Sagrada Família
ExpensiveGaudí's basilica · Still under construction
Book the first slot and go for the light through the stained glass. Nothing prepares you for the inside.
EixampleBook aheadMorning
Barcelona, Spain
Ideal: 3–4 daysBest: May–Jun, Sep–OctPrice: Expensive
In 60 seconds
Barcelona in 60 seconds
Barcelona rewards a slower pace than most visitors give it. The Gaudí buildings deserve their reputation and their timed tickets; the rest of the city is best done on foot, neighbourhood by neighbourhood — the Born and the Gothic Quarter in the morning, Gràcia for the evening, Poble-sec for vermouth and tapas. Stay in the Eixample or the Born and walk; the Metro covers the rest. Lunch is the main meal, and a neighbourhood menú del día is the best value in the city. Eat late, as the city does — dinner rarely starts before nine — and keep valuables close on the Rambla and the Metro. Four days lets you add Montserrat or a beach day without rushing anything.
Best for
- Architecture
- Food
- Beaches
- Nightlife
Known for
- Gaudí
- Tapas and vermouth
- City beaches
Skip if
Summer crowds and pickpockets would spoil it for you. July and August are hot, full and expensive, and the Rambla is best avoided entirely.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Barcelona fits them. Choose interests
See
Must experience
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
Park Güell
ModerateGaudí's hillside park
The monumental zone needs a timed ticket; the wider park around it is free and quieter.
GràciaBook aheadView
Palau de la Música Catalana
ModerateModernista concert hall
Better heard than toured: buy a ticket to anything and sit under the stained-glass skylight.
Sant PereConcert
Eat
Where to eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
Local
Where to eat the food this city is actually known for.
Can Culleretes
ModerateCatalan · Since 1786
Barcelona's oldest restaurant. Order the Catalan classics and do not expect reinvention.
Gothic QuarterTraditional
Bar Cañete
ExpensiveTapas counter
A long bar by the Liceu where you watch the cooks work through Catalan market fish and classic tapas.
El RavalBook aheadCounter
Can Solé
ExpensiveSeafood rice · Since 1903
A fishermen's tavern turned family seafood restaurant, now in its fourth generation. Rice dishes and suquet are the point.
BarcelonetaClassicPaella
Casual
No booking, no ceremony, reliably good.
Quimet & Quimet
ModerateStanding tapas & conservas · Since 1914
A family bodega lined with bottles, where tinned fish becomes the best montadito you will eat.
Poble-secNo bookingStanding
El Quim de la Boqueria
ModerateMarket counter
A stool at the counter inside the Boqueria and the house dish: fried eggs with baby squid.
El RavalCounterLunch
Bar del Pla
ModerateTapas & natural wine
Somewhere between a bistro and a tapas bar, by the Picasso Museum, with seasonal plates and natural wine.
El BornTapasWine
Special occasion
Worth planning the evening around.
Disfrutar
Very expensiveAvant-garde tasting menu
Three former elBulli chefs at full stretch. Book months out; it is worth the planning.
EixampleBook aheadTasting menu
Lasarte
Very expensiveMartín Berasategui · Three stars
Modern Basque haute cuisine in the Monument Hotel on Passeig de Gràcia, with three Michelin stars since 2017.
EixampleBook aheadTasting menu
ABaC
Very expensiveJordi Cruz · Three stars
Jordi Cruz's single tasting menu in a garden setting at the foot of Avinguda del Tibidabo.
Sant GervasiBook aheadTasting menu
Coffee & fika
Mornings, and the slow hour between things.
Nømad Coffee Lab & Shop
InexpensiveSpecialty roaster's brew bar
A passageway brew bar from the roaster that started the city's specialty coffee.
Sant PereFilter
Granja Viader
InexpensiveGranja · Since 1870
The family dairy that invented Cacaolat. Thick hot chocolate, churros and toast in the old room.
El RavalChocolateClassic
Satan's Coffee Corner
InexpensiveSpecialty coffee & brunch
One of the cafés that started Barcelona's specialty coffee, on a lane in the old Jewish Call.
Gothic QuarterBrunchEspresso
Beyond the obvious
Hidden gems
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Bunkers del Carmel
Civil War gun battery · 360° view
Anti-aircraft emplacements from 1938 on Turó de la Rovira, with the whole city laid out below.
El CarmelFreeSunset
Sant Pau Recinte Modernista
ModerateModernista hospital campus
Domènech i Montaner's hospital pavilions, ten minutes' walk from the Sagrada Família and a fraction of the crowd.
El GuinardóArchitectureQuiet
Parc del Laberint d'Horta
Inexpensive18th-century garden maze
The city's oldest garden, with a cypress maze, far from the crowds.
HortaGardenQuiet
After dark
Bars & nightlife
El Xampanyet
InexpensiveCava & anchovies · Since 1929
House cava, anchovies and a crowd that spills into Carrer de Montcada. Arrive at opening.
El BornBusyStanding
Paradiso
ExpensiveCocktails behind a pastrami bar's fridge door
Walk through a pastrami shop and a freezer door into one of the world's most celebrated cocktail bars.
El BornCocktailsQueue
Bar Marsella
InexpensiveAbsinthe bar · Since 1820
Peeling walls, dusty bottles and absinthe with a sugar cube, in what is widely held to be the city's oldest bar.
El RavalAbsintheHistoric
Orientation
Neighbourhoods
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
Gràcia
Squares, small bars, village feel
A former separate town of small squares, where the evening happens outside.
Poble-sec
Vermouth, tapas, Montjuïc
Carrer de Blai's pintxo bars and the slope of Montjuïc behind them.
La Barceloneta
Fishermen's quarter by the beach
A grid of narrow 18th-century streets between the port and the beach, with seafood restaurants on every corner.
Stay
Where to stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Eixample
ExpensiveThe grid · Modernisme
Wide streets, good transport and the Modernista façades at the door.
CentralMetro
El Born
ExpensiveMedieval lanes, near the sea
The best-looking old quarter, walkable to the beach. Ask for a room away from the street.
AtmosphereNoise
Gràcia
ExpensiveVillage squares
Small squares and local bars, a few metro stops from the centre.
AtmosphereMetro
Practical
Know before you go
- Getting in
- From the airport, the Aerobús and the metro both reach the city; Sants is the main station for Spain and France.
- Getting around
- The metro is quick and frequent. Most of the old city is best walked.
- Money
- Euro. Cards are accepted almost everywhere.
- Safety
- Pickpocketing is the real risk, especially on the metro, the Rambla and the beach.
- Eating hours
- Lunch runs from about two, dinner rarely before nine.
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
History in 5 minutes
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
- 1st century BC
The Roman colony of Barcino is founded; stretches of its wall survive in the Gothic Quarter.
- 1888–1929
Two world exhibitions and the Modernista movement remake the city — the Eixample, Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner.
- 1992
The Olympic Games open the city to the sea, creating the beaches and waterfront of today.
Further out
Nearby escapes
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Montserrat
Mountain monastery
The serrated massif and its Benedictine monastery. Walk above the crowds at the top station.
By train and rack railwayHikingNature
Sitges
Seaside town & beaches
Whitewashed old town, a run of beaches and a slower day than any in the city.
By Rodalies trainBeaches
Girona
Walled medieval city on the Onyar
Coloured houses over the river, a cathedral stair and one of Europe's best-kept Jewish quarters.
By trainFull dayHistory
Go further
Routes through Barcelona
Multi-city trips that stop here, with the transport between them.