I went on an amazing art history trip to Spain in May with my best friend and loved it. Our itinerary was packed with delicious food, incredible history, and breathtaking art. I’ve visited Spain once before and loved it but this trip made me fall even more in love.
I highly recommend planning a visit to Spain on your next trip to Europe. Check out our daily itinerary below for what to do in Barcelona, Madrid, Grenada and Malaga! Plus a few extra day trips!
day 1: arrive in barcelona
- We landed in Barcelona and made our way to our hotel Ramblas Barcelona
- We freshened up and headed to Gran Teatre del Liceu, a famous opera house in the heart of the city
- On our way back we walked past the Cathedral (one of my favorite spots in Barcelona) and found some amazing Churros con Chocolate at Xurreria Manuel San Roman
- After that we went back to our room and took a very long nap (siesta’s are very important in Spain)
- Later we wandered around the Gothic Quarter and found some Gelato at Gelaaati di Marco and walked to Ciutadella Park
DAY 2: SPEND A DAY IN BARCELONA
- Woke up early and headed to the Sagrada Familia, hot tip: going at the earliest time means less people. It was beautiful and peaceful, highly recommend
- Found lunch after and then made our way to Casa Batllo
- In true Spanish fashion we went back to our hotel, enjoyed our balcony and took a nap. You could also use this time to go to the beach
- Met up with some of the girls and went to dinner and of course found gelato again and spent the evening around the Gothic District
DAY 3: BARCELONA
- Started our morning with breakfast at the hotel and then went to the Pablo Picasso Museum, very cool. You can also stop at the MOCO Museum while you’re in that area (I visited on my previous trip and loved it)
- Picasso is from Spain so seeing his art and learning his history while there was very interesting
- Stopped and got some snacks at a little supermarket and then made our way to Montjuic
- You can ride a little gondola up to the castle with stunning views of Barcelona. There is so much history in Spain, if you’re into that Montjuic is a must see
- There is an option to walk down or take the gondola back to the bottom, we took the gondola down but then walked back up through the gardens
- After that we went took a bus to visit the Mies Van der Rohe Pavilion, famous for it’s architecture, designed in 1929 for the Barcelona International Exhibition
DAY 4: MONTSERRAT
- Ate breakfast at the hotel and made our way to our Julia Travels tour that took us up to Montserrat. I’m gonna say it again. Book the early tours!! It’s so much less crowded and worth the early mornings. You can always take a little siesta later on.
- I can’t recommend Julia Travels enough. We went on multiple tours with them throughout our trip, so easy to use and our tour guides were incredible!
- Can’t recommend Montserrat enough, not only are the views STUNNING, but the spiritual aspect of being there is unmatched.
- Montserrat is home to the Black Madonna and as part of the Julia Travels tour you get to go through the basilica and touch her, there is so much history and reasons why people travel from around the world to experience her. One of my favorite memories from our trip
- After the basilica we walked through the museum (a hidden gem and if you can I recommend going through)
- We booked the half day tour which had us leaving Montserrat at 12:30 pm. I could have stayed longer but it was plenty of time
SUPRISE STOP AT: PARC GUELL
- Once we got back, we immediately headed to Parc Guell, another must see in Barcelona
- I had been before so we just casually wandered around the park, it’s kind of a maze so we got lost a couple times but there were workers around to help guide us
- There are TONS of gorgeous views of the park itself but also of the city. Perfect place for taking insta worthy pics!
- We were exhausted after the full day so, no surprise here, it was siesta time, and then dinner, and then bedtime
- Let’s normalize taking breaks when needed! We are here to enjoy our vacation, not kill ourselves trying to see every last thing!
DAY 5: LEAVE FOR MADRID
- Woke up early again to catch our train to Madrid. Arrived to the cutest hotel ever, the Petit Palace Chueca around 11:30 am, had them hold our bags and headed to a huge flea market
- After we wandered around there, we grabbed lunch and headed back to the hotel
- Then it was off to stunning, beautiful, gorgeous Retiro Park. We decided to rent boats but had to wait in line for almost an hour. I don’t know if it was worth it but we had fun! Would be fun just walking or riding a bike around the park as well
- After spending the evening at the park we headed to dinner at TKO Tacos Clavel (10/10 some of the best taco’s I’ve had) plus they’re only one euro each.
