going to spain, any suggestions?
 

me and two freinds flying to madrid, then we are going to barcelona for the salvador dali museum. that is as planned as we have it. no rooms. no transportation, we are winging it.

any suggestions on where to stay in madrid, barcelona, somewhere in between? how to get from madrid to barcelona? cool places to eat or see? anything not to do? cool nightlife scene?

we want to keep it pretty cheap, but in a pinch, money is not a problem.

we are aware of pickpockets. other than that, we are completely ignorant.

When I went to Spain last year, I went to hotwire.com and got a four star hotel that was just around the corner from the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) for $60/night. The Hotel's name turned out to be Tryp Ambassador.

Speaking of the Palacio Real, that turned out to be pretty interesting and make sure your entrance ticket includes the Armory.

In Madrid there are two two-level bus routes with an open roof on the second level of the busses. It's approx 15 Euros/person, but the ticket lasts all day and you can get on or off anywhere along the two routes. They take you to all the major tourist sights in Madrid.

I just read an article about Spain. It said if you can only visit one city, go to Granada, apparently its spectacular.

Tapas, tapas, tapas.

cafeterias are also good and cheap, their version of diner.

most places offered water in bottles, still or sparkling, learn to say "un jarra de agua" Ha-rra, not Jar-ra.

Bocadillos, sandwiches, no such thing as "piled high" with meat, but still good and inexpensive and available all over.

wine, drink lots of wine. it's cheap. sometimes ordering a caña (small cup) of wine, they handed us a small cup and the whole bottle and didn't care if you finished the bottle.

be prepared for smokey bars. they don't exist in lots of places in the US anymore, but they are all over Spain.

have fun. I can't wait to go back.

mirevolver - i shall check out hotwire.com, thanks...

hagatha - sadly we won't get to granada, but i shall keep it in mind for the future...

cynthetiq - i fully intend on drinking lots of wine, pretty much that's all i'm drinking, breakfast, lunch, and dinner...thanks for the tip on cafeterias...

sorry I was looking up pronunciations and missed the whole sentence...

Most places offer bottled water, obviously at cost. But one should know to as for "un jarra de agua de grifo," or "water from the faucet"

also, I prefer the DK Eyewitness Guides: Spain It contains both Madrid and Barcelona. I like the visualness of the guide, versus any other travel guides. But I do also have some other travel books, but by far the DK is gold in my eyes.

remember that siesta time, everything is closed, so plan your eating accordingly. Eating dinner at 7pm you may be the first ones in the restaurant.

If you can afford one expensive meal, I suggest going to the Botin since it is older than American has been a country, and the food is good too!

in barcelona, i plan on eating some of the famous "jamon de iberico" wherever i can find it, and i dont' care how much it costs...

thanks for the siesta tip, that never occured to me....

Dali's Museum is in Figueres which is over an hour plus from BCN by train. The town and museum are quite laidback. To eat inexpensively in BCN head to University cafeteria. There are a few inexpensive pensiones in puerta del sol area.

i thought dali's museum was closer, good to know, thanks. and i will check out the university cafeteria as well.

to be honest with you, I recently went to the Dali Museum and if you're expecting something amazing, you may be disappointed. It's not that big and the scale is only amazing for when it was built. It has some cool things, then others not at all. I find their collection of paintings isn't the most comprehensive in terms of Dali's work. If you really love Dali, you may like it. I have lots of photos of the museum so I can post some if you'd like to take a peek to make up your own mind.

I was in Barcelona and Madrid this year and there's plenty of nice places to see and eat and stay, let me have a look at my things and I'll post some more soon!

I live in Madrid, when are you comin over?

Just to let you know I'm completely jealous of you. Spain is the one country I really want to visit. I will someday though. Have a great trip!

arriving madrid june 13th... from there, no plans...

You MUST see the Gaudi stuff in Barcelona. It's worth going there JUST to see that... I dunno about the Dali museum (I'd go anyway), but when I was there, Gaudi took up all our time. :) There's the Sagrada Familia "cathedral" (incredible) and Parc Guell, also unmissable. Seriously. And of course Las Ramblas in Barcelona, but you'll probably find your way there automatically.

You planning to stay in hostels? I don't know any in Madrid, but we had a good one in Barcelona that we reserved ahead of time... I could try to find the name for you if you're interested. You ought to get a copy of a Lonely Planet guide before going, seriously.

How long is your stay?

thanks for the offer, i'd appreciate the name of the hostel in barcelona, you can pm me with it. we will only be in spain for 1 week, with focus on getting to barcelona.

PM sent, hope it's helpful.

Sure does make me want to go back to Spain again, ASAP. :(

HUSH YOU!!!!!!

I was watching a show on Reyka Vodka on the Thirsty Traveller... made me want to go there too.

hmmm maybe stop in Iceland on the way to Spain. I wanna go back too.

I know, who am I to say that I want to go to Spain, when I am freaking LIVING in Iceland right now... :shy: I am never satisfied, though... travelling begets more travelling.

But seriously. I have a friend in Pamplona, and we stayed at his place about 5 years ago (me and these two Filipina-American girls, which was hilarious) for the San Fermines/Running of the Bulls festival. It was beyond fun. I highly recommend that everyone go to that festival at least once in their lives... not to run (stupidly) in front of the damn bulls, but just for the whole experience.

Squeeeb, you should check the dates for San Fermines and see if they match up with yours. As I recall, it was late June/early July?

oh that's right, isn't it time for the ferias?

I know it's not been the same since Wild On!, but club Amnesia on Ibiza is a singular experience.