Exploring Madrid & Barcelona after catching flight deals to Spain.
Day 1
Our trip started with a delayed departure out of the Blue Grass Airport since we had to de-ice. We made it to our gate at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport just in time for our boarding group to be called.
Since we had purchased Basic Economy seats after being alerted of discounted tickets from Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights), we weren’t sure if we would end up sitting next to each other on the flight. Luckily we were assigned seats next to each other, and Ashley even had one of the few open seats on the plane next to her.
Note: If you would like more information on how we search for discounted flights, check out our post: Flight Deals 101
Day 2
The flight arrived into Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) in time for a quick bathroom break, and coffee for Ashley of course, before we boarded our next flight to Madrid. Once we landed at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport in Madrid we took an Uber to the train station in Puerta de Atocha downtown.
We had originally purchased train tickets that departed Madrid at 6:00 p.m. but we arrived earlier than expected due to flight schedule changes. Ashley found affordable tickets with Ouigo, who had a train departing at 2:15 p.m., so we decided to purchase new tickets and headed to the platform where they were boarding!
The ride was very comfortable as we crossed the countryside of Spain at speeds up to 193 mph. We took an Uber from the airport to Hilton Barcelona once arriving.
After checking in we dropped our luggage in the room and quickly found the nearest restaurant, The Good Burger, for dinner.
After enjoying some food, Ashley wanted to walk around the nearby mall and do some shopping. She loves to shop at Zara when in Europe since it’s much cheaper than the U.S. Zara locations.
Day 3
We ate breakfast at the hotel before heading out to explore the city of Barcelona. Our first stop was Casa Mila, a private residence designed by famed architect Antoni Gaudí.
We then walked down Passeig de Gràcia which is a popular street known for famous architecture and shopping. Since it was Sunday morning many of the stores were closed…. my wallet was thankful!
On our way to the La Sagrada Familia we passed through Catalonia Square. La Sagrada Familia is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Construction started in 1882 and currently has an anticipated completion date of 2026, which seems to be unlikely due to delays during COVID. It was one of the most ornate buildings we have explored and we spent around an hour exploring the interior and exterior.
After the La Sagrada Familia, we headed towards Park Güell, another one of Antoni Gaudi’s creations. This was a bit of a walk, but we enjoyed the architecture along the way as we passed through several plazas.
When we arrived at Park Güell, we picked up a park map and started exploring, making sure to stop at all of the highlighted points. We were fortunate to have great weather while we visited the park since it rained on us later in the day.
After the park, we stopped for lunch at Oassis Natrual Cooking. We shared nachos and pizza tapas, and then stopped for desert just down the street at Farggi 1957 Gelato.
We finished our day by exploring Las Rambla, which is a very popular boulevard that has a variety of shops and restaurants. We eventually decided we were tired of getting rained on and headed back to the hotel for the night.
Day 4
Ashley woke up around 4:15 am Spain time to watch the last quarter of the Bengals vs. Raven’s playoff game (the Bengal’s ended up winning 24-17).
Shortly after the game was over, we were both up and getting ready for our early flight from Barcelona Airport to Morocco! We took an Uber from the hotel to the airport. After security, we ate breakfast and hung out in the Sala VIP Miro lounge until our departure time. This was one of the nicest airport lounges we have been in, and would have enjoyed some extra time to relax there. For tips on how to get free access to airport lounges, check out our post about the best Travel Credit Cards.
We flew Vueling from Barcelona to Tangier Ibn Battouta airport in Morocco. This was the most chaotic flight we had ever been on. There wasn’t any order during boarding, and as soon as we touched down, everyone stood up and started taking luggage down while we were taxiing off the runway. The flight attendants tried their best to get everyone seated ( we haven’t even cleared the runway ) but people continued moving around the entire time we taxied.
We took a resort shuttle from the airport to the Hilton Tangier Al Houara Resort & Spa. At check in we were greet with glasses of tea and escorted to our room by a friendly porter.
We had initially planned to go into Tangier and explore the city, but due to poor weather that afternoon, we decided to just spend the day around the resort property. Fortunately that evening the sun came out and we were able to enjoy a walk along the beach after dinner.
Day 5
We ate breakfast at the hotel and enjoyed a relaxing morning until checking out. We then took the hotel shuttle back to the airport for our flight to Madrid on Ryanair.
Once arriving in Madrid, we took the hotel shuttle to the Hilton Madrid Airport. The Hilton Madrid Airport was outside of the city limits, but we decided to stay both nights there to avoid having to switch hotels since we had an early departure on our final day.
After checking into the room, we dropped our luggage and took an Uber to Pureta Del Sol to start our exploration of Madrid. We then continued on to Plaza Mayor and Plaza España. For lunch, we picked up empanadas at the Mercado de San Miguel.
After lunch we explore a few more plazas and Ashley spent some time shopping in various stores.
That evening we timed our visit to the Temple of Debod around sunset based on pictures we had saw online. There was a little bit of color in the sky but unfortunately the water had been drained during our visit!
For dinner, we walked around until we saw a menu that looked interesting. We ended up finding La Bobia which was an Austrian inspired restaurant. The food turned out to be okay but we wouldn’t go out of the way to eat there again.
Day 6
Our first stop on our second day in Madrid was the Toledo Bridge. From the bridge we walked to Palacio de Cibeles. We planned to tour the inside of the palace but it was closed for a wedding.
El Retiro Park is just a short walk from the Palacio de Cibeles. This is a 350 acre park that consists of gardens, monuments and a lake. In 2021 it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We ate lunch at Takos Al Pastor. The restaurant was very busy but turned out to be worth the wait! The tacos were tasty and cheap!
We ended the day by going back to tour the inside of the Royal Palace. We thought it was free during certain times of day, but we discovered this only applies to EU citizens and it ended up being $6 for each of us. Photos were only allowed in specific parts of the palace. The palace consisted of 1,450,000 sq. ft. made up of 3,418 individual rooms.
After the palace, we headed back to the hotel to pack up and catch a little sleep for our day of travel back home.
Day 7
Our first flight of the day was from Madrid to Paris with Air France. Unfortunately our departure was delayed due to an Air Traffic Control strike that was taking place in Paris. We ended up making it to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport with just enough time to spend our last 10 Euros on snacks and board our flight to Detroit.
We had a 100+ mile per hour headwind the majority of the flight from Paris to Detroit. This added over an hour to our flight that was already scheduled at 8.5 hours! This resulted in another close call with our connecting flight, but luckily we were able to clear customs in time to make it on our flight back to Lexington, Kentucky!
Final Notes
Ashley and I had talked about visiting Spain since Ashley’s first visit in 2016, so it was impossible for us to pass up round trip airfare to Madrid for $400. Even though the weather was cool during winter, we really enjoyed exploring both Madrid and Barcelona. Both cities felt safe and were very clean. We look forward to returning to Spain again in the future to check out some of the smaller towns along the southern coast!
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