Barcelona

How many days do you really need in Barcelona?

One day is definitely not the correct answer. You’ll see the cathedral, walk La Rambla, and miss the city. Two days is the floor. Three is the right answer for most people.

Here is how I’d plan it.

One day, if it’s all you have. Sagrada Família in the morning when the light hits the eastern stained glass, walk down through the Eixample to Passeig de Gràcia (Casa Batlló and La Pedrera from the outside, no need to queue), lunch in El Born, late afternoon at Park Güell or up to Bunkers del Carmel for the view, dinner in the Gothic Quarter. Do not try to add Montjuïc or the beach.

Two days. Day one as above. Day two, Park Güell properly, then either Montjuïc (Castell, Fundació Miró, the magic fountain at night) or a slow morning at Barceloneta beach with lunch at one of the marina restaurants. Don’t combine the two.

Three to four days. Add a day trip. Montserrat for the mountain monastery, Sitges for the easy beach town, or Girona for the medieval old town. Keep one afternoon free to wander a neighbourhood you haven’t seen yet (Gràcia or Poble Sec are the obvious picks).

A week. Use Barcelona as a base for the Costa Brava (Cadaqués, Tossa de Mar) and Penedès wine country. Which neighbourhood you base yourself in matters more here than in most cities. Six different areas give six different versions of the trip.

What to eat in Barcelona – Catalan, not Spanish

Barcelona is in Catalonia, and the food is different from the rest of Spain. The food here in Alicante is surprisingly different, for instance. Forget paella, mostly. It isn’t local, and the version sold on La Rambla is a tourist tax. The real Catalan menu starts here.

• Pa amb tomàquet. Toasted bread rubbed with garlic and tomato, drizzled with oil and salt. The default opener at any decent meal. Don’t add ham first. Let the bread do the work.
• Escalivada. Char-grilled aubergine, peppers and onion, served cold with anchovies. Looks plain. Tastes of summer.
• Fideuà. Like paella but with short noodles instead of rice, cooked in fish stock and served with alioli. Easier to eat than paella.
• Crema catalana. Older than crème brûlée, less sweet, with a hint of cinnamon and lemon zest. Order it instead of whatever the dessert menu pushes.

Where to eat for real food, not show:

• El Born for late tapas. The streets behind Santa Maria del Mar, not the main drags.
• Gràcia for unhurried dinners with locals. Plaça del Sol and Plaça de la Vila are the squares to aim for.
• Sant Antoni if El Born has gotten too touristy. The market reopened in 2018 and the surrounding bars are still mostly Catalan.

And avoid: anything on La Rambla (in my 3 years in Barcelona, I never ate there), the seafood places with menus in eight languages along the marina, and any restaurant where someone tries to wave you in.

Festivals worth planning around (and the one to avoid)

Barcelona’s festival calendar is dense. Three to know.

La Mercè (around 24 September) is the city’s main festival. A long weekend of free concerts, parades, the human-tower competition (castellers), the fire-running correfoc, and giants. The whole city stays out late. Book a hotel months ahead.

Sant Jordi (23 April) is Catalonia’s St George’s Day and the most beautiful single day to be in Barcelona. Streets fill with book stalls and roses; couples traditionally exchange a book for a rose. Quiet, not crowded with foreign tourists, fully Catalan in feel.

Sant Joan (23–24 June) is the bonfire night. Beach parties, fireworks, and a level of noise after dark that makes sleeping in the centre essentially impossible.

The week to avoid: mid-August. Hot, humid, half the locals away on holiday, and many small restaurants closed. The city stays open for tourism but loses its usual pulse.

Where the locals actually look at the view

Park Güell and Tibidabo get the postcards. These are better.

• Bunkers del Carmel. Old anti-aircraft battery on a hill above Gràcia. Free, 360-degree view of the city, sea and Tibidabo. Sunrise or sunset. Bring water and avoid the busy hours.
• Castell de Montjuïc, north terrace. Looks down over the city and out to sea. Good in late afternoon when the light is on the buildings.
• Plaça d’Espanya at sunset. From the top of the steps in front of the National Art Museum (MNAC). The fountain runs in the evening. Free.
• Roof of Catedral de Barcelona. Small fee, small queue, view straight down into the Gothic Quarter. Different angle from anywhere else in the city.
• Carmel hill, the residential side. A few streets above the bunkers, you find quiet roads with the same view and no tourists. Worth the extra walk.

Practical tips for first-time visitors

Airport (BCN) to the city. The Aerobús runs every 5 to 10 minutes from both terminals to Plaça Catalunya, takes 35 minutes, and is the painless option. Metro line L9 Sud is cheaper but slower with a long platform walk. Renfe trains run from T2 to Sants in about 25 minutes; the catch is no train to T1. Bus L46 which accepts the normal transport cards and is a lot cheaper than the Aerobus goes between the terminals and Plaza Espanya, but somehow is missing from Google Maps..

Pickpockets. Real and aggressive. Perhaps the worst in Europe. The metro at Plaça Catalunya, La Rambla, and the area around Sagrada Família are the worst spots. Front pockets only. Bag in front of you on crowded trains. Don’t put your phone on a restaurant table outside. Seriously. You’ve been warned.

Language. Catalan and Spanish are both official. Locals switch easily. Greet in Catalan if you can (bon dia, gràcies). It’s noticed and appreciated. English is fine in tourist areas, weaker in residential neighbourhoods.

Money. Currency is Euro and contactless is standard. Tipping is not expected. Round up at restaurants if you liked the meal or the service.

Siesta. Less than in southern Spain. Most central shops stay open through lunch. Restaurants still run on the Spanish clock, with lunch from 13:30 or 14:00 and dinner from 20:00.

Tap water. Drinkable but tastes mineral. Most locals drink bottled.

Day trips worth taking from Barcelona

Barcelona sits in a particularly generous corner of Spain. Three day trips that justify themselves.

Montserrat. The strange jagged mountain monastery an hour west by train and cable car. Half a day if you do just the basilica, full day if you walk one of the monk trails. Cooler than Barcelona in summer; bring a layer. There is also mountain climbing and via ferrata possibilities. I did the latter and saw nightmares for three nights thanks to my vertigo..

Sitges. Small beach town 35 minutes south by Renfe. White houses, a long beach, an art museum and good restaurants. Easy. A good summer half-day.

Girona. Medieval old town with intact city walls and a preserved Jewish quarter, 38 minutes north by AVE high-speed train. Half a day for the basics, full day if you stay for dinner. Quieter and prettier than Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. Amazing food scene and a must for the Game of Thrones fans.

Skip: Tarragona unless you specifically want Roman ruins; Andorra unless you specifically want shopping or skiing; the rest of Costa Brava unless you have lots of extra time in your hands. In which case you should move your base with you.

Barcelona with kids: what works (and what doesn’t)

Barcelona is harder with kids than Alicante or Valencia, but specific things work very well.

The metro is excellent outside the tourist season when it gets crowded and very hot. It’s pushchair-friendly on most lines. The beach at Barceloneta is a 15-minute metro from the centre, useful when energy crashes. Tibidabo amusement park at the top of the city is a good rainy-Saturday alternative. The Magic Fountain at Montjuïc on summer evenings is genuinely fun for small kids.

What’s harder: Sagrada Família queues, La Rambla crowds and dinner timing. By the time the city eats, (non-Spanish) kids are asleep. Eat early at a hotel or pick a place that is already open at 19:00. Some neighbourhoods (Gràcia, Sant Antoni) have early-evening tapas culture that suits this.

Pickpockets are a real concern with prams and family-sized distraction. Keep wallets out of nappy bags.