If you’re staying in a hotel in the centre of Madrid, well, that’s half the work done already. However, be careful as any city centre is full of those famous tourist traps, with expensive dressing as cheap.

The main thing you have to look for in Madrid are ‘bocadillos’, those sandwiches made with French bread or bread sticks. Fillings are infinite and every single bar in the city will have a wide selection on their menus. They’re great to have with a beer or even a coffee. The most popular fillings are calamari and Spanish omelette, although you can find many different variations.

Tapas is The Spanish fast food. A tapa is not really a type of food or even a dish, but a general name for snacks. In Madrid tapas are usually given free with your drink, but don’t expect miracles, just a bit of bread with some ham or cheese. What are known in other regions as tapas in Madrid are called raciones, large platters to share with typically Spanish snacks like ham, cheese, croquettes and many more.

If you are lost for ideas, you can always skip the world outside and dine in your hotel in Madrid.

For instance, you can start by finding a nice and cosy bed & breakfast in Madrid, especially one in the centre close to the main amenities, so you don’t have to waste any time on transport and can get down to business.

Your first stop could be a walk around the Puerta del Sol and all the shops, finding also a nice cafe for you and your partner to recover from the walking and make plans for the evening.

Before you find a restaurant for dinner, you can simply take a walk towards the Temple of Debod, a unique real Egyptian temple that stands just behind Plaza de Espana. This temple in itself is very romantic, it’s like bringing a piece of the pyramids to Madrid, but it is also surrounded by wonderful gardens that will make any evening a special one.

After visiting the temple and the gardens you can walk back up to Plaza de Espana and find a nice place for a meal. There are plenty of restaurants or cafes that offer evening meals around Gran Via and Puerta del Sol. And you can spend the night drinking in the watering holes around Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor and Santa Ana before returning to your B&B in Madrid.

The route of ‘Caminos de Piedra y Agua‘, paths of stone and water, is for instance a very interesting and exiting activity for the whole family. It connects all the towns of the Pop Valley. that is to say Alcalali, Benigembla, Benissa and Murla among others.

The most representative elements on this route will be the traditional wells, water mills and other buildings related to water. On the route you will also enjoy typical examples of ‘Pedra en sec‘, dry stone. This is a building technique in which walls are built without any connective material between the stones.

In Valencia you will also find many different activities to do, one of the main attractions is the City of Arts and Sciences. This ultramodern museum is a great attraction for adults and children alike. In it you will find a planetarium, as well as many different temporal exhibitions that everybody in the family will enjoy.

After a trip outside Valencia and a visit to the City of Arts and Sciences, you will be happy to go back to your hotel in Valencia to have a good rest.

From your apartment in Madrid, just look for those wonderful traditional cafés with lots of old and young people sitting around the tables or the bar, enjoying a steaming cup of coffee or hot chocolate with churros, those wonderful sticks of deep fry dough, maybe not the healthiest choice but delicious nonetheless.

In many ice-cream parlours you will also find hot drinks and chocolate con churros is a local staple, so you won’t have much trouble trying to find it. Around the centre in Sol and Gran Via, you will also find more modern venues following on the steps of those big coffee chains like starbucks. There are still many local independent chains who cater for a public with a more foreign taste, who are used to lattes, mochas and such delicacies.

However, in many of these places you will still find the traditional tapas or small snacks that you will be able to enjoy with your coffee.

So, just look for all those nice places around your apartment in Madrid.

But this time I want to take you for a nice coffee drinking experience in this town. We’ll start in Café Concierto 16, where the night fill with magic in its different atmosphere, with life music, sports programmes or stand up comedians. You can enjoy your dinner or just a drink with family, friends or just other people. They open in the morning and you can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as afternoon coffee and drinks in the evening. They also have an interesting programme of life music and theatre.

If you want something more romantic and scenic, try Café del Puerto, situated in the puerto de Alicante from this café you will be able to enjoy a great view of the port as well as the Santa Barbara Castle. In it you can enjoy breakfast as well as coffee and drinks in the evenings. It has a large terrace where you will be able to enjoy your drink in a great atmosphere before you return to your hotel near the airport in Alicante.

