Barcelona--Madrid--Porto

The thing about Barcelona is that they might be speaking Catalunyan which even Spaniards can have a tough time understanding. Outside of the city it gets worse but it can be hit or miss in the city.

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We did Seville as well which we both absolutely loved.

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I could spend a week in Sevilla and it's a great place to daytrip to Ronda (preferred for me) or Gibraltor.

Dont sleep on the vineyards north of Madrid if you are into wine. Ribero Del Duero.

Spend a few nights in the Douro valley if you can. A day trip doesn’t do it justice.

Quinta do Vallado and Quinta da Gricha were some of my personal favorites to stay at.
Booked a tour guide through LAB Tours that brought us to a few places including Quinta do Panascal and Quinta de Ventozelo.



For Porto recs: We did port tastings at Ferreira and Churchill’s. Wouldn’t book more than 2 of these as they are all more or less the same thing.
Ate at Terreiro and Adela Sao Nicolau.
Also ate at Gazela and got the cachorrinhos (it’s touristy, but really good, especially with a beer).

Eat as many pasteis de nata and drink as much ginjinha as you can.

We were planning a train out of Porto to the Douro, staying a night (two days at wineries) then training back.

Thanks for the great Porto/Douro tips and pics!

Been in Spain (Seville) for over 3 years, and have spent a good amount of time in Madrid, Barcelona and Porto.
In Barcelona, you need to visit the Banksy Museum - great way to spend half a day. Also, the Catalonia National Museum is fantastic and def worth a 4-5 hour trip. For food, highly recommend a middle eastern tapas place, Zirvab. Great Indian food at Swagatam. For great blues/jazz, check out Jamboree which is right off Rambla.
In Porto, there's a great tiny wine bar (seats maybe 8 people), Morro d' amores, located at Rua da Bainharia no. 99. Family that owns it has the 2nd oldest winery in Portugal, and they have wines at this bar that are unavailable anywhere else. Its up a steep hill in the heart of Porto, close to the river, so bring comfortable shoes, but its worth finding - also has some small plates for snacking. Spent about 6 hours in there one night last Nov. and it was an amazing experience.
Not the biggest fan of Madrid. The art museums are extremey nice, but everything else tends to be slighty touristy and lacking any true Spanish feel to it. Highly recommend that you spend at least one day in Toledo, which is reachable by train from Madrid (one hour) and has tons of great sites.
If you find your way further south toward Seville, let me know and I can provide tons of recs.

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You really won't need it much in Barcelona as a lot of people speak English.

Madrid it is much more hit or miss.

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Definitely hit or miss in Madrid. I was in Madrid a couple weeks ago at an irish pub. I was feeling lazy so when I got to the bar I asked the bartender in spanish if they spoke english. he said no. then proceeded to bitch for a minute or two in perfect english about me even asking to speak english in spain.

You can definitaly get by way easier in Barcelona with only english, but you should still learn some restaurant/store Spanish because its not guaranteed and you'll likely need it in Madrid. Its not so much your speaking part as in those situations you can get by with just:

una mesa / la carta / food or drink name / la cuenta / tarjeta each followed by "por favor"

but more so understanding their prompts to know what is being asked. in restaurants it usually follows the flow you are used to in the US but dont put it past them to seat you then just pull out their pen and pad and say "Dime" without even giving you a menu .

Porto is very cool. Definitaly take in a sunset and some cocktails at Jardim do Morro and don't forget to get a Francesinha.

Been to Lisbon and Porto, and my experience in both was that you really need to speak Portuguese except in the heavy tourist areas.