r/spaintravel

My family will be going from the Madrid airport to Toledo to Segovia to Avila and then back to Madrid. Is the train best for this route or is the bus better? Either way, do we have to buy tickets in advance or can we buy the tickets the day of? Thanks!

I am visiting soon and I don’t want the typical “Top 10 tourist restaurants” from Google. I want the places locals genuinely love and keep going back to.
Could be:
a tiny hidden gem
best late-night food
legendary breakfast spot
hole-in-the-wall with insane flavors
family-run restaurant
best street food
best dessert in town
overrated spots to avoid 👀
I’m open to EVERYTHING — cheap eats, fancy dinners, weird local specialties, comfort food, food trucks… all of it.
Bonus points if you tell me:
What to order
Best time to go
What makes it special
Would love to build my food list based on local recommendations instead of influencer hype. 🙏
Drop your absolute must-try spots below! 🍻

Madrid 33C (low 90s F}, mid May, is this typical? I thought it didn't happen until later.

I am going to malaga for 3 days and would like to visit another near place to it, i heard about torremolinos and fuengirlona. Which one is better ?
Knowing that i am 29M travelling alone, and love to enjoy beaches, drinks, good food and bars/pubs at night. I also dont mind meeting new people speaking english or french

Thanks

​¡Hola! Voy a ir como apoyo de un atleta en la ultra maratón de 50 km de RunThrough Trails Girona este sábado 23 de mayo de 2026. ¿Alguien va a hacer una ruta similar para pasar por los avituallamientos (6 en total) y le gustaría compartir coche? ¡Estaría muy agradecida! 🙏

Hello! I'm supporting an athlete for the RunThrough Trails Girona 50km Ultramarathon this Saturday, 23 May 2026. Is anyone planning a similar route to hit the aid stations (6 in total) and wants to carpool/share a ride? I'd be incredibly grateful! 🙏

Hi,

I’ll be visiting Spain around September and looking for some feedback. This will be my second time visiting Europe, last year around the same time, I visited Italy.

Please provide me with some feedback or things to consider that you think I should be aware of.

My preference is some planning, wondering, vibes & free will :)

Thanks!
__________________

Madrid
Centro

Day 1: Arrival (00:00am)/Check-in
Bag Drop-Off
Breakfast
Explore
Puerta del Sol
Plaza Mayor
La Latina
Nap
Food
Mercado de San Miguel
Calle de la Cava Baja

Day 2: Madrid Lifestyle & Vibes
Morning
El Retiro Park
Crystal Palace
Brunch (central)
Mur Café (cozy + pancakes)
ACID Café (more modern/local crowd)
Late Afternoon / Evening
Salamanca ~ upscale
Flamenco show
Sunset Drinks
Círculo de Bellas Artes ~ drinks
Night food + neighborhoods
Malasaña ~ vintage shops and street art
La Latina
Calle de la Cava Baja

Day 3: Historic Heart & Royal Splendor
Morning
Puerta del Sol
Plaza Mayor
Chocolatería san ginés (breakfast)
Midday
Royal Palace of Madrid
Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena
Templo de Debed (mb)
Evening
Mercado de San Miguel
Dinner
Gran Vía
Pub Crawl

__________________

Palma de Mallorca
Cas Català-Illetes

Day 4: Fly to Mallorca
Check-in; Relax on Beach

*Ignore the time stamp, as I cut out the second half of the day in Deia

Day 5: Mountain Villages by Vintage Train
Morning Palma (8:30)
At Ferrocarril de Sóller station in Palma de Mallorca
September tip: still busy → arrive 20–30 min early

Train to Sóller (9:10-10:15)
Main morning departure (very reliable in September)
Scenic ride through the Serra de Tramuntana

Sóller quick explore (10:15-10:40)
Walk Plaça Constitució
Grab:
fresh orange juice 🍊 (local specialty)
quick coffee

