Spare time in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia???

[Kiwi-family]

I'm hopeful that we might have some spare time after our walk. We are booking tickets that allow us to cover not so many km each day, but I expect we will be able to walk more than our worst-case-scenario and so have a week or even two spare at the end of our walk. Of course, we could walk out to the coast. But quite frankly, the kids might be over walking after 1,000km! I'm open to that possibility!!! Besides, it's not easy for us to pop to Spain for vacations, so I'm wondering about having some possible plans up my sleeve for making the most of our time. My ideal would have been to fly out of Barcelona and we'd have just gone directly there and spent our spare time there. But we're flying from Madrid.
We can hire a car for a week for 140E so that's cheap transport for five people. Driving to Barcelona is just over 1,000km - or ten hours. To save backtracking over roads we've already traversed, it would seem a good idea to go down the coast to Valencia (3 hours) and then across to Madrid (under 4 hours).

Questions: If we had a week or more is it worth spending the time to drive all the way across to Barcelona or is there so much to do in Madrid, that it is worth having a week there alone? (If we were to go directly to Madrid, we'd just go by train) (BTW I'm feeling my small-country attitude.....driving 1,000km sounds so far....I'm aware we did 6,000km in six days in old motorhomes and having been on the road for a year at that stage, we really didn't think too much of it, but I've been back in NZ for a while now and travel about 20km a week by car!!! In fact, I walk farther than I drive)
What are some must-see things in Madrid? To be honest, I don't know much about it and just want to go to the Prado Museum (preferably once a day for a year, but that's out of the question!), but I'm sure there are other things we should see there. Please tell me what they are.
James Michener has convinced me Valencia is worth a look. Would you agree?
I already had plans for Barcelona from when we thought we would fly from there. But do feel free to remind me of anything you think is essential.

 

[annakappa]

I love Barcelona! Actually, far prefer it to Madrid! Anne

 

[Kiwi-family]

So that makes two votes for Barcelona (yours and mine)

 

[mspath]

Barcelona!! This is a vibrant, fascinating city with outstanding architecture. Don't miss the wonderful modernismo work of Anton Gaudi. See this handy do it yourself walking tour of Gaudi's work set up by TripAdvisor.

Your kids with love his Parc Guell and his unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral unlike any other religious building. You can also walk onto the interior scaffolding.

If you do drive to Barcelona go with caution. Aggressive 'youth' on motorcycles have a nasty habit of slashing visitors' car tires/tyres and then stealing from the car which is forced to stop. Watch out.

Happy planning!

Margaret Meredith

 

[soopi25]

After finishing the Camino this June, my boyfriend and I plus another couple we met along the way drove to Salamanca before heading to Valencia. Salamanca is an incredibly beautiful city and I wish we planned for more than one night there!!! Their square is the most beautiful I saw in Spain, especially at night with all the lights. I may be able to dig up the phone number of the woman who gave us a private tour of the city if that interests you. She was lovely and very knowledgeable.

I also had a friend who went south post-Camino to see Granada and she said it was her favorite part of Spain hands down because it was just so different from what you see in the North.

I had one day in Madrid and after being on the Camino for 34 days, the last thing I wanted to do was deal with being in a big city again! I'm from NYC and the tourists were just too much for me to deal with in Madrid. So my advice would be, if you can, maybe 2 days in Salamanca, 2 days in Granada, 1-2 days in Valencia before heading over to Barcelona! If you do end up driving along the coast, we also took a 30 minute ferry to Isla Tabarca off the coast of Alicante (about 2 hours from Valencia) for a day on the beach.

 

[tyrrek]

I'm with Soopi. After my first Camino I broke the journey home in Barcelona (2 nights) and didn't really enjoy it. I'd been there before and loved it, but after the Camino it was too much too soon. Valencia is a lovely city and a more manageable size, although it's changed a lot since I was a student there. It is a long drive though.