- Madrid is home to the oldest Xurreria, Chocolateria San Gines, it’s open 24/7 so we stopped by around 10 pm. Definitely a must. They were delicious. Plus you can buy the chocolate to make it at home!
DAY 6: MADRID
- We started the day at the Reina Sofia Museum home to Guernica, a famous painting by Picasso
- If you don’t know about Guernica I recommend getting a tour for the Museum, hearing the history behind it made it so much more impactful to see, it had me tearing up. To me, this is a must see when in Madrid.
- We then got lunch and headed back to the hotel for ANOTHER siesta, they’re very important in Spain, I’m not kidding
- That evening we went to a Flamenco show at Teatro Flamenco Madrid and it was SO fun! If you have the chance definitely catch a show, you can buy tickets to the one we saw here.
- We walked to Mercado de San Miguel after for some snacks and stopped for more Churros along the way
DAY 7: MADRID
- Breakfast at the hotel EVERYDAY because it was the most amazing spread then headed to the one and only PRADO Museum, one of the best art museums in the world
- It can be a bit overwhelming so I would opt for a guided tour given by the Museum or through a site like Viator
- After most of the day at the museum we got lunch and headed to the Royal Palace of Madrid, I recommend the guided audio tour when visiting
DAY 8: MADRID: AVILA AND SEGOVIA
- We met our tour group early in the morning and headed to Avila, both places we went were walking tours of the towns
- After Avila, we made our way to Segovia, it was very pretty but we did a lot of walking this day
- I enjoyed Segovia more than Avila but it’s hard to judge with such little time, Segovia did have the benefit of having a beautiful castle, so there’s that
- We spent the evening wandering Gran Via and shopping
DAY 9: MADRID: ESCORIAL MONASTERY AND VALLEY OF THE FALLEN (A MUST SEE)
- Another Julia Travels tour in the books and it was amazing, everyone wished we had more time in both places
- El Escorial Monastery was one of my favorite places we visited in Spain
- The grounds were stunning, the basilica was stunning, the library… STUNNING, the kids playing outside during school… stunning
- This is also a burial place for Spanish Monarchs and seeing the marble crypt was unlike anything I’d seen before
- The Valley of the Fallen is also one of the most incredible things I’ve seen and there is so much history behind it around their Civil War
DAY 10: TRAVEL TO GRENADA
- The most chaotic travel day
- Left the hotel at 5:30 am to take the subway to the Train, subway wasn’t open, almost Ubered, ended up taking the subway anyways, but had to pay extra for a different train
- Took our train to the middle of nowhere, felt lost and confused, got on our next train to Grenada
- Arrived in Grenada, decided to take the bus to our hotel
- Busses are on strike, decided to walk almost 30 minutes with all of our luggage to our hotel in 90 degree weather
- Made it to the hotel – NH Collection Grenada Victoria Hotel, showered and started to enjoy Grenada
- The cutest town, must-see in Spain, highly recommend making the trek to experience it
- We ate dinner, wandered around the Alcaiceria – an Arabian souk, and got gelato at Heladeria Los Italianos
DAY 11: GRENADA: THE ALHAMBRA AND LEAVE FOR MALAGA
- The Alhambra – nothing but heart eyes. A must see. Beautiful gardens and amazing architecture and rich history
- Tickets can be tricky, you need to book very far in advance and need to have your passport details when booking. I recommend a guide for this as well, you can book those through sites like Viator as well
- We had private cars take us to Malaga in the afternoon and it was amazing not having to deal with other transportation
DAY 12: MALAGA: RONDA AND SETENIL
- We headed out on our day trip starting in Ronda, home of the first bull fights I believe. Our tour guide took us through a bull fighting arena and around the town
- There is a beautiful bridge and amazing views of the countryside, I could see myself spending more than one day there
- After Ronda, we headed to Setenil, a town built into the surrounding cliffs, we spent a short amount of time there but it was fun to see and wander around
- We spent the evening in Malaga and went to the beach for dinner and gelato
DAY 13: MALAGA
- Woke up and headed to a guided tour of the Alcazaba, a fortress built in the heart of the city
- Again rich history around this site and Malaga with beautiful views of the ocean and city (and Antonio Banderas’ Penthouse)
- Malaga is a beautiful beach town and I would have loved to have spent more time wandering around the city and experience it’s beaches