Tram to Port de Sóller (10:50-11:15)
Classic wooden tram to Port de Sóller

Relaxed seaside lunch (11:15 - 1:15)
Walk promenade
Lunch (12:00 - 1:15)
Kingfisher Restaurant
Waterfront, excellent seafood, relaxed but polished
Es Canyis
Slightly more upscale, very good fish dishes

Evening Centre Palma
Almudaina Palace
Cathedral of Santa Maria
Districts: Santa Catalina, Palma Old Town
Bellver Castle

Day 6: Relax/explore
__________________

Barcelona
El Raval

Day 7: Fly to Barcelona
Check-in
Nap
Explore
Gothic Quarter
La Ramblas Blvd

Day 8: Architectural Masterpieces
Sagrada Familia Basilica
Park Güell

Day 9: Markets & Coastal Views
Morning
Boqueria Market
Afternoon
Montjuïc Hill
Evening
Sitges

Day 10: see ya!

[supprimé]

Planning our Spain honeymoon-ish trip for late Sep–early Oct and would LOVE some feedback from people who’ve done a similar route.

A little context:

We realised while planning that we’re NOT huge “cathedral/history all day” travelers. We enjoy:
Mediterranean/coastal city vibes
cafés + rooftop bars
marina walks
scenic transport
relaxed wandering
beach/coastal energy
atmosphere > checking monuments off a list

So we’ve slowly shifted our itinerary away from the classic heavy Andalucía circuit.

Current plan:

🇪🇸 Barcelona — 4 nights
staying near city centre
Montserrat day trip
Sagrada Família, Gothic Quarter, El Born, beach/coastal vibe

🇪🇸 Seville — 3 nights
mainly for flamenco, Santa Cruz, Alcázar, tapas, Plaza de España
skipping Córdoba because we feel we may get architecture/history fatigue

🇪🇸 Málaga — 4 nights
this honestly feels much more our vibe
want to enjoy Mediterranean city life, beach walks, rooftops, cafés, marina evenings etc.
planning a Granada day trip mainly for Alhambra + Albaicín + Mirador de San Nicolás

🇪🇸 Mallorca (Port de Sóller) — 4 nights
staying at Bikini Island & Mountain Hotel
want this part to be slower and scenic
tram/train experience, Deià, marina sunsets, boat day, relaxing

Main question:
Are we making the right decision by reducing Granada/Andalusia-heavy sightseeing and leaning more into Málaga + Mallorca?

A lot of Reddit threads say Granada deserves 3 nights, but we’re wondering if that advice is more for people deeply into history/architecture/cultural immersion.
Would love opinions from people who prefer a more Mediterranean lifestyle-style vacation over a monument-focused itinerar

PS: Used chatgpt to make it more readable.

I'm moving to Spain in August and wanted to get there early to take a language intensive, but I'm not sure what school/program would be best. I've heard a bit about Instituto Hemingway; it looks promising, but I was hoping to hear about other people's experiences.

Me and two other friends (all 17) are thinking about going to Lloret de Mar this summer. We have allready looked at, and are probably going to book, acomondations with a teen travelling agency thats popular in Belgium, Jongerentravel.

We are mainly going to lloret to party, but we are a bit unclear on the rules and what is posible. Some websites say that you have to be 18 to go in the clubs, others say 16. which is it? And because we dont want to spent to much in the clubs, we are also looking for bars, and even beter shops, where they will let us buy alcohol and wont check ID.

Also if there are any must see or do atractions in and around Lloret, we would love to know!

Renfe runs from Madrid center to Barcelona. For a return flight back home at 2:30 pm from Madrid airport, would you take an early renfe back to Madrid center and then an uber to the airport, or rather a direct, slower train to Madrid airport? Or should we fly? Advice appreciated.

It’s travel season! Here are some tips from one of the local groups I follow, Livable Albayzin. They are trying to keep their neighborhood from becoming a theme park.

Walk with intention. Leave space for people who live here.
Speak softly. On narrow streets everything is louder
Choose local businesses. It’s where authenticity is.
View with respect. Every house is a home.
Give the gift of silence. It too is part of the journey.
Take out what you brought in. Including trash.
Take care of the walls. They already tell their own story.
Leave public transportation to those who need it most.

