Barcelona, Seville or Madrid for short break in April

[neverbeenskiing]

DH and I want to go away for 4 nights (we are tied to Easter holidays as I work in a school) and have narrowed our destination choices down to Barcelona, Seville or Madrid.

Can anyone give me any pros and cons to help us make up our mind between them? Any hotel, restaurant or attraction tips would also be welcome.

Thanks!

If you do pick Barcelona, we stayed here www.discoverasr.com/en/citadines/spain/citadines-ramblas-barcelona. Great central location and airport bus to a few minutes away.

Oh and extremely reasonably priced. Also had a small kitchenette if you wanted to make your own breakfast.

Never been to Barcelona but I have been to Madrid and Seville a few times.
There’s more to do in Madrid but I absolutely fell in love with Seville. I also want to go to Cadiz

Both Madrid and Barcelona are lovely, so is Seville. As it is April I could perhaps go for Madrid or Seville - Spanish trains are cheap, fast and reliable. Maybe try both.

Cordoba?

I've spent a decent amount of time in all three cities, and as pp have said, you can't really go wrong with those choices. If I were to have a Spring holiday in one of them, at the moment I think I'd choose Sevilla (although look up the Spanish bank holidays before you book).

Seville is one of my very favourite places. The Jewish quarter is stunning. Barcelona is also awesome

Seville. It's my favourite out of those three cities.

Madrid and Seville are fantastic. I've been to Madrid half a dozen times and love it. I actually love that it's a working, real-life city - I think that makes the food better and the bars, you don't feel swamped by tourists (I appreciate I'm typing that as a tourist!). I'd go Madrid every time.

That said, I did Barcelona in August (long story) when it was 100 degrees in the shade and rammed with tourists. If visitor numbers are on the low side at the minute, I might take the opportunity to do a quieter Barcelona.

Or Malaga. Malaga is fab.

I realise, once again, that I've never met a Spanish city I didn't like!

I've been to Barcelona and Seville and loved both, so it's a very tough call! I think because Barcelona is by the sea, I'd prefer to go in warmer months for swimming (May half term or beginning of summer holidays maybe?) Seville is absolutely stunning in spring and April would be a good time to go although do consider the Easter celebrations as PPs have said.

I've never been to Madrid so can't comment on that option.

Been to them all and they are all so different. Seville is my favourite and have a soft spot for beautiful Cordoba. For Easter Seville will be warmest but the Semana Santa (10 -17 April) celebrations will mean its packed, assuming Covid isn't disrupting parades, which I doubt.
I love Spanish cities!

Barcelona is super busy. Because of cheap flights from last year it’s packed from now onwards. Loads of tourists so book in advance if you want to do tourist stuff. It’s got loads to do and loads of not doing much stuff like sea and long lunches.
Madrid didn’t excite me much. As a OP said it’s a bit business oriented. Fab airport though.
Not done Seville but it’s on the list.

Not been to Seville but we massively preferred Madrid to Barcelona. I liked Barca but Madrid felt much classier, cooler and we definitely saw far fewer drug deals going down in broad daylight

Seville would be perfect in Spring because it's way too hot in summer.

We stayed here. Probably 3 star. Side street, but easy walking distance to main centre. Lovely, helpful staff. Authentic breakfast and free orange liquor available in breakfast room at all times.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g187443-d269909-Reviews-Hotel_Abanico_Sevilla-Seville_Province_of_Seville_Andalucia.html

Easy city to walk round but we did the open top bus tour when we got there to see which areas we wanted to walk back to. The bull ring history tour was really interesting and I'm very anti bull fighting.

I like Barcelona most out of the three - also preferred Cordoba and Malaga as others have suggested to Madrid and Seville. My favourite Spanish city though would be Palma de Mallorca - you could take the lovely wooden train to Soller for the day and then the tram down to Port de Soller if you wanted. So lovely.