Hola, I’m Danny — and I’ve Been Getting Lost in Spain for Twenty Years So You Don’t Have To
I live here. I’ve lived here for the best part of two decades. I’ve queued for the wrong bus, ordered the wrong tapa, turned up to a museum on the one day of the week it’s shut, and paid nine euros for a beer within spitting distance of a very famous plaza. Every single mistake was research. You’re welcome.
This site is what happens when someone spends twenty years wandering around Spain — and especially Madrid — taking notes, and then decides those notes might actually be useful to somebody other than himself.
The Journey (Or: How a 9-to-5 Turned Into This)
There was no dramatic moment. No sabbatical, no “I sold everything I owned and bought a one-way ticket” story. Sorry.
I had a normal job. Alarm clock, commute, the lot. But I’d been visiting Spain for years before I ever moved here, and I’d come back from every trip with a head full of stuff I couldn’t shut up about — the little bar with no sign, the neighbourhood everyone skips, the train that costs half as much if you book it on a Tuesday. My friends started asking me for recommendations. Then their friends did. Then people I’d never met.
So I started writing it down. Properly. And somewhere between “hobby I do at the weekend” and “the thing I actually do now,” Spain stopped being a holiday and started being home.
Nearly twenty years of living here later, I’m still writing it down. The difference is I’ve now had time to be wrong about things, go back, and fix them.
What I Actually Believe
Old information is worse than no information.
That’s the whole philosophy, really. Half the travel advice online was written by someone who spent four days in Spain in 2017, or by someone who’s never been at all. Restaurants close. Prices go up. Metro lines change. That “hidden gem” from a listicle now has a ninety-minute queue and a merchandise stand.
I live here, so I notice when things change — and I go back and update. Not glamorous. Genuinely useful.
I also believe in telling you when something isn’t worth it. If a famous attraction is a tourist trap, I’ll say so. If the “authentic” neighbourhood everyone raves about is now mostly overpriced brunch, you’ll hear it from me first. I’d rather you trust me than like me, though ideally both.
And I’m not here to tell you you’re doing travel wrong. Want to see the big stuff? Great, the big stuff is big for a reason. I’ll just tell you the best time to go, how to skip the queue, and where to eat afterwards that isn’t the place with the laminated menu and the man outside waving at you.
Who This Is For
Anyone coming to Spain. First-timers, repeat offenders, weekenders in Madrid, people doing the full lap of the country, and anyone who’s ever stood in a foreign supermarket wondering what half the things are.
You don’t need to be a “traveller.” You just need to be going.
Right, Here’s What To Do Next
Read before you book. Seriously. Most of the emails I get start with “I wish I’d found this site a week earlier” — usually from someone who booked a hotel in the wrong part of town or paid triple for a train ticket they could’ve had for fifteen euros.
Have a dig around the blog. Start with Madrid if that’s where you’re headed. Steal my recommendations shamelessly, ignore the ones that don’t suit you, and if you’ve got a question I haven’t answered yet — ask me. I’m quite hard to offend and I like talking about this stuff.
Then go. Spain’s very good. I’ve checked.
— Danny
A few of our favorite photos