Why not use the car just to casually wind your way down to Madrid taking in a little bit of Portugal and some of the old Castilian towns (Salamanca, Avila, Toledo, Segovia) on the way? There's also El Escorial and the Valle de los Caidos on the way into Madrid, which as supposed to be interesting but I've never been. The galleries in Madrid itself are unmissable, and the Sunday flea market of El Rastro is worth a visit for some quirky souvenirs. Buen Camino!

 

[piogaw]

Hi kiwi-family,

Definitely barcelona. Do watch out for all the professional pickpockets, especially at las ramblas. As mentioned by margaret, be aware of people on the road telling you that you have something wrong with your car, ask you to stop by the roadside and tried to help you. If in doubt pull your car into a petrol station and then check it out yourself. Under no circumstances do you let them help you. These people usually work i group. Once you are distracted there will steal things from you car. I met this kind of scam when i fist encountered it in rome in 1977.

Other time they will put nails on the road in a busy area full of traffic. When you get a flat tire, they will try to help you change your tire. This is when they will be stealing your effects from you car. BE ON THE ALERT!!!!! Refuse any help and have your family watch everything in the car and lock all your doors,

Good luck and hope you will have an enjoyable holiday. God bless.

 

[SummerthorPilgrim]

I LOVED Barcelona, but I'm not sure that it would be worth the time to drive over there from Santiago. You really want to be able to have the time to enjoy it. When I got done with my pilgrimage, I just wanted to take it easy for a week! Madrid is a great city, but think a little outside the "box". How about Toledo? Very close to Madrid and a bit more interesting in my book.

 

[kilgore]

I live in Madrid and I can say that I know very well Barcelona because I've been there many times. Both cities have many interesting places to see. If you like Gaudi and Modernism, the sea, and a cozy city, then you should choose Barcelona. If you like paintings, museums and night life, then Madrid is the option. I agree with Tyrrek and it is a very good advice. The sorroundings of Madrid are very interesting. Segovia and La Granja de San Ildefonso are really nice places and only 30 minutes from Madrid by train. Toledo as well worths a visit. El Escorial is unique. If you can, you shouldn't miss Salamanca. And the mountains between Madrid and Segovia (Navacerrada) are a very beautiful landscape.
In any case, please be very careful with pickpockets, it's a plague in both cities.

 

[peregrina2000]

Oh, wow, what a question. I have a million ideas!

How about a week on the northern coast enjoying beautiful old towns/fishing villages and great fish? Luarca, Cudillero, Llanes, Lastres would be my favorites. The FEVE train runs all along the coast making transportation pretty easy, and then at the end just hop on the bus/train and get to Madrid and the flight homoe.

Or head down towards Madrid and visit the classic trio of Segovia (with the BEAUTIFUL palace at LaGranja about 10 kms away), Avila and Salamanca, ending up with a few days in Madrid. These are all amazing places.

Or zoom south on a fast train or two and spend the time in Andalucia -- something totally different from what you will have seen -- Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla probably can't all be "properly" visited in a week but if you had a few extra days as you might, that's an option.

Or Barcelona with a few day trips -- up the coast to places like San Pere de Rodas, down to Valencia, into the province of Girona.

Or for something totally different, spend a week in Portugal. Lisbon is a great city, less prettified than either Madrid or Barcelona, but has a lot of history and a lot of charm. It's cheaper than Spain, great absolutely great fresh fish, lots of good little day trips from Lisbon too.

You have an absolutely impossible decision to make! The only thing I wouldn't do is to squeeze both Barcelona and Madrid into this trip. Lots of distance, two big cities. Both of them have so much to offer and so much in the vicinity that you would have a full week in either place.

Buen camino, Laurie

p.s. and just to be different, I want to say that I personally prefer Madrid to Barcelona any day. Barcelona is in a better location, is younger and hipper and more touristy, but Madrid just throbs with life and is a stunning monumental city. Not saying I don't like Barcelona, of course.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Well that didn't help (just kidding).
I've copied and pasted all your answers into a document to think about at leisure.
Thanks for the suggestions - I do appreciate it.