2025 National Day Free Travel to Madrid and Barcelona, Spain

From mid-August, I started planning the Spain trip for National Day. First, I applied for a passport from my employer, then went through the visa process—quite a hassle. In 2024, 620,000 Chinese people visited Spain, making August the peak visa season. When I applied for the visa in Nanjing, the total cost, including express fees and VIP charges, exceeded 3,000 RMB. It was said that a Spanish visa officer was hit by a car while traveling in Japan, and no one was available to take over promptly, leading to this situation—who knows... Anyway, it was expensive, and I only got the visa in early September. Then I booked the flights: from Hefei to Beijing, then to Madrid, and back from Barcelona to Shanghai. The round-trip tickets had already risen to 16,000 RMB per person. Later, I saw the prices continue to rise, once surpassing 20,000 RMB. It was really expensive—probably more than double the off-season price.

In September, through a travel agency, we booked flights, homestays, high-speed train tickets, and several attraction tickets. The rest we relied on ourselves for free travel.

This time, I traveled with the same old group: six people, all over 50 years old—two men and four women. Basically, only I had good English skills.

Day 1: We flew from Hefei Xinqiao Airport to Beijing Capital Airport, then took the red-eye flight at 2:00 AM on October 1st to Madrid. The time difference was six hours. We arrived in Madrid around 7:00 AM, with a total flight time of less than 12 hours in economy class. I didn't sleep well, so it was quite physically demanding.

Upon arrival in the morning, clearing customs was very smooth. The Spanish customs officer stamped our passports very casually and even said "hello" in Chinese. It seems China-Spain relations are good. We had booked a chartered car for the day, which was quite expensive—around 580 euros per day. It was a Mercedes-Benz 8-seater, since we needed space for six people's luggage. Also, the check-in time for our homestay was in the afternoon, and we had planned a trip to Toledo, 80 kilometers away. Without a chartered car, it would have been very inconvenient.

After clearing customs, it took some time to retrieve our luggage. The Chinese chartered car driver, a Beijing woman who had been in Spain for over a decade, was already waiting for us. We immediately set off for Toledo.

Before the trip, I read two books about Spanish history and culture, so I had some understanding of Spain. Toledo was the capital of Spain 500 years ago—an ancient city. The key attraction was visiting Toledo Cathedral, the second largest cathedral in Spain and quite significant among European cathedrals. It was magnificent, breathtaking, and worth seeing.

In the afternoon, we returned to Madrid and checked into our homestay.

Day 2: We visited the Retiro Park, a former royal park—just a park, nothing special. Then we walked to the Prado Museum, for which we had pre-booked tickets. It was okay. In the afternoon, we wandered around the city. Following the recommendations from a video on some app (Xiaohongshu), which listed the top ten attractions in Madrid, we picked two: Calle de Cava Baja and Plaza Mayor. Calle de Cava Baja turned out to be just an ordinary market street—a total scam! You really can't trust that app. Plaza Mayor had some history, but it was average—not a must-see. We encountered a protest here in support of Palestine, and we saw another one later—more on that later.

Day 3: This day was still a city walk. We went to Puerta del Sol, took photos at the Kilometer Zero marker and the iconic statue of "the Bear and the Strawberry Tree." Then we walked past the Opera House to visit the Royal Palace of Madrid. The palace was okay, worth a look.

During the walk, we found a century-old famous shop for Spanish churros. We bought one thick and one thin portion, dipping them in chocolate. The thick one was better than the thin one, but overall, just average—nothing impressive.

The rest of the day we continued strolling around the city, ending up in the Salamanca district—a luxury shopping area and affluent neighborhood. People here looked cleaner, slimmer, and fairer compared to those near our homestay in the city center. There was an interesting sculpture in this district called "Silent Head," which was huge.

Day 4: Today we took the high-speed train to Barcelona. In the morning, we booked a drop-off service to the station for about 80 euros. The distance was actually quite short—just two or three kilometers. The main reason was that we had six people with luggage, we needed to ensure we didn't miss the train, and we weren't familiar with Spanish transportation yet. Only later did we figure out how to hail a taxi in Spain: it's very hard to flag one down on the street. In the last two days, we started using Uber through the WeChat mini-program, which became more convenient. So, paying a bit more was acceptable. The driver this time was also Chinese, very punctual, driving a Mercedes van that took us all. Next time, we'll know better: use Uber to book a six-seater taxi that can take everyone, probably costing only about 10-15 euros. That's the lesson we learned later.

