HOW TO VISIT SPAIN ON A BUDGET

Toledo, Spain

Due to COVID, and a lighter work schedule, I finally found the time to share my Spain trip which I took a few years ago. I try my best to save money on my trips without compromising accommodations, fun activities and tasty meals. I managed to take this trip on a $1400 budget, this included airfare, accommodations, food, public transportation and entertainment for 12 days/11 nights. But this trip almost didn't happen. Murphy's law kicked in, ten days before my trip to Spain, I had emergency appendectomy surgery. Thankfully, I was well enough to travel and was given the green light to go by my doctor, but of course with some restrictions. I had a few physical challenges the first three days in Spain but I still managed to make the best of my time.

Airfare:

In the month of August, I made the decision to take my trip to Spain in September. My days were flexible so I chose to place an alert in airfarewatchdog.com. About two weeks later, I received an alert for a roundtrip ticket to Barcelona for $597 through American Airlines. Without hesitation, I booked my airfare ticket before losing out on this amazing deal.

Accommodations:

Tip: Rent a Room at someone's home. Of course, a great way to see huge savings is by sharing your accommodations with others and especially if you just rent a room from a local's private home. We decided to book our accommodations through Airbnb, we narrowed our search to a private room in the city center, with wifi and full access to the kitchen.

We wanted the option to cook some of our meals (mostly breakfast, our hosts in Barcelona and Madrid provided us free coffee). Also by choosing a private room versus the entire house, not only you save money, but you also have a host present. Someone you could turn to for advice as to what to see, do and also where to stay away from.

Our host in Barcelona was gracious enough to provide us with a map of the area, the best place to shop for our groceries, and trendy local inexpensive eatery locations. Our host in Barcelona happen to also be a fantastic flamenco music guitar player and during one of our evenings he entertained us with his guitar playing, he even played American songs that we could sing to and we enjoyed this amazing evening while drinking a bottle of wine provided by our host.

The room we rented in Madrid was in a beautiful apartment hosted by two young women and it was in one of the best locations in Madrid, Barrio de la Latina. We didn't get to see much of our hosts while we were there but they had provided us with some great tips on places to visit and eat when we first arrived.

Food:

Tip: Eat like a local. All of our accommodations were close to supermarkets so we managed to buy breakfast items, bottled water and fruit we could snack on for when we were exploring around town. We were able to cook our breakfast everyday. Total cost for 12 days was about $15 in grocery items.

For lunch we did a few days of "menu of the day" which averaged about $12. We normally stuck with the more economic option such as their tapas option which you can order at the bar and it's normally a glass of wine and a tapas plate for about $4. Another great option for lunch or dinner is their "bocadillo de calamares" which translates to (fried) squid sandwich, it's a decent size and pretty filling but also very inexpensive for just $3.

A fabulous choice for dinner is their paella dish, large enough for two to share. There are various types of paella dishes so you can enjoy paella variations during different evenings. We managed to split most of our dinner meals, our dinner meals averaged about $10 per person.

Arume Restaurant

My favorite restaurant in Barcelona: Arume

This restaurant was suggested by our Airbnb host and it did not disappoint. Cool decor, awesome ambiance, superb food and service.

Sobrino De Botin Restaurant

My favorite restaurants in Madrid: Sobrino De Botin (translation: De Botin's Nephew) is considered the oldest restaurant in the world. We were able to tour this historic restaurant during our free city walking tour. While there we took advantage and made a dinner reservation. This restaurant was founded in 1725 and one of its specialty dishes is the "cochinillo" which means suckling pig. Their food prices are on the pricey side but worth the money, plus you get to have bragging rights that you ate at the oldest restaurant in the world. We could afford to splurge for one night and it was worth every bite. El Viajero (translation: The Traveler) was recommended by our Airbnb Madrid host, which turned out to be a very lively venue. Great place to have lunch, relax and people watch.

El Viajero Restaurant

El Gallo Restaurant

My favorite restaurants in Toledo: El Gallo, this restaurant is located in Toledo, Spain. Toledo is an ancient city that sits on top of a hill, it's quite an impressive sight for the eyes once you come upon it, literally took my breath away (UNESCO named the city a World Heritage Site).

