Going in a couple weeks and looking for any restaurant or other suggestions.

Have:
- Montserrat day trip
- Toledo day trip
- Flamenco show one night

I did a "Fat Tire" tour in Barcelona that included a local taking us around to different pub/restaurants to try their specialties, and then they dropped us at a Flamenco Show. Honestly that tour I think was my favorite part of the trip. Our tour guide was informative and fun. The show was just "okay", but when in Rome .

I didn't keep track of any of the places we ate. I tried to find the hole in the walls. We mostly just did tapas and drinks most nights.

Madrid I honestly just walked around most of the day, I went through the church and around the outside of the Royal Palace. I didn't have any tours or pre-planned itinerary as I was just there for the day and 1 night, then flew home.

Churros at Chocolateria San Gines in Madrid, short walk east of the palace.

Madrid we did Flamenco with Corral De La Moreria and highly recommend that one. One of our cooler excursions was Ebike tour with TIM bikes. Also recommend La Taberna Penalver for a Paella place-res needed.

Only advice from me is, be prepared to eat dinner late.
Most difficult thing for me was adjusting to the fact that most restaurants don't open until 8pm.

I enjoyed walking around the Palacio Real de Madrid and surrounding grounds to the west and north. It was fascinating to see statues and tributes to Kings from the late 900s (1000+ years ago).

Very jealous. Did this trip a year ago. Assume you are doing all the things: La Sagrada Familia, Palacio Royal, Prado, Parc Guell, Barrio Gotico, etc., etc. already. You don't need tours for any of the sights in either city. Just make sure to book reservations in advance. Metros are great in both (research what pass to buy), but walking is always best.

Montserrat is a fantastic day trip. If you have the option to go on a clear day, it is spectacular. Take the cable car and do some hiking. Toledo is also great especially if you want to buy a sword! I'd rank Montserrat as my favorite though.

I second the smaller, "local" spots. We did tapas most nights, but this place in Barcelona was our favorite meal of the trip. Restaurant Candela en Rama was delicious. Would go back 100%.

Have fun.

Armory at the royal palace was legit ! I would recommend a tour of palace and a visit there. Go get some snacks on a patio somewhere and get a kalimotxo (pronounced kallia-mojo)

Find some pickpocket proof clothing for Barcelona. Was on a cruise and a fellow cruiser got cleaned out.

My personal favorite is ClothingArts

We really enjoyed Bodega Biarritz in Barcelona. Cash only, no reservations. Tapas and beer.

Depending on how much time you have, consider adding a second day trip from Madrid to either Segovia or El Escorial. Both are short train trips, Segovia is around 30 minutes. El Escorial is around an hour. It was a monastery/palace built in the early 1500s by Charles I and was the traditional royal residence.

In Barcelona, two cool things we did:
1) The Paella Club: Cooking class for Paella - tons of Cava pouring and met some really nice people from Vienna and Sao Paulo
2) Bar Marsella - bar that Hemingway and Picasso would drink absinthe at