There are various free simulators and a few free PCB packages but I don't know of any free ones which combine the two. I use Eagle for Schematics/PCB and SIMetrix for simulation. While I bought both of them they both have limited free versions which could well be suitable for your purposes.
Well for me it's Eagle since i don't really need simulation. I learned using Eagle PCB Layout on Youtube Tutorials lol and have been using it since then
Its amazing how much emotion etc is generated when this question comes up, for what is effectively a fancy join the dots software package
At the end of the day you can pay from nearly zero to hundreds of thousands for EDA software. Having used a few over the years what I can say is:
I've always managed to lay out the boards on each package used (they all do that quite well).
They ALL have good points and bad points.
And most peoples views are influenced quite often by what they use the most.
I cant belive someone thinks Allegro is user friendly 8O , Its a good package but user freindly, only after 6 months setting it up maybe.
Personaly I miss red and blue tape ups, life was less hectic in those days