Madrid or Barcelona pre cruise?

[aungrl]

6 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

We loved the food options in both cities, but we especially found the food in Madrid to be our preference.  Again, less touristy attraction and more local in feel and flavour.

This was our experience, as well.  Barcelona is a wonderful city to visit, but as others have said, Madrid itself is worth sometime, and it makes a great home base for day trips to other towns and sites.  We spent six days based in Madrid on our first trip to Spain and still talk about some of the meals we had and places we got to go.

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, aungrl said:

This was our experience, as well.  Barcelona is a wonderful city to visit, but as others have said, Madrid itself is worth sometime, and it makes a great home base for day trips to other towns and sites.  We spent six days based in Madrid on our first trip to Spain and still talk about some of the meals we had and places we got to go.

 

We did a full day wine tour out of Madrid to very small village wineries and this to this day is one of our most memorable day trips in any country.   We visited three wineries that day and we were lucky to be on a tour because we staggered back at the end of the day!

[friendlyfifer]

We have a holiday home in the Murcia region and have been to both cities. With limited available time, my advice would be to stay in Barcelona. There is so much to see both within the city and also the surrounding area.

Having said that I never tire of Madrid. It is just so Spanish (I hope that doesn’t sound stupid). The food is amazing, the people lovely and there is a myriad of buildings and museums to visit. You can also tour the Royal Palace if the royal family are not in residence.

[Torquato]

2 hours ago, friendlyfifer said:

We have a holiday home in the Murcia region and have been to both cities. With limited available time, my advice would be to stay in Barcelona. There is so much to see both within the city and also the surrounding area.

Having said that I never tire of Madrid. It is just so Spanish (I hope that doesn’t sound stupid). The food is amazing, the people lovely and there is a myriad of buildings and museums to visit. You can also tour the Royal Palace if the royal family are not in residence.

I agree with your assessment of Madrid. Just to clarify, the royal family  residence is the Palacio de la Zarzuela in the outskirts of Madrid. The Royal Palace can be visited year round except for a few holidays and when used for official state functions.

See https://tickets.patrimonionacional.es/en-GB/informacion-recinto/6/palacio-real-de-madrid

[friendlyfifer]

10 hours ago, Torquato said:

I agree with your assessment of Madrid. Just to clarify, the royal family  residence is the Palacio de la Zarzuela in the outskirts of Madrid. The Royal Palace can be visited year round except for a few holidays and when used for official state functions.

See https://tickets.patrimonionacional.es/en-GB/informacion-recinto/6/palacio-real-de-madrid

You’re correct. I should have made that clear. Having been to the majority of European capital cities Madrid would be in my top three.

[CCWineLover]

On 8/27/2023 at 8:16 AM, CDNPolar said:

 

We did a full day wine tour out of Madrid to very small village wineries and this to this day is one of our most memorable day trips in any country.   We visited three wineries that day and we were lucky to be on a tour because we staggered back at the end of the day!

Wow!  That sounds fascinating.   We are in Madrid for 3 full days in early December ahead of a Viking Lisbon cruise.  And will be back in 2024 as well.  Have never been to Madrid.  

What, may I ask, is the name of your full day wine tour?  We'd be quite interested.  

We also plan a day trip to Toledo.  What do all you Madrid experts think of Toledo?  Best to do a full day tour out of Madrid?  Or take the train/bus on your town?  Thanks for the tips!

[lackcreativity]

3 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 We also plan a day trip to Toledo.  What do all you Madrid experts think of Toledo?  Best to do a full day tour out of Madrid?  Or take the train/bus on your town?  Thanks for the tips!

Far from a Madrid expert, but we did take a day trip to Toledo from Madrid and enjoyed the visit. We had a great tapas lunch in a side street restaurant with friendly staff who were happy to practice their English with us as we were early arrivals. Then some local families from grandmas to babies began arriving and we left feeling like we had an authentic experience. We would have enjoyed more time to explore, but on this guided tour we had to make the obligatory stop at the silver merchant's shop, which was interesting for about ten minutes. 

[CDNPolar]

20 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Wow!  That sounds fascinating.   We are in Madrid for 3 full days in early December ahead of a Viking Lisbon cruise.  And will be back in 2024 as well.  Have never been to Madrid.  

What, may I ask, is the name of your full day wine tour?  We'd be quite interested.  

We also plan a day trip to Toledo.  What do all you Madrid experts think of Toledo?  Best to do a full day tour out of Madrid?  Or take the train/bus on your town?  Thanks for the tips!

 

 

Took a bit of digging because the tour is not called what it was when we took it, but we booked with Viator and the offering now looks the same.  (There are a lot of wine tours on Viator)

 

The picture of the guy on the right in the white shirt with arms raised was our guide.  I forget his name, but he is the one, and the pictures internally inside the booking are of the wineries that we went to - very old, very small, and traditional in their wine making.

 

This will stay in memory for a long time.

 

Please do let us know if you take this one and what your thoughts are!