Madrid's train station is not big, but it seems to be an old building. I didn't look into its history. There were many people at the station, and the train departed on time. It took two and a half hours to reach Barcelona. To be honest, the Spanish high-speed train was not great—I almost got motion sick, probably because I was sitting in the space between two carriages.

On the day we arrived in Barcelona, we also had a chartered car, mainly because of luggage and check-in time issues. After exiting the station, the pre-booked driver was waiting for us. We headed straight to Tossa de Mar beach. The beach was beautiful and worth visiting. Then we went back toward Barcelona, passing a discount village that seemed like an outlet mall. It was quite crowded. After browsing, we returned to the city and checked into our homestay.

The check-in was unpleasant. The landlord claimed we arrived early (less than an hour before the scheduled time) and extorted 30 euros from us as a penalty. After returning, I contacted the travel agency that booked the room and asked them to give the landlord a bad review. Actually, the reason for the bad review wasn't the penalty itself, but the landlord's cunning: first, she asked how we booked the room, and I didn't think twice and said through an agent. Then she mentioned the penalty. It felt very dishonest, as if she thought we couldn't leave a review.

Day 5: Today we visited pre-booked attractions: Casa Batlló in the morning and Casa Milà in the afternoon, both works by Gaudí. There were many Chinese tourists at these sites, all taking photos. They were okay, worth seeing, but the prices were not cheap—low value for money.

Day 6: Today we continued our sightseeing, still Gaudí works—the famous Sagrada Família. This is the expiatory church with the second highest footfall in Europe, after St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It is spectacular, exquisitely detailed, and has been under construction for over 140 years. Worth seeing.

In the afternoon, we also visited the Barcelona Cathedral in the city center. It was crowded, lively, and beautiful. Nearby, there was a Picasso museum, but unfortunately it was close to 6 PM, so it was closed.

Day 7: Today was the return trip. The flight was at noon. We booked a drop-off service to the airport. The tax refund process at the airport was very troublesome, leaving us no time to browse the duty-free shops. We boarded smoothly. The return flight was 11 hours, quite exhausting.

Day 8: We arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport around 7:00 AM on the 8th. Now the airport has a city line that goes directly to Hongqiao Airport/Station in 40 minutes, costing 26 RMB—very convenient. We returned to Hefei around 1:00 PM.

Food and drink in Spain: Sitting at street-side cafes was very pleasant, and there were many of them. Coffee cost 2-3 euros, not expensive. But meals were quite pricey; a normal dish was 10-20 euros. By the sixth day, we were tired of Western food and had a Chinese noodle meal. Six people had six bowls of noodles with some snacks, costing over 800 RMB in total. Later, at Hongqiao Station, four of us had breakfast for just over 100 RMB, which felt extremely cheap. In Spain, I bought a bottle of cola for 3 euros, and at the airport vending machine, a medium bottle of water cost 4.9 euros.

Accommodation in Spain: Initially, we booked hotels; basically, each room cost over 2,000 RMB, with 4,000 being normal. Later, we switched to homestays. During the trip, we stayed in three homestays, ranging from nearly 4,000 to 5,000 RMB per night—still expensive, but cheaper than hotels in total.

Transportation in Spain: Taxis are expensive. The starting fare is 2 euros, but the meter jumps quickly. A trip of 2-3 kilometers costs about 10 euros, depending on the vehicle. It's hard to hail a taxi on the street; there are taxi stands but inconvenient. Basically, you need Uber. A six-seater taxi is a good option for groups—it can hold a lot and is much cheaper than booking a chartered car for airport transfers. Also, the GPS positioning for taxis in Spain is noticeably less accurate than in China; their satellites are not as good. BeiDou is really impressive.

Communication in Spain: Spanish people's English doesn't seem great. Many don't speak it, unlike other Western European countries—maybe due to language roots or geography. Also, Spanish people have a heavy accent when speaking English, making it hard to understand. Finally, at the airport during tax refund, it was really frustrating—couldn't understand them.

Safety in Spain: Before coming, everyone said there were many pickpockets. People from Madrid even said that in Barcelona, there are more thieves than tourists... But over seven days, we didn't see a single thief. Overall, it was quite peaceful.

Overall, China is much better—prices are low, transportation is convenient, and safety is higher. The West is living on its past glories; its future doesn't look bright.