We took our first trip by high-speed train in Spain to travel 2.5 hours from Madrid to Barcelona. By car, this would have took us about 6.5 hours. Choosing to take the high-speed train has opened our eyes to efficient ways to travel around Spain as we live out our goal of visiting all of the provinces. We spent the weekend rekindling old U.S. friendships, enjoying fellowship and beautiful views and checking off the list an area of Spain that we’ve longed to see.

Traveling by Train

This was the first time that we decided to ditch the car and the plane in order to travel as a family of four in Spain and what an adventure it was! We used the app Omio to find the best deals for high-speed train travels from Madrid. We were able to secure four tickets for about 200€ or $230 or so. While the prices of train tickets can be comparable to air travel around Spain, we learned first-hand this weekend some of the advantages of traveling by train. After arriving to the Atocha station via Bolt from our flat, we only had about thirty minutes until the train left the station. We walked right in, put our bags through security and got our seats on the train. It was some easy and quick that we decided we’d try to travel by train around Spain as much as possible moving forward.

Visiting U.S. Friends

While we always wanted to visit Barcelona at some point, we had a good reason to go this past weekend. Logan’s former business mentor and the family friend who helped him secure his original job at his first company in the U.S. was spending some time in Barcelona. Our family had been planning for months to make the trek from Madrid to visit with him and his wife. We’re so glad that we did! We had a wonderful day full of adventuring around Barcelona, seeing beautiful sites and having great fellowship. Living abroad in a country with a different language that you only know a little bit of can feel isolating, so it was great to have a weekend full of fellowship.

Where to Eat and What to See 

By far, our favorite thing we did in Barcelona was eat at 7 Portes. This was a recommendation from someone on Instagram and it was a strong one. We absolutely loved this traditional Spanish restaurant offering delicious paella dishes, fresh seafood and a warm environment. The restaurant was packed so you definitely need a reservation. From what we could tell, this restaurant is an iconic experience in Barcelona being one of the best in the city, so definitely book a daytime sobremesa experience at this place.

Regarding where to stay, we recommend this Airbnb located in Ensanche Izquierdo, Barcelona, walking distance to a lot of sites.

For sightseeing, we really enjoyed seeing the famous Sagrada Familia. It’s hard to even describe the beauty of this building and its uniqueness. While we chose to just enjoy the views of the building from the outside instead of going inside, we couldn’t believe how every view of Sagrada Familia really gave you a different experience. Hands-down this would be the most recommend site I would recommend seeing in Barcelona. If you plan to go inside, you need to secure tickets in advance.

Other notable sites we saw were: Cathedral de Barcelona, walking around the Gothic Quarter, the Arc d’ Triomf with its nearby park and really just strolling the streets of the city in general. Besides 7 Portes, we really liked the gelato at Gelato da La Glace and La Piazzetta for light pizza for cena. We always swear by Oakberry for açaí bowls, too, as a much-needed break from heavy eating.

Differences between Madrid and Barcelona

We don’t normally compare Spanish cities because they’re all so unique. There hasn’t been a Spanish city I’ve found that I couldn’t find something that I loved about it. Yet it was hard to not compare the very distinct differences of Madrid and Barcelona. To me, Madrid felt more conservative and formal/traditional while Barcelona definitely had a trendy, hipster and more liberal vibe. Some other general observations we had was that Barcelona had a way more diverse population of people while Madrid has less expats in general. Because of its beach/coastal vibe, Barcelona definitely way more relaxed than Madrid does.

Barcelona compared to U.S. Cities

When thinking about how Barcelona compares to U.S. cities, we couldn’t help but think that Madrid compared most to New York City (or even Boston) while Barcelona felt more like Los Angeles (or San Francisco). Madrid is filled with traditional structures of buildings, everyone dresses more formal and even the speech sounds more formal. In Barcelona, we felt a California vibe with a more diverse, liberal population and a much more casual environment.

Thanks for the memories, Barcelona! We enjoyed visiting a new beautiful city of Spain. It’s important to note that there are so many other gorgeous things to do in Barcelona, but with limited time, we didn’t get to all of them. Hasta luego, Barcelona!