Spain

Madrid

Hotel: AC Carlton Madrid, a Marriott property. Friendly and helpful

Staff. 10 minutes walk to the Atocha Train station and also close to another train stop to get you around the city. Rooms are a good size, we opted to just eat breakfast at the hotel. You need the least amount of time in Madrid I think.

Activities:

Retiro Park-it turned out to be a beautiful evening after a day of rain so we rowed boats on the lake after seeing the beautiful Palacio Del Cristal de Retiro which I recommend and it’s free.

We also did the Sandemans free walking tour with tour guide Sebastian who really accommodated our stroller and the rain! Well worth the time but get ready to walk a lot.

Restaurants:

Takos Al Pastor was delicious and recommended by Foodiechoo

http://foodiechoo.blogspot.com/?m=1

We got a lot of restaurant recommendations from Nili and she did not disappoint.

Tinto y Tapas was also a more Italian flare restaurant that was good

Chocolateria San Gines for churros and chocolate

Side note lunch is usually open from 1-4pm and dinner 8pm onwards so plan your meals accordingly

Seville

We took the train from Madrid, we did pre buy these tickets just so we got the time we wanted. The train stations are organized and everyone is so helpful.

We rented an apartment which was about 1km from major sites. Our host met us when we arrived and explained things to us very nicely. This place comfortably fit 8 people, only downside was we needed to buy more paper goods, they had everything but not enough for 5 nights and 8 people. The AC worked amazingly!

Activities:

We ended up doing the Hop on and off bus tour as it was raining

Definitely do the hot air balloon ride booked through viator with the company Gloobo. They picked up from our apartment and dropped off as well. This was a big highlight for my sister in law, she finally saw her sunflowers!!!! 😊 I wish we had planned to do it on the other day and Kaavya could’ve stayed with the rest of the family as kids under 12 aren’t allowed.

https://m.viator.com/tours/Seville/Seville-Hot-Air-Balloon-Ride/d556-6037SEVILLE

We also did the 40 minute tour of the bull fighting ring, fights are on Thursday nights for those that are interested. It’s a good tour if you’ve got time to kill-no pun intended 😂

Check out the Flamenco Show at La Carboneria which starts at 9:30pm, it’s free, traditional and we highly recommend it! There are drinks and snacks you can purchase. I’d get there by 8/8:30 to get a good seat!’

Definitely tour the cathedral but if you are pressed on time Royal Alcazar Palace could be skipped.

Restaurants:

Al Sultan- chicken schwarma was amazing

La Brunilda-everything was amazing and veggie friendly

Gusto had amazing veggie paella

I Oca Giuliva had excellent Italian fare, we went twice and got the truffle mushroom fettuccini both times. It’s the sister restaurant to Gusto.

We also went to a place next to the Mercado Fiera. The restaurant was okay however if you are a seafood eater I’d eat in the market itself, it looked very cool.

Bring CRP if you like things spicy, we usually do but forgot.

For the most part we walked the city. It’s not as small as I thought but definitely walking radius for all the main sites and areas. We took a cab to and from train station and airport. If you have an early departure I’d recommend calling 954-580-000 to arrange a taxi ahead of time, they were very punctual and spoke English!

Day trip to Granada

We took the train to Granada from

Seville. It happened to be half train and half bus ride, we believe there was maintenance going on. Anyways what I’d suggest is to just do 3-4 full days in Seville and then 2-3 nights in Granada.

Buy tickets to Alhambra early!!! I looked 3 months prior and all the dates we could’ve gone were sold out. Apparently the gardens are free to roam. I highly recommend visiting Mirador San Nicolas, a bus also goes there too but we walked up and bussed it back down. It was a beautiful scenic viewpoint where we took photos of Alhambra and had drinks at the cafe right below. We ate lunch at Restaurante Libanes Samarcanda in the area where there was a big Moroccan influence. We even bought lanterns from one of the shops and had them shipped home!

We ended up just walking around the rest of the day before taking the train back to Seville.

We flew from Seville to Barca on Ryan Air the next morning.

Barcelona

Upon arrival we took a cab which was 40-50 euros to the Melia Barcelona Sky hotel. I’d spend the most time in Barcelona. The hotel was great, had a pool and a nice breakfast place around the corner. Continental breakfast is offered but will cost you 16euros/person. The L4 train line is close by and gets you to most sites and train connections. We bought the 4 day unlimited bus/train pass which was 28 euros/person which I recommend. They have different length passes.

If you are craving some Indian variety, Surya Pau Claris and Rangoli were both great. Another place was Rasoterra-all veggie place, call ahead for reservations-they do not respond to email. We were going to go to Traguluz however when I looked at their menu they did not have the truffle pasta we wanted and did not look as veggie friendly. Hit up La Fermata de Provence for pizza, and SOCO if you want American style food.

Buy tickets to Sagrada Familia and Park Güell at least 1 week before to get the right times and dates. I didn’t realize this but Park Güell and Gaudi house museum are separate tickets-so buy tickets accordingly. We personally liked Sagrada and Park Güell. Definitely check out the dancing water fountain show in front of Plaza España every evening from 9:30-10:30. Half the group toured FC Barcelona stadium which they really liked too. Barcelona is where we bought most of our souvenirs and did our shopping. Get the VAT if offered, always ask. We also did the Picasso museum when it was free, check site for details.

All in all this vacation was definitely one of my favorites. We took along our 3 year old and she did great with food and traveling. Definitely take a stroller but one that will hold up against cobble stone roads. Our barely made it back and it was brand new-I am currently trying to get a new one lol through summer lite. Check the weather and pack accordingly, we had varying temperature and rain! If your cell phone enables data, use it, it’ll get you places way faster! We found cheap airline tickets on Norwegian air. I’d definitely go back to Barcelona and maybe next time Mallorca!