What they are asking for is that we watch where we’re going, not write on the walls, yell down the streets, cackle in front of people’s living room windows, walk 4 abreast down the streets, or take 20 able-bodied people on a bus when you could walk. All that sounds reasonable to me.

Anyone else get annoyed by how overcomplicated currency converter apps became while traveling?
I was in airports/trains across multiple countries recently and noticed most FX apps now feel packed with ads, accounts, subscriptions, popups, or way too many features when all I wanted was:
• quick conversion
• offline-friendly feel
• fast swapping between currencies
• simple UI while moving around
Curious what people here actually use while traveling in the Spain/EU?
Do you stick with your bank app, Google, iPhone calculator, Revolut, or a dedicated converter app?

Hello, we are a family of 4 spending a week near Torredembarra. We fly into Barcelona airport. Will it be easy to get a (large) taxi from the airport to Torredembarra area? What would be the approx cost? We have 2 very young children so reluctant to wing it as I would have done in the past, and too much luggage for public transport.

I know car rental is also a possibility but trying to weigh the pros and cons as we don't expect to drive much once there.

Thanks!

Nous sommes un jeune couple de 24 ans , nous souhaitons quitter la France car d’autre objectifs en vue.
J’ai de bonne base en espagnol, la langue ne sera pas un frein.
Niveau travail j’ai vue que sa pouvais être difficile de trouver ? Est-ce une réalité ?
Auriez vous des villes a me conseiller ou des campagnes ? Autours de malaga environ 40km.

UPDATE: Resolved within half a day, faster than expected!

For anyone dealing with a similar issue, here's what actually worked:

Omio's chatbot is useless, but they DO have human customer service, they just don't make it easy to find. I emailed press@omio.com and info@omio.com, and by noon the next day I had a real human response from help@omio.com confirming a refund. So if you're stuck in chatbot hell, try those addresses.

I also separately emailed DAMAS to file a formal complaint about the driver's conduct. They responded and confirmed they had cancelled the ticket in their system.

Full timeline:

- ~dropped off the bus: sent emails to Omio and DAMAS

- Next day noon: Omio human agent replied

- ~2pm: refund confirmed

- Shortly after: DAMAS replied acknowledging the complaint

So it worked out! Still think it shouldn't require this much effort for a €15 ticket, but hopefully this helps someone else 😅

———————————————————————————-

Just got off a DAMAS bus from Ronda to Seville. Booked my ticket on Omio, showed up with my QR code like a normal human being in 2026, and the driver just looked at me and said "no."

That's it. Just "no." No explanation, no pointing at anything, no attempt to help. I don't speak Spanish, she didn't speak English, and she clearly had zero interest in figuring it out together.

I asked other staff nearby, they confirmed it was the right bus. Still no help from the driver. Bus was about to leave so I just... bought another ticket in cash. €15 gone. Paid twice for the same seat.

Omio's support is just an AI chatbot that told me to contact the bus company. The bus company will probably tell me to contact Omio. You know how this goes.

Anyway, if you're taking DAMAS buses in Spain, maybe just buy the ticket on the bus. Learn from my €15 mistake and the driver is rude as f.

I’m still frustrated while typing this, cause it’s hard for me not to think it‘s because my ethnicity and couldn’t understand Spanish so got this kind of treatment.

I’m traveling to spain from the states with a friend for primavera sound. This will be both of our first times and we wanted to check out porto and lisbon as well. So far our itinerary is:
Land in barcelona june 2nd
Stay in barcelona until june 10th?
Fly barcelona to porto round trip and return june 16th
Stay a couple days in porto and lisbon
I really wanted to check out granada and was looking and train routs from barcelona>granada>lisbon>porto>fly back to barcelona.
Would this be feasible with the amount of time we are going to be in spain/portugal? Am i not spending enough time in each city? Is it worth skipping porto in favor of granada? I’m researching and it looks like we will have 2 nights per city if i include granada but im not sure if it’s worth the extra money for the train ticket. I do have to work in lisbon one of the days as well too