 

Oh, and as a note, because I am on the Canadian site of Viator, the pricing may be different for you.

 

[CCWineLover]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

 

Took a bit of digging because the tour is not called what it was when we took it, but we booked with Viator and the offering now looks the same.  (There are a lot of wine tours on Viator)

 

The picture of the guy on the right in the white shirt with arms raised was our guide.  I forget his name, but he is the one, and the pictures internally inside the booking are of the wineries that we went to - very old, very small, and traditional in their wine making.

 

This will stay in memory for a long time.

 

Please do let us know if you take this one and what your thoughts are!

 

Oh, and as a note, because I am on the Canadian site of Viator, the pricing may be different for you.

 

Thank you so much!  This looks very interesting!  Right up our alley.  We love trying different wines.  We are staying at Intercontinental where we hope to run into the Viking precruise people as well.  We are doing our own thing.

will let you know how it goes and say hi.

[CDNPolar]

19 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Thank you so much!  This looks very interesting!  Right up our alley.  We love trying different wines.  We are staying at Intercontinental where we hope to run into the Viking precruise people as well.  We are doing our own thing.

will let you know how it goes and say hi.

 

Enjoy.  I am sure whatever wine tour you do will be great, but this one took us to - in our opinion - truly unique small wineries.

[slewis7]

On 8/26/2023 at 7:23 PM, CCWineLover said:

We have a cruise in the future out of Lisbon and had chosen to spend 4 days in Madrid ahead of time, since we've never been and have been to Barcelona 3 times.  

I am glad you mentioned this.  We too have a future cruise out of Lisbon and we were planning to stay in Lisbon a few days.   As we have been to Lisbon already, Madrid is a great alternative, but I had not considered it until reading your comment.  It looks like flights are fairly quick and inexpensive to get from Madrid to Lisbon.

 

Also, thanks to other folks in this discussion with some great suggestions about where to go in Madrid and surrounding areas.

 

My comment to the OP is there is plenty to see in Barcelona.  Save Madrid for another trip.  I would recommend making advance reservations to La Sagrada de Familia and to go up one of the towers.  Spectacular!

Edited September 5, 2023 by slewis7

[CDNPolar]

5 hours ago, slewis7 said:

I am glad you mentioned this.  We too have a future cruise out of Lisbon and we were planning to stay in Lisbon a few days.   As we have been to Lisbon already, Madrid is a great alternative, but I had not considered it until reading your comment.  It looks like flights are fairly quick and inexpensive to get from Madrid to Lisbon.

 

Also, thanks to other folks in this discussion with some great suggestions about where to go in Madrid and surrounding areas.

 

My comment to the OP is there is plenty to see in Barcelona.  Save Madrid for another trip.  I would recommend making advance reservations to La Sagrada de Familia and to go up one of the towers.  Spectacular!

 

Anytime that you can pay a bit more for a "skip the line" at an attraction like La Sagrada DO IT.  Lines there can be stupid long.

[slewis7]

11 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Anytime that you can pay a bit more for a "skip the line" at an attraction like La Sagrada DO IT.  Lines there can be stupid long.

Good advice in general.  However, I am not sure that applies here as, based on my recollection, you can (and probably should) buy timed tickets directly from the Sagrada website.

[CDNPolar]

24 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

Good advice in general.  However, I am not sure that applies here as, based on my recollection, you can (and probably should) buy timed tickets directly from the Sagrada website.

My experience was some years back... 2015 to be exact and there were skip the line then, but anything could be different now.

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

35 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

Good advice in general.  However, I am not sure that applies here as, based on my recollection, you can (and probably should) buy timed tickets directly from the Sagrada website.

Pre-sale / skip the line is essentially required. It sells out quickly. The Sagrada is the only distributor of tickets. If you buy a local tour that includes entrance to the Basilica, they are simply buying the tickets for you. If you buy from a 3rd party, you will be sent an email and you must validate your reservation on the Sagrada’s phone app. There were many people on our cruise that did not realize you must make a reservation, sometimes weeks before, and were disappointed that they could not enter.

 

We heard one guy trying to bribe the hotel concierge. “You mean to tell me there is no way to get tickets?”

 

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[CDNPolar]

14 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Pre-sale / skip the line is essentially required. It sells out quickly. The Sagrada is the only distributor of tickets. If you buy a local tour that includes entrance to the Basilica, they are simply buying the tickets for you. If you buy from a 3rd party, you will be sent an email and you must validate your reservation on the Sagrada’s phone app. There were many people on our cruise that did not realize you must make a reservation, sometimes weeks before, and were disappointed that they could not enter.

 

We heard one guy trying to bribe the hotel concierge. “You mean to tell me there is no way to get tickets?”

 

 

 

For sites like this, if not part of a Viking excursion, then we will always search and buy significantly in advance.  We have had great success with Viator and like their cancellation policy.  Even things like the Hop On Hop Off Bus can be advantageous to have your tickets in advance.