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Going to Spain - Tell me where to go

Any neighborhood recommendations in Barca and Madrid for hotels/airbnb?
 
Found a place in Barca on the line between El Poble Sec and Santa Monjuic, right at the jardin del teatro grec. Seems like it might be a little out of the way, but maybe not too bad.
 
wfudkn said:
How about the El Born neighborhood?
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Awesome. Really comes alive at night. No lack of cool places to drink and eat.

I would check out Barceloneta during the day as well, near the beach.
 
wfudkn said:
Any neighborhood recommendations in Barca and Madrid for hotels/airbnb?
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Studied abroad in Madrid for 4 months. I would recommend staying near Sol. Heart of the city, can get everywhere via the metro.

Bars - El Tigre, La Fontana del Oro, Beer Station, Chapandaz
Food - Mercado de San Miguel, Lateral, Botin (oldest restaurant in the world, worth every euro)
 
dalbertthekid said:
Studied abroad in Madrid for 4 months. I would recommend staying near Sol. Heart of the city, can get everywhere via the metro.

Bars - El Tigre, La Fontana del Oro, Beer Station, Chapandaz
Food - Mercado de San Miguel, Lateral, Botin (oldest restaurant in the world, worth every euro)
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We were looking at places in Sol, Chueca and Malasana. Found on in Malasana is awesome, but it looks a little far away from the city center.
 
Ima bump this again. Haven't gotten enough responses re neighborhoods to stay in. Thinking el born for Barca, but would like more input.
 
lo siento; no puedo ayudarte.
 
wfudkn said:
Ima bump this again. Haven't gotten enough responses re neighborhoods to stay in. Thinking el born for Barca, but would like more input.
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If you find a decent place in the El Born area, I would definitely stay there. We stayed right on Las Ramblas last year, and the hotel was cool and we had a balcony, but a ton of tourists and a lot of your typical over priced places to eat (Definitely check out the boqueria street market though). The best places to go out were over in El Born. It wasn't that far of a walk, but still I would say its the coolest area if you can stay there, I would.

Def check out Parque Guell if only for the view if the weather is nice. The architecture is also amazing. I can also highly recommend doing a bike tour, if you think thats your thing. Do it the first day to arrive and you will get a great feel for the city. We did a five hour tour and felt like we got to see almost everything. We weren't that interested in waiting in line for museums or the sagrada familia, so it worked for us. We also aren't in to clubs or anything either, but if that is your thing, maybe try to stay closer to the beach..
 
TwentyONE said:
If you find a decent place in the El Born area, I would definitely stay there. We stayed right on Las Ramblas last year, and the hotel was cool and we had a balcony, but a ton of tourists and a lot of your typical over priced places to eat (Definitely check out the boqueria street market though). The best places to go out were over in El Born. It wasn't that far of a walk, but still I would say its the coolest area if you can stay there, I would.

Def check out Parque Guell if only for the view if the weather is nice. The architecture is also amazing. I can also highly recommend doing a bike tour, if you think thats your thing. Do it the first day to arrive and you will get a great feel for the city. We did a five hour tour and felt like we got to see almost everything. We weren't that interested in waiting in line for museums or the sagrada familia, so it worked for us. We also aren't in to clubs or anything either, but if that is your thing, maybe try to stay closer to the beach..
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What company did you do your bike tour with?
 
DistrictDeacon said:
What company did you do your bike tour with?
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I believe it was this one: http://barcelona.fattirebiketours.com/

Really good time. You cover so much more ground on the bikes compared to walking and it was a lot of fun. The guide gave us a lot of good recommendations for places to go out and eat as well.

If I can dig it up, there was a great Paella place he suggested on the beach. Also there are many, many great tapas places and other restaurants in the El Born neighborhood. Generally, stay away from Ramblas or any place that has a picture of the food out front. Also there are a bunch of 1 euro tapa places that are generally thought of as being for suckers. Barcelona is generally more expensive than the rest of Spain (your money is not gonna go as far as in say, Valencia). But its an awesome city and worth seeing.
 
I'm trying to look up where we got paella in Barcelona. it was in this absolutely hole in the wall place recommended to us where this old lady made it with such attention and care.
 
And in Barcelona you have to go to La Boqueria (the market). One of the biggest in Europe. It's fun to just grab stuff for a picnic (the beach is a short walk away) or to eat at either El Quim or Bar Pinotxo, both inside the market. La Boqueria is just off La Rambla, but don't eat in any of the restaurants on that street...total ripoff/tourist trap.

and if a restaurant has a sign like this outside (or similar). avoid.

paellador.JPG
 
Bump

I'm looking at Spain as a potential vacation destination this summer. I've never been before, and don't have anywhere I'd need to go or be. If you had 9-10 days to kill, where would you spend them?
 
OldGoldBeard said:
Bump

I'm looking at Spain as a potential vacation destination this summer. I've never been before, and don't have anywhere I'd need to go or be. If you had 9-10 days to kill, where would you spend them?
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looking at doing the same.

I'd suggest flying into Madrid maybe spend a day or two there then taking the AVE high-speed train or a flight to Barcelona (it's the most popular air route in the world so flights are very frequent on multiple airlines and very cheap, as are most intra-Spain flights). maybe 3-4 nights there. then head over to Andalucia, particularly Sevilla for a few nights. Sevilla is like quintessential, stereotypical Spain people imagine with flamenco, bullfighting, the architecture, oranges on all the trees, etc. I'm very partial to San Sebastian, so I'd recommend hitting it up as well if you can. you can fly between Sevilla/Bilbao and vice-versa easily. when in Bilbao, do the Guggenheim, then take the bus to SS, about an hour away.

most recent trip a few years ago we did:

Fly to Madrid, spend a night there
Fly to Barcelona, 3 nights
Fly to Bilbao, bust to SS, 2 nights there
Bus back to Bilbao, fly to Sevilla 3 nights
AVE to Madrid, 1 night there, fly home
 
you can also take time when in Sevilla and go to Cordoba, which is really cool town with a giant mosque and an awesome historical district. could take the train there and spend the night as it's on the way between Sevilla and Madrid
 
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