Best Place for Churros with Chocolate: Chocolateria San Gines, it's been around since 1894. Best place to order a plate of perfectly fried churros with a cup of hot delicious rich chocolate to dunk your churros in.

Public Transportation:

Tip: Take Local Transportation. Metro pass - $12 Barcelona, $20 Madrid

Luckily, by the time we arrived Madrid, I was feeling better physically and was able to do more of the walking versus using the metro. Plus Madrid's City Center is smaller than Barcelona's City Center, therefore, it was easier to explore by foot.

We could have taken the train to Madrid from Barcelona but we choose to fly with Iberia Airlines, our roundtrip ticket was $100. We wanted to spend as much time as we could in Madrid. We booked an early morning flight into Madrid and it was about an hour flight to get there. Upon arrival we were able to obtain our metro pass at the airport.

Entertainment:

Tip: Take a Free Walking Tour. This is a great way to see the city you are visiting, with a tour guide you can get great history information and tips on places and things to check out on your own. I usually schedule my walking tours for the second day of my visit. I like to do it that early on my visit because then I can add places to see or things to do based on the information I obtain from the tour guide.

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

One item on my bucket list was to see the famous Sagrada Familia which mean Holy Family. It's a church designed by the famous architect Gaudi and has been under construction for over 100 years. I actually had a picture of it on my vision board (yes...I have one of those) that I cut out from a magazine, that is how badly I have wanted to see this place. I actually wanted to be an architect when I was a kid and a flight attendant. I guess that might explain my love for architecture and travel. We bought our tickets for a Sagrada Familia tour in advance through a site called Viator, they offered an English language guided group tour for $30.

La Boqueria Market in Barcelona

La Boqueria Market is a must, this is their popular farmers market, great place to purchase some goodies and also to grab a bite to eat. Even if you choose not to buy anything it is a cool place to just walk around and feast your eyes.

Magic Fountain of Montjuic in Barcelona

Magic Fountain of Montjuic - This fountain show display reminded me of the water show at the Bellagio in Vegas. This Water Fountain Show is extremely popular so suggest you get there early enough to grab a good spot to check it out.

Take a stroll through Barceloneta, this is Barcelona's beach area, this is a pretty expansive area and a great way to explore it is by renting a bike. Take your bathing suit, you are definitely going to want to jump into the water while there.

Barceloneta in Barcelona

One landmark you will for sure see while exploring Barcelona is the Christopher Columbus Lookout Point, a 197 foot bronze monument that has a great top view of the city. It may not seem that way but you can actually take an elevator to the top. It's a very small elevator, only you and the elevator operator will fit. If there are more than one of you, you will have to go up separately but you can meet up at the top and enjoy the views together. The cost to go to the top is about $6.50.

Christopher Columbus Lookout Point

We chose to do a one day bus tour for about $30 from Madrid to Toledo. It was mostly a self-guided tour, we loved that we could go at our own pace, had time to explore and take pictures, and chose where to grab lunch (based on some suggestions from our tour guide).

While researching on the internet for Flamenco shows in Madrid we came across the Cardamomo Flamenco show. The price was reasonable and it had great reviews. Our Airbnb hosts also gave it a thumbs up so we decided to give it a chance. On the plus side, it was walking distance from our Airbnb location. The show was $48, included a welcome drink and let me tell you...it was worth every penny. The show gave me goosebumps.

Flamenco Dancer at Cardamomo

El Madrono - this restaurant is known for their raspberry type liquer inside a chocolate covered wafer shot glass which is also called El Madrono. Our tour guide during our walking tour mentioned this place, we knew we had to try this shot during our visit. If was so delicious, we came here every day while in Madrid for a shot.

Bartender pouring raspberry liquer into chocolate wafers at El Madrono

Could I have taken this trip for $1000? Probably so, if we had stayed at hostels or cooked more of our meals, but for this particular trip, I preferred to stay someplace that provided me a bit more privacy and comfort. Also, I'm a big foodie, enjoying the local foods of the country I am visiting gives me lots of pleasure so I'm not willing to compromise there either. This barely captures all the fun activities we got to experience while in Spain but this serves as a good roadmap to get you started if you decide to take a trip to Spain. I'll leave it up to you to discover more of what this beautiful country has to offer.