorable museums I’ve been fortunate enough to visit. In contrast, the architecture in Barcelona makes the crowds in that city worthwhile, IMO, and you will have barely enough time to skim the surface of those gems.

Yes, Coimbra offers much more than Tomar. If it helps you plan, I spent

· 1 ½ hours at the monastery in Alcobaca,

· 1 ¾ hours at the monastery in Batalha, and

· 2 ¼ hours at the Templar monastery in Tomar.

The Mezquita of Cordoba is not just an architectural gem of the first order, but also one that should speak to your appreciation of spaces that bear the testament of time. And as KarenWoo noted, there is MUCH more to Cordoba than just the Mezquita – including some other amazing ancient (and re-purposed) religious spaces.

If you haven’t been to Spain or Portugal before, I suspect the churches and cathedrals might surprise you and might take longer than you expect to visit. It isn’t just size – it’s the extravagance and intricacy of ornamentation. Take that into consideration as you plan!

As someone who often plans 1 or 2-night stays, I can appreciate that a well-planned trip can allow one to see a lot in even very short visits, particularly if one plans one’s transportation to maximize time on the ground. I plan obsessively and (literally) to the hour, I don’t try to relax when traveling (except over dinner), and I don’t stop for a mid-day meal. So it might prove useful to know that my visits to the places you contemplate seeing took about 2 ½ months in total. In that light, I hope you will forgive me if I repeat my concern that you are planning an overly rushed trip.