Spain and Italy are the two requests I receive the most for travelers wanting to visit Europe. I’ve done various iterations of Spain itineraries over the years, but this prospective client wanted the Classic Spain experience with a lot of free time to explore independently. They did Madrid to Seville to Barcelona, with a couple of day trips to see other cities.
A classic Spain itinerary has to include both Barcelona and Madrid as two pillars around which the trip is built. From there you add in additional cities to visit. Some of the more common requests are Seville, Cordoba, and Granada. In this itinerary we decided to add Seville as a third city and add day trips to anywhere else they wanted to visit so that they could spend the bulk of their time in Madrid and Barcelona, rather than being on the move.
Here is how the itinerary turned out:
Table of Contents
Day 1: Depart Home Airport
9:20 AM – Depart from home airport
Day 2: Arrive in Madrid to Start This Classic Spain Itinerary
7:30 AM – Arrive at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport
8:00 AM – Private transfer from the airport to the client’s hotel
8:45 AM – Client arrived at their hotel and had the front desk store their luggage for them as they were too early to check in.
(Unless they are booked in an All Inclusive Resort, I always recommend that clients arriving at their destination in the morning set their check in for the day before. Read my post about why I suggest this here.)
11:00 AM – I set up a Madrid bike tour that was meeting 10 minutes from the client’s hotel. I always suggest some type of general or orientation tour for the first day in a destination, and this classic Spain itinerary is no exception.
2:00 – Complete hotel check in and spend the rest of the day at leisure
Day 3: Exploring Madrid and Half Day Trip to Toledo
8:00 AM – Breakfast at the hotel.
9:00 AM – Free time this morning to wander Madrid.
3:00 PM – Afternoon guided group tour to Toledo. Toledo is about an hour from Madrid by car and is easily reached by train. I booked this afternoon guided walking tour for my clients so they could get there and back easily and see the major highlights with a guide.
8:00 PM – Return to Madrid
Day 4: Museums and Tapas
8:00 AM – Breakfast
9:00 AM – Independent exploration of the museums in Madrid’s Golden Triangle. Pre-purchased tickets for the Prado and let clients decide that day if they wanted to visit the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museums.
7:00 PM – Madrid Tapas Adventure. Food tours are such a great way to see a city. I always recommend adding at least one food tour to your itinerary wherever in Europe you might be heading, the guides are often incredible and you might not like all of the food but you’ll almost always come away having tasted something wonderful and learned something new.
Day 5: Madrid to Seville
10:00 AM – Clients check out from their Madrid hotel
11:00 AM – Train from Puerta de Atocha to Seville Santa Justa
2:45 PM – Arrive in Seville
3:15 PM – Clients check in at their Seville hotel
7:00 PM – Tapas, Taverns and History Tour by Devour Tours. This tour included 8 food tastings and 4 drinks at four family-run bars in Santa Cruz and Arenal.
Day 6: Real Alcazar and on to Barcelona
The clients wanted to see Seville but not spend too much time there, so I tried to maximize the time they did have with tours on the day they arrived and the day they left. Again, a classic Spain itinerary is more interesting if you include at least one additional city to your two pillars of Barcelona and Madrid.
9:00 AM – Clients check out from their hotel and ask the front desk to store their luggage.
10:00 AM – Visit the Real Alcázar, Seville’s Unesco-listed palace complex. This was a request the client specifically asked to be included in their itinerary.
2:15 PM – Train from Sevilla Santa Justa to Barcelona Sants. This is a 5 hour plus train ride. Another option would be a RyanAir or Vueling flight to Barcelona, which would take about an hour and forty minutes, but then you would have to cope with the airport. For many travelers, the train is part of the experience.
8:00 PM – Clients check into hotel on La Rambla.
Day 7: Welcome to Barcelona and La Sagrada Familia
8:00 AM – Wander Las Ramblas for coffee and breakfast.
9:00 AM – Free Time in Barcelona.
3:30 PM – Timed entry tickets for La Sagrada Familia
6:00 PM – Dinner or free time
Day 8: Free Time in Barcelona
Completely unscheduled day in Barcelona. I attached a list of things to do in Barcelona to their itinerary as well as self guided walking tour options, but this was a day that they wanted to figure out on their own. You can read my list of things to do in Barcelona here.
Day 9: Figueres and Cadaques
8:30 AM – Guided Small-Group Day Trip to Figueres and Cadaques including the Salvador Dali House Museum. This was an all day tour so there were no other activities planned.
Day 10: Free Time in Barcelona
Another unscheduled day in Barcelona. This would be a good opportunity to visit the beach or take a food tour.
Day 11: Free Time in Barcelona
Last full day in Barcelona. Again, clients wanted unscheduled time. This would be a perfect day for a visit to a hammam like Aire Ancient Baths.
Day 12: Depart Barcelona
7:00 AM – Clients check out from their Barcelona hotel.
7:30 AM – Clients are transferred to Barcelona El Prat Airport by private car.
11:00 AM – Clients depart Barcelona
An interesting note about Barcelona El Prat – it is what is known as a “silent airport.” The amount of public information messages broadcast by loudspeaker is reduced, so keep a careful eye on the boards for flight information and always add the app for the airline you are flying with to your phone.
Additional Links
Here are more links I included in this client’s classic Spain itinerary:
This page is archived now but still working – it’s an interactive map to Gaudi’s Barcelona
Tips for visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid
Keep reading…
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