Trip to Madrid- too short? WWYD?

[Marcellus]

It's our 15th wedding anniversary and I'd like to go for a weekend in Madrid to celebrate. Unfortunately due to the need to pick children up from school and take them to my parents to be looked after for the weekend, we can't fly on Friday night- it will have to be Saturday morning.

I'm trying to decide whether it's better to get a v early flight (7.20am- means getting up by 4.45am) or one at a more civilised time and have less time there. We'd ply back at about 8pm on Sunday.

Am I bonkers for even considering it?

What would you do while there?

Could your parents (or someone else) not help you out by picking up the kids and delivering them to your parents? Or could you pick up the kids a bit earlier?

Yes you are bonkers - it’s far too short a time and you’ll surely be exhausted from getting up so early? If that’s all the time you have would you not be better going a couple of hours drive away?

Madrid is fucking brilliant - you'll be gutted when you get there and realise you've only got 24 hours.

I agree that you’ll be gutted having such a short time there. I went to Amsterdam for roughly the same amount of time and I was so gutted about the amount of stuff I had to miss out!

you would be better off staying in a real good hotel nearer home arriving Friday night and coming back on the sunday. you could find one with a gourmet night or we did a murder mystery weekend and it was brilliant. you will spend more time travelling to and from airports and waiting around for flights than you will actually have in the city itself. save it for another time when you have a bit more time.

Thanks, everyone. Maybe we should do the trip in the school hols rather than the anniversary weekend- would make life a lot easier.

Can you get to a smaller city like Seville or Valencia? TBH I think it’d be fine, you don’t need to do everything in one visit but everyone’s different.

I say go for it. We did a bonkers trip to Amsterdam a couple of years ago . Flew out on the Friday night, had a day on the Saturday and up early on the Sunday morning. It was rushed but so much fun.
If you get the early flight then you have a day and a half for sightseeing.

Definitely do the school holidays. I went in July a few years ago and it’s fantastic. If you can eek it out for four days, I’d do one trip outside the city - Aranjuez or El Escorial are both good trips. Then the rest of the time, prepare to go full on! Day time there are amazing art galleries: Thysson Bournemiza and the Prado are must sees. It’s fun to go to the Buen Retiro Park in the centre and hire a rowing boat. Just hanging out in the park on a Sunday is very Madrileno thing to do.

If you like live music there is a fab Jazz cafe called Cafe Centrale but I’ve heard you have to book there these days as long queues to get in.

Friend of mine went to a Flamenco night in one of the old style bars, which are great. Also I’d recommend a meal outside in Plaza Santa Ana. It gets packed out but great atmosphere and lovely to sit outside.

The Royal palace is worth a trip to but just to see the outside and then walk to the Thyssen Bournemiza and have lunch in the way.

There's too much in Madrid just to have one full day there. I would say a 3 day minimum to really explore everything. It's a gorgeous city with some amazing museums and galleries (the Prado is beautiful). July can get quite hot, I was there that month last year and it was easily 43 degrees Celsius, it's a bearable heat though if that makes sense. Enjoy! I love Madrid.

Can your parents or another family member not take the DC to your parents?

We just did a 7am flight up at 3.30am to get to the airport. It's was great to arrive and be on the beach by lunch time but only because we knew we could eat and nap and generally chill out. I wouldn't want to do it knowing I'd be back at the airport the next day!