March 2004 – 3 nights as a couple with Lynn’s parents
June 2019 – 5 nights with the family
Wow. Barcelona is absolutely amazing. Prepare to be blown away by Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia, and it isn’t even finished! Stare in awe at his other architectural wonders, explore the trendy streets, and stay up late to enjoy tapas and sparkling wine. Bend your mind in the land of Picasso and Dalí. The latest visit was part of our Iberian summer trip where we also visited Portugal (Lisbon, Algarve, Azores, Porto)
Like the rest of our travel guides, this is not an all-encompassing account of everything we did. We do not want to make a list of ‘Best’ or ‘Must-do’ experiences since we know it depends on your personal preferences. These are only our personal favorites and they are divided into two groups: “Avventura Favves” and “Other Things We Liked”.
Overview
It’s not hard to understand why Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in the world. It boasts a perfect location, gorgeous weather, art, architecture, and a growing creative food scene. And it is just the right size, there is so much to see and do without being overwhelming.
Having visited Venice and Santorini, we’ve become sensitive to the issues of over-tourism, and we set out to try to enjoy Barcelona in as calm and organized of a manner as possible. The main thing we did is that we elected to stay outside the city in the green hills. Although it required a car to get into the city, the house had a small pool and extra space and gave us a place to relax in the afternoons after fighting the crowds in the hot sun. We also booked all of our tickets ahead of time for the sights within the city and used the house as a base for day trips to further out places. We enjoyed the cable car up to Montserrat (although it was still crowded) and we made sure to get to the beaches of Costa Brava early in the day. The kids loved the Dalí museum and on the way back we spent an evening in the charming city of Besalú.
There’s no denying that there are a ton of people along La Rambla, but the value of the culture and the awe we experienced within this beautiful city far outweighed the negatives. If you can go off-season, do it. But even if not, organize a few days outside the city, visit neighborhoods outside of the Gothic Quarter, and just be mentally prepared that it will be crowded. You’ll love it.
Avventura Favves – Gaudí, tapas, and beaches
Gaudí’s imagination – like a Dr. Seuss book come to life
La Sagrada Famiglia – A mixture of photos from 2004 and 2019
La Sagrada Familia – This is arguably our favorite man-made creation in the world. We reserved a tour through the main website and the tour guide was super funny and entertaining. We cannot express well enough the overwhelming feeling of walking into the colored lights and shadows of this beautiful structure. Their ability to incorporate the beauty of nature inside a massive church is astounding. And it’s not even finished! We will definitely go back when it is (supposedly in 2026).
Casa Batlló – This building was owned by a businessman at the turn of the century who hired Antoni Gaudí to transform his building into something beautiful. The combination of his utterly unique architectural style and functional inventions is incredible, and the enhanced reality tour (with an iTouch) adds to the trippiness of this place.
Park Güell – Even though it is an outdoor park, it now requires tickets to get into. This is a great introduction to the architectural style of Gaudí and is a marvel to wander around in on a beautiful Barcelona day.
Casa Milà/La Pedrera – We heard that this particular smaller apartment gets really crowded, so we booked an early bird experience with them to do a tour before the museum opened. The roof with its Star Wars-like chimneys was the coolest part. In our opinion, Casa Batllo is better if you only have time for one.
Steel Donkey Bike Tour– This was our first experience with a bike tour and it was wildly successful. It was the perfect way for our family to explore the city. We picked this particular tour company because they keep their group sizes small (no more than 8 people) and because they had electric bikes for rent (Lynn was recovering from knee surgery and wasn’t sure she would be able to pedal the entire time). In a 4 hour tour, we covered many areas of the city. We biked through the district of Poblenou, an industrial area that spans from the former Olympic village to an area of new modern construction and street art that is housing a new era of technological companies (the new “Silicon Valley”). We rode along the beachfront boardwalk and made a stop to see Ciutadella Park. We saw Placa de Catalunya and the neighborhood of Gracia, which houses many of the hippest bars and restaurants.
Restaurants and Bars
- Gata Mala – This small neighborhood gem near Park Güell in the Gracia neighborhood serves up amazing tapas and fun drinks in a cozy atmosphere with incredibly nice owners. They took the time to explain each of the dishes and they were all delicious.
- Bar Bodega Quimet – old school bar serving tapas and cheap local wine and beer by the glass. Go where the locals go.
- Ziryab Fusion Tapas Bar – this is definitely not a traditional tapas restaurant, but it is delicious. And right near the Gothic Quarter and Ciutadella Park.
- El Xampanyet – We went here back in 2004 with Lynn’s parents. Dave had read about it, but this was before google maps and we didn’t know what time they opened. We arrived at a ‘normal American’ dinner time (probably 6:30) and found it shuttered. We went back to the main square, had a couple (small) beers (see picture above), and kept going back to check on them. They were finally open around 9:00 pm and were packed almost immediately. They were able to squeeze us in at a table under the stairs where we enjoyed delicious homemade cava (sparkling wine) and tapas.
Airbnb – We loved staying in this Airbnb in the green hills outside of Barcelona. This house is what Airbnb used to be before so many property management companies started listing apartments. We stayed in the actual home of a family that was off traveling for the summer in their RV. It had absolutely everything