Travelling to Spain via London, Madrid or Barcelona [closed]

I've lived in both of them and, although both of them are great, I prefer Madrid over Barcelona. It's a matter of personal taste.

If you are just looking for nightlife, discos, etc both of them have a lot to offer with great places to go. The difference is that Barcelona is more focused to tourist with some discos in the beach which are full of tourists.

The beach is another thing that might make you reconsider which city you want to visit.

If you are more culturally inclined I would prefer Madrid. Madrid has been the capital of Spain for a few centuries and that makes a big difference.

Although Barcelona has some great museums (MNAC, Picasso, ...), Madrid has three amazing museums at walking distance from each other (El Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza and Reina Sofía) plus a lot more of museums which make it, in my opinion, a must see city.

Also, having been the capital of Spain for so many years it has some beautiful buildings (mostly neoclassical) made for the Monarchs (Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, ...). In the other hand, Barcelona is famous for its modernist architecture (especially all of Gaudí buildings).

So, as you can see, it comes to a question of personal taste. Depending on what you want you might prefer one city over the other, but both of them are definitely worth seeing.

Not knowing what you prefer as a tourist, most tourists do prefer Barcelona over Madrid. That said, there is still a LOT to see and do in Madrid. It's the capital of Spain, after all.

Check out wikivoyage to see whether Madrid will excite you.