What are the best places to visit in madrid and barcelona?

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chicken man

This question is asked a lot in different forms (usually for each city) My favorites:

Barcelona:

Museums: Museu Picasso, Fundacio Miro, Museu de la Ciutat (City Museum). The 2nd is a little out of the in the Parc Montjuic, but is the best collection of Miro's work anywhere.

Architecture: Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Mila (aka La Pedrera), Casa Batllo, in that order. All these are Gaudi buildings, the first two are must-see, and the 3rd almost is. You can walk down the street Passeig de Gracia from Casa Mila to at least see the outside of Casa Batllo as well as other Art Noveau Buildings. A short hike up to the Tres Creus in Parc Guell gives you nice views of the city and helps orient you.

Music: Palau de Musica. Another Art Noveau gem. Try to catch a concert there (make sure its in the main hall) over the tour. It's gorgeous and the music is great. Buy tickets online.

restaurants: Les Quinze Nits (15 Nights) in Placa Real - get there about 20-30 minutes before opening as they don't take reservations. If you can't get in there, try La Fonda (I hear it's owned by the same people). Both excellent Catalan food at very reasonable prices.

Also try Origen 99.9, a local chain, but good authentic Catalan food. Get there a little before opening because they don't take reservations and often only do one sitting. http://www.origen99.com/web/

Tapas Gaudi of La Rambla de Gaudi (not Las Ramblas, but near Sagrada Familia) is a good tapas place.

nightlife: Clubs everywhere, for a slightly more relaxed and less touristy experience try Placa del Sol or La Cervesera Artesana (http://www.lacervesera.net/eng/indexeng.... best beer in Barcelona, not that that says a lot. Drink wine everywhere else - reds from La Rioja, whites and Cavas from Penedes).

Other: La Boqueria market, Las Ramblas, Barri Gotic, including Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar. Just wander that area. Sitges for nearby beaches, though the ones in the city are decent if you don't have the time to get down there.

Day trips: Montserrat for the mountain monastery and hiking (and the caves that inspired the Sagrada Familia if you're lucky), Sitges for beaches (Cadaques is better but farther), Tarragona for Roman ruins (and more beaches). Figueras for the Dali museum.

Madrid (I know less):

See the big 3 art museums: The Prado, Reina Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemisza.

The Parque de Buen Retiro is a huge park in the middle of the city.

Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida: A small church with frescoes by Goya.

Palacio Real.

The plazas, especially Plaza Mayor

Day trips: Toledo, Segovia

Have fun!

Fishtalk

Go to Valencia...all the tourists visit BCN and Madrid

claire s

depends what you are interested in,we go to BCN twice a year and find something new every time.below is a list
la boqueria..market for produce(though not good if you dont like the smell of fresh meat and fish)
La ramblas..for people watching and the street artists
camp nou..for the fabulous barcelonia football stadium(i dont like football but the visit was good)
Montjuic..you cuold spend a day up there..olympic stadium,miro museum,poble espanyol(apurpose built village showing spanish architecture from all over spain)also the castle
Parc guell..Gaudis wonderful parc with the unusual buildings and benches etc
Tibidabo.. a beautiful church and nearby funfair
sagrada familia..gaudis awe inspiring building..go as soon as it opens or an hour or two before closing to avoid the tourist buses
you can get maps at the tourist offices and walk the modernista route where you will see buildings by gaudi and his fellow modernistas.
Or you can just walk the city it is a fabulous place for just ambling along and remember to look up as your are walking along as the is the most surprising finds above street level
have fun

Jack T

I would say (for Barcelona)

Taller de Tapas on Rambla de Catalunya (for a 3 hour Iberian lunch)
Parc Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Batlo, Sagrada de Familia (youÂ´ve got to do the Gaudi stuff)
Tibadabo- have a cold beer at the Bar MiraBlau and take in a view of the whole city. Get the tram up or a taxi
Agua on the beach near port Olimpico for another 3 hour Catalan lunch
Get the train out to Pltja de Casteldefels for a laze on the beach
Head down Las Ramblas, but peel off left on Carrer Ferran. The backstreets are more interesting but go during the day
Fundacio Miro- one of CataloniaÂ´s most famous artists. If you donÂ´t like his work, the building is worth a visit.

catalunya07

I don't know Madrid very well, but in Barcelona you should definitely walk down the Ramblas, stopping at the Boqueria food market and PlaÃ§a Reial.

Once you've done that, I would find the hop on hop off tourist bus, which costs around 20 euros and takes you on a tour of all the best sights in the city. You can get on and off at the regular stops along the way, which has the HUGE advantage of allowing you to get an overall view of Barcelona and at the same time see anything that really intererts you in detail.

My top picks would be the Gaudi buildings on Passeig de Gracia (Casa Batllo and La Pedrera), Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell, which is well worth a an hour or two if the weather is fine.

If art is your thing then chech out the Picasso Museum, Barcelona's modern art museum (MACBA) and the museum of Catalan art (MNAC). Also, spend some time wandering around the narrow streets of the Barri Gotic, which are hugely atmospheric.

And if you like soccer, don't forget to visit the Nou Camp stadium. Either go and watch a match there, or if nothing is on then go do the stadium and museum tour.

Constanza

Outside of Barcelona there is a small Catalan town called Figures. Go there to the Dali museum. It's one of my favorite places in Spain.

gilbert a

in madrid, just walk down the Gran via, its the main street in madrid, that street takes you to all the attraction centers, or you can take one of the red buses and those take you to all you need to visit in madrid, well at least the most important ones, with 16 euros, you can ride all day on and off if you want, what i did was get off on each stop and explore the place, and later catch another bus, and so on so on, it could take you all day, but its fun.

P.S take extra batteries for your camare tou'll need them. :)

Kate J

Go to the bookstore and pick up the city guides from DK Eyewitness. Read them....good books. They will give you all the info you need.

email me...i can give you a couple of secret hidden corners...but my hands hurt...I'll check back in the morning.

Buenas noches!

lolit

I have never been there but you could ask some who visited the place

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