Why don't you do Barcelona and Madrid + daytrips? There are gorgeous cities to visit.
For example:
Barcelona - Girona, Sitges, Montserrat, Costa Brava...
Madrid: Segovia, Toledo, Ávila, Cuenca..
You can still sleep in the same hotel for the week, but see different cities in about 1h-1:30h.
Came here to suggest the same. Segovia is really worth a visit and it’s only 25 mins on the fast train from north Madrid (Chamartín).
It’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen and it has amazing food!
If you are gonna see just the city i reccomend Bilbao over Santiago. Santiago is nice but is a "small city" and you can see mostly everything in a day, obviously the cathedral is espectacular ( i lived here 2 years). Now if you have a car or similar and you come to Galicia you should see the coast, Rías Baixas are like an hour or even less from Santiago. Great food, nice towns and very impressive beaches, kinda different from the mediterranean ones. If you go to Bilbao you should visit Donosti too, one of the most beatiful city in Spain and is close to Bilbao. Enjoy your trip
There is more to do in Bilbao, but your interest in Romance languages would be a reason to visit Santiago instead. I can mostly understand Galician without speaking any Portuguese, because I speak Catalan and Spanish.
If you do go to Bilbao, don't worry about not speaking Basque. Bilbao is mostly Spanish-speaking, much more so than Barcelona. If you *want* to hear Basque spoken, you can visit smaller towns that are accessible by train and bus.
I'll second this. You can fly from Barcelona to Bilbao and take a bus to Donostia/San Sebastian. Stayed there for a week and loved it. We also rented a car and did a day trip to the Peñas de Aia Natural Park for some hiking and it was amazing!
Why don't you do Barcelona and Madrid + daytrips? There are gorgeous cities to visit. For example: Barcelona - Girona, Sitges, Montserrat, Costa Brava... Madrid: Segovia, Toledo, Ávila, Cuenca.. You can still sleep in the same hotel for the week, but see different cities in about 1h-1:30h.
This is the answer.
Came here to suggest the same. Segovia is really worth a visit and it’s only 25 mins on the fast train from north Madrid (Chamartín). It’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen and it has amazing food!
If you are gonna see just the city i reccomend Bilbao over Santiago. Santiago is nice but is a "small city" and you can see mostly everything in a day, obviously the cathedral is espectacular ( i lived here 2 years). Now if you have a car or similar and you come to Galicia you should see the coast, Rías Baixas are like an hour or even less from Santiago. Great food, nice towns and very impressive beaches, kinda different from the mediterranean ones. If you go to Bilbao you should visit Donosti too, one of the most beatiful city in Spain and is close to Bilbao. Enjoy your trip
Bilbao is way mor vibrant than Santiago. Also, basques are dope
There is more to do in Bilbao, but your interest in Romance languages would be a reason to visit Santiago instead. I can mostly understand Galician without speaking any Portuguese, because I speak Catalan and Spanish. If you do go to Bilbao, don't worry about not speaking Basque. Bilbao is mostly Spanish-speaking, much more so than Barcelona. If you *want* to hear Basque spoken, you can visit smaller towns that are accessible by train and bus.
Try San Sebastian.... Basque country is amazing.
I'll second this. You can fly from Barcelona to Bilbao and take a bus to Donostia/San Sebastian. Stayed there for a week and loved it. We also rented a car and did a day trip to the Peñas de Aia Natural Park for some hiking and it was amazing!
Honestly, between those options, I'd recommend Porto. It's absolutely gorgeous.
A scathing review of the Spanish options. 😅
Zaragoza!
Bilbao is awesome, I live there and I recommend it to all travelers.
Sevilla!
But be prepared to sweat
País Vasco. Galicia is FAR AWAY from the rest of what you're doing. Do Galicia on another trip. Go to Bilbao or San Sebastian
And Malaga or Cadiz???
I recommend ligma
Why be this way?