The best places to enjoy spring are of course parks. You can visit the great Casa de Campo, a massive urban part to the west of the city. You can access it easily from a hotel in the centre of Madrid by underground, just get off at Batán, Casa de Campo or Lago. There are lots of walks that you can take in this amazing city, but you can also enjoy a visit to the zoo with its aquarium, as well as the amuzement park.

However, you can also enjoy spring in and around one of the parks and gardens in the centre of Madrid, like the gardens around the Royal Palace, or the Retiro Park in Paseo del Prado.

Another interesting visit would be, Madrid Rio, a new enterprise that has turned a stretch of unused motorway into a massive park, right in the centre of the city. In this park you will find paths for walking, cycling, skating and sports.

So, with so much chance for enjoying nature, make sure you find a comfy hotel in the centre of Madrid.

If you are staying in an apartment in the centre of Madrid, you will be in a privileged location to enjoy the best the city has to offer. To start with you can take a walk around Puerta del Sol, in the evening this square really fills up with people and life ready to start their nightlife. After Puerta del Sol, you can take a walk down to Plaza Mayor, where you will find many different bars and tapas bar under its arches. In those bars you will find not just nice tapas, but great atmosphere, and some of them even have life music and some flamenco acts.

On the other side of Puerta del Sol, you can also go down to Plaza de Santa Ana, another of the favourite areas for those who enjoy the night. There you will find beergartens as well as a Hawaiian inspired bar, and much more that will make your night.

So, you will enjoy returning to your apartment in Madrid for a nice rest after all this fun.

However, this town is also very well-known among holidaymakers, and Hospitalet de Llobregat has also its fair share of hotels.

For those interested in history and old buildings, Hospitalet has lots ot offer. The town is divided in two many areas, one dating back to the 12th century around the Church of Santa Eulalia de Provençana and the other one is in the area of the Torre Blanca Hospital.

Two important buildings are La Cruz de Santa Eulalia and La Acollidora. There are also opportunities to enjoy outdoor walks like the Can Buxeres Park that dates back to the 19th century, with many different types of tress and even interesting buildings like the Casa Alta, an 18th century manor.

Last but not least is the local cuisine, something you will really need to try, based on fresh produce and spices, you will really enjoy it. But of course to enjoy all these delicatessen you need to book your hotel in Hospitalet de Llobregat now!

Let’s start by bocadillos, those wonderful sandwiches made with what Spanish call ‘real bread’, basically anything that is not the square loaf of bread Spaniards would normally use to make toasts or sandwiches. ‘Real bread’ or otherwise known in English speaking countries as French bread or sticks, is what Spaniards consider normal or real bread. So, this bocadillos are something else, as you can find them in most bars with an endless offer of fillings. If you are staying in a designed hotel in the centre of Madrid, you will quickly come across multiple bars and pubs that will offer you a comprehensive choice, but the must-try are calamari and Spanish omelette, something of a staple for fast-food lovers.

If you’d rather go for the soft sandwich-type bread, try Rodilla, this local chain of cafés serves delicious sandwiches made to their own exclusive recipes. You will find walnut and cheese sandwiches, cheese and tomato sandwiches and much more. They are really yummy, and can be accompanied by a coffee or even some cake or ice-cream! There is one in Plaza de Callao, just around the corner from any design hotel in the centre of Madrid.

During this period the city will be full of visitors who’ve come to have fun and participate in this interesting celebration with music, fun and fancy dress.

In Barcelona the Carnival this year will start on Thursday 16th of February with the Gras Dijous, a street party in which food flows freely. This eating spree comes from the Catholic celebration of “cuaresma”, this is the 40 days of fasting that traditionally Catholics were supposed to follow, so to celebrate they would overeat before these bleak days. In Barcelona part of the celebration is also a ‘Spanish omelette’ contest.

On the 18th of February the streets will welcome many different parades  in Gracia, Horta and Sants. These parades are known in Barcelona as Ruas. It will start around 8pm and will last about 2 hours.

If you want even more fun and party, you can stop by the nearby town of Sitges, where the party will be even more fun.

So, if you are staying in a hotel in the centre of Barcelona, you will be in for a treat!