2025 National Holiday Free Travel to Madrid and Barcelona, Spain

Started planning the Spain trip for National Day from mid-August, first applied for a passport from the employer, then got a visa, a lot of hassle. In 2024, 620,000 Chinese visited Spain, making August the peak visa season. Applying for a visa in Nanjing, the total cost including expedited fees and VIP fees exceeded 3,000 RMB. It was said that the Spanish visa officer was hit by a car while playing in Japan, and no one was available to fill in promptly, causing this situation—who knows... Anyway, it was expensive. The visa was obtained only in early September, and then we booked flights. From Hefei to Beijing, fly to Madrid, then from Barcelona to Shanghai. This round-trip ticket cost 16,000 RMB per person. Later it rose further, once exceeding 20,000. Really expensive, probably more than double the off-season price.

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

This time, it was the same old travel buddies: a group of six, all over fifty, two men and four women. Basically, I was the only one with decent English.

Day 1: From Hefei Xinqiao Airport to Beijing Capital Airport, then took the red-eye flight at 2 a.m. on October 1 to Madrid, with a six-hour time difference. Arrived in Madrid a little after 7 a.m. Actual flight time was less than 12 hours. Economy class, couldn't sleep well, quite physically demanding.

Upon arrival in the morning, customs clearance was very smooth. The Spanish customs officer casually stamped and let us through, 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, about 580 euros per day. It was an eight-seat Mercedes, because we needed to fit six people's luggage, and the homestay check-in was in the afternoon. We also had plans to go to Toledo, 80 kilometers away, so it was really inconvenient without a chartered car.

After clearing customs, it took some time to get luggage. The Chinese chartered driver was already waiting for us—a Beijing woman who had been in Spain for over a decade. 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. It's an old city. The main highlight was visiting Toledo Cathedral, the second largest cathedral in Spain, with considerable status among European cathedrals. It was magnificent and breathtaking, worth seeing.

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

Day 2: That day we visited Retiro Park, a former royal park. Just a park, nothing special. Then we walked from the park to visit the Prado Museum, which we had booked tickets for. It was okay. In the afternoon, we wandered around the city. Based on a video recommendation from some app, the so-called top ten attractions in Madrid, we picked two: one called Calle Cava Baja and the other Plaza Mayor. That street was an ordinary market—totally misled! That app must not be trusted blindly. Plaza Mayor has some history, but it's just so-so, not a must-see. There, we encountered a protest supporting Palestine. Later we saw another one—that's a story for later.

Day 3: Still city walk. We went to Puerta del Sol, took photos at the zero kilometer marker and the iconic statue "Bear and 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 Internet-famous shop for Spanish churros. We bought one thick and one thin portion, dipped them in chocolate. The thick ones were better than the thin, but generally just so-so, not amazing.

The rest of the day we continued wandering around the city, went to the Salamanca district. There are high-end shopping streets and an affluent area. People there looked noticeably cleaner, slimmer, and whiter than those near our homestay in the city center. This district had an interesting sculpture called "The 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, about 80 euros. Actually, the distance was quite short, only about two or three kilometers. Mainly because we were a group of six with luggage, needed to ensure punctuality, and weren't familiar with Spanish transportation at the time. We only later figured out how to get taxis in Spain—it's hard to hail them on the street. In the last two days, we used Uber via a WeChat mini-program and it gradually became easier. So, paying a bit more was okay. The driver was also Chinese, very punctual, a Mercedes minibus that took us all at once. Next time, with experience, we can use Uber to book a six-seat taxi and haul everyone, probably costing only about 10 euros. That was a later realization.

Madrid's train station isn't big, but it seems to be an old building. I didn't look into its history. There were quite a few people at the station. The train departed on time. It took two and a half hours to Barcelona. Frankly speaking, Spain's high-speed rail is not great—it almost made me dizzy, probably because I was sitting between two carriages.

On the day we arrived in Barcelona, we also chartered a car, mainly due to luggage and check-in time. As we exited the station, the booked driver was waiting for us, and we headed straight to Tossa de Mar beach. The beach scenery was nice, worth visiting. Then we made our way back to Barcelona. On the way, there was a discount village, sort of an outlet, very crowded. We looked around and then returned to the city to check in.

Check-in was not pleasant. The landlord fined us 30 euros for arriving early (less than an hour early). 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 fine, but that the landlord was very cunning. First, she asked how we booked the room. I naively said through an agent. Only then did she mention the fine. Very dishonest, thinking we couldn't give a review.

Day 5: Today we visited reserved attractions: Casa Batlló in the morning and Casa Milà in the afternoon, both works by Gaudí. There were quite a few Chinese tourists visiting these two attractions, all taking photos. They were okay, worth a look, but not cheap, poor value for money.

Day 6: Today we continued visiting another Gaudí work, the famous Sagrada Família. This is the expiatory church with the second highest visitor traffic in Europe, after St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It's magnificent and exquisite, under construction for over 140 years and still not finished. Worth seeing.

In the afternoon, we also looked at Barcelona Cathedral, in the city center, crowded and lively, also very beautiful. Nearby there was a Picasso exhibition, but unfortunately it was close to 6 p.m. and already closed.

Day 7: Today was the return trip. The flight was at noon. We booked a ride to the airport. Tax refund at the airport was very troublesome, so we had no time to browse the duty-free shops. We boarded smoothly. The return flight took 11 hours, very tiring.

Day 8: On the morning of the 8th, we arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport. Now the airport has a regional line, 40 minutes direct to Hongqiao Airport and station, fare 26 RMB, very convenient. We returned to Hefei around 1 p.m.

Food and drink in Spain: Sitting at street-side cafes was very comfortable, plentiful, coffee 2-3 euros, not expensive. But meals were very pricey; a normal dish was 10-20 euros. On the sixth day, we got tired of Western food, ate Chinese noodles—six bowls of noodles plus some snacks—cost over 800 RMB. Later at Hongqiao station, four of us had breakfast for over 100 RMB, felt especially cheap. In Spain, a cola cost 3 euros; at a vending machine at the airport, a medium bottle of water cost 4.9 euros.

Accommodation in Spain: We initially booked hotels, basically each room over 2,000 RMB, around 4,000 was normal. Later we switched to homestays. In total, three homestays, ranging from just under 4,000 to over 5,000 for one room—also expensive, but much cheaper than hotels overall.

Transportation in Spain: Taxis are expensive, starting at 2 euros, but the meter jumps too fast; 2-3 kilometers cost around 10 euros, depending on the vehicle. Hailing a taxi on the street is very difficult. There are taxi stands, but inconvenient. Basically rely on Uber. Six-seat taxis are good, if you have many people, they can fit a lot, much cheaper than booking a chartered car for airport transfers. Also, when using ride-hailing apps in Spain, the satellite positioning is noticeably less accurate than in China—China's BeiDou is still powerful.

Communication in Spain: Spanish people's English seems not great. Many don't speak it, unlike other Western European countries. Maybe due to language origin or geographical location. Also, Spanish people speak English with a heavy accent, not easy to understand. Finally, at the airport for tax refund, it was a mess, couldn't understand.

Safety in Spain: Before coming, I heard there were many pickpockets. Even when going from Madrid to Barcelona, people from Madrid said Barcelona has more pickpockets than tourists... But after seven days, I didn't see a single pickpocket. Overall, it felt relatively peaceful.

Overall, China is much better—prices are cheap, transportation convenient, safety higher. The West is living on past glories, with not a very bright future.