Spain - Barcelona, Madrid, Seville Recommendations

There is a chocolate school/museum
In Barca near sagrada familia. Pretty cool what you can sculpt.

Obviously spend most of the day eating at Las Ramblas before a mid afternoon nap too. Went during the day, no pickpocket problems.

Add to what has already been posted, there is a Banksy Museum in Barcelona that is stunning, and only takes about 3 hours to full explore.
For a great, inexpensive restaurant in Barcelona, try ZirYab, which does a tapas take on Middle Eastern food.
In seville, you need to go see the Plaza de Espana - just an amazing building that you can spend hours exploring and not see all of the intricate, artistic, ceramic work. Also need to go to the Catedral de Seville and the adjoining Alcazar and gardens. Go online a few weeks in advance and get tickets for the cathedral and Alcazar. Plaza de Espana is free.
Restaurants in Seville, highly recommend Puratasca - a small place in the Triana neigborhood, which does inventive takes on tapas. Also try ConTenedor, which specializes in modern Spanish cuisine.
In Seville, highly recommend that you take in a flamenco show at Pena Flamenca Torres Macarena - its run by a non-profit flamenco society and has great performances.
Have lived in Seville for 4 years, so feel free to ask any questions.

Oh, also, just be aware that April 13-21, 2025 is Semana Santa in Seville. That is Easter week, and the entire city becomes one huge procession of the various brotherhoods for the entire week. The brotherhoods stage walking processions every day that week, and they get more numerous as the week progresses. On Good Friday, the processions literally last for 24 hours.

Having spent 10 weeks the past 3 years in 9 European countries, I believe the most impressive thing I experienced was the Cathedral de Seville.

Unbelievably impressive in so many ways. You have to do a tour and hear the history of it being built. Realizing that it was all done by hand is jaw dropping.

On many of the ancient religious buildings in Spain, constuction was sometimes done by Moors and Catholics on the same building. On the Seville Cathedral, there are two massive wooden doors on one of the side entrances, that were built by the Moors. When the Catholics reacquired it, they liked what they thought were artistic flourishes carved into the doors, and kept them in place. Its actually passages from the Koran that were engraved.

Barcelona:

Outstanding. Not your ordinary tapas

NIX


If you don't have a problem eating vegetarian. This place is fantastic.

Seasamo

Madrid:

We ate here more than once...

Entre Santos

(warning: Gay owned and staffed)

FC Barcelona Immersive Tour

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In seville, you need to go see the Plaza de Espana - just an amazing building that you can spend hours exploring and not see all of the intricate, artistic, ceramic work.

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Star Wars fans will recognize this place used as a filming location for the planet Naboo.

Barcelona - I could go on about the typical tourist sights but I think you already know them. Book Sagrada well in advance if you want to visit the interior. Be mindful of pickpockets, particularly on the metro, La Rambla and el Raval and especially at night.
I personally like Raval, it part of the ciutat vella (old town) but is a bit seedy and home to a large immigrant population, most would tell you to avoid it - but then you’d miss out on El Cañete which is one of the city’s best restaurants and my one specific recommendation, check for reservations or try to go during off-peak hours as it’s very popular.

Madrid- definitely spend time strolling extensively through the el Retiro park, it’s stunning and world class city park. The 3 main art museums (Prado, Thyssen and Reína Sofía) should also be on your list. Salmon Guru is a super chic cocktail bar, probably my favorite I’ve ever been to, the food and cocktails are both absolutely outstanding, again try off-peak hours as it’s tremendously popular. There’s a Hamam-style spa “chain” in Spain called Al-Andalus they have locations in a few cities in Spain, Madrid among them, you can visit the ornate baths which emulate old world moorish style baths and also schedule a massage + hamam scrub, a unique and relaxing experience IMHO (the best of their locations though is the OG one in Granada it’s the most breathtakingly ornate, but Madrid one still worth checking out if you don’t make it to Granada).

Sevilla - just generally strolling around the old town. Go to the top of Las Setas to watch the sunset. Random but as I live in Europe where good Mexican food can be harder to find, really enjoyed Mano de Santo, great tacos, the best Michelada I’ve ever had and their tres leches dessert is chef’s kiss. For more local fare - I found Espacio Eslava to be excellent, and Casa Manolo León also has great local food with gorgeous inner garden terrace, get there at opening to secure a good spot on said terrace. In general I recommend to have lots of Gazpacho & Salmorejo (these cold soup dishes hail from Andalucía), personal favorites of Spanish cuisine for me. As others mentioned if you’re there during Semana Santa (Easter week) you can see all sorts of unique local processions, people dressed up in what effectively looks like Klansmen robes but are obviously not lol, but yeah accommodation may be pricey and in short supply during that period and the extensive festivities will possibly impede your ability to see a lot of the sights - so keep that in mind when finalizing your itinerary (dates).

Highly recommend a day trip or even overnighter down to Cádiz, out of Sevilla, if you have the time to spare (3 full days of hitting it semi hard will allow you time to see the Sevilla essentials) it’s a stunning ancient seaside city with a lovely vibrancy one of the best small cities of Spain (alongside San Sebastián and Granada), renting a bike and cycling down along the beach/water and then doubling back and doing a ring lap around the old town will afford many great views of the city’s beauty, the gardens rimming the old town along the water are gorgeous. Recommend Balandro for dining, another excellent Andalusian restaurant. Try the Torillitas de Camarrones (a sort of doughy but crispy and crunchy fried shrimp fritter) at Balandro or elsewhere, they’re a local specialty from Cádiz.

I haven’t been but have heard great things about Córdoba which is also probably doable as an alternate day-trip/one-nighter from Sevilla.

Granada is arguably the best city in Spain but a bit further afoot so you’d need a solid 2.5-3 days of quality time there, a suggestion in general for your consideration, should you be open to altering your itinerary at all…

Honestly the South of Spain - Andalucía, is the best comunidad autonomía (their state-level equivalent) in terms of culture, food, friendliness of the locals and affordability, so many lovely towns, cities and sights of natural beauty.