Planning a vacation for April timeframe. Looking to fly into Madrid, spend a few nights, 1 night in Salamanca, and then 2 more nights in Porto flying out after that.

Any recs on places to stay? (plan on renting a car so places would need some kind of parking) Must-Do Things in each city? Any tips for driving, etc?

We went to Madrid a couple of Christmas ago. It is probably our favorite city we have been to.

We enjoyed walking around the city but probably our favorite place is Mercado San Miguel. We could have stayed there all day.

We did the Palace, the Prado Museum, Tour of Barnebeu Stadium, the zoo, several parks. We had kids with us so they liked the parks better.

We also did a day trip to Toledo which I thought was really cool but kids did not. If you only have a couple of days in Madrid probably skip the day trip.

Madrid might be my favorite big city in Europe. What an amazing place.

When I was there I stayed in hostels and I'm guessing you arent trying to stay in those, but there were tons of beautiful hotels near where I was staying which was very close to Plaza Mayor. Just stay somewhere centrally located and you're good. The city is walkable and if you want to go somewhere further out, the metro is great. If I had to pick though, I'd stay in a hotel near Parque de el Retiro. Gorgeous park near the main train station. Prado museum is nearby too.

Awesome to hear. I have a lot of that stuff on my itinerary based on internet research. Here's what I got so far.

Day 1
Parque Del Retiro
Lunch at Txirimiri Ibiza
Plaza Mayor
Mercado De San Miguel
Dinner at Meson Del Champinon

Day 2
Royal Palace
Cathedral Santa Maria
Templo de Debod
Lunch: Gustos
Prado National Museum
Flamenco show w Dinner

Day 3
Depart for Salamanca and swing by Segovia to see Alcazar castle
Lunch @ Vinodiario
- havent played day in Salamanca yet
Dinner La Vacavieja

Day 4 head to Porto and check out the Dom Luis bridge, Cathedral, etc.
Lunch Casario
Dinner: O Buraco

Day5 Douro Wine Tour and River Cruise
Dinner Dona Maria

Day 6 head back to Madrid- no plans yet

Fly Home Day 7

You dont have enough food on your list. Five meals a day. You can grab some mushrooms from Meson del Champinon while in Madrid.

Sounds like an amazing trip. I only have two tips for Porto: have a pastel de nata (or several) and skip Livraria Lello. Even though it's gotten very overrun by tourists the past couple of years, I still enjoyed the hell out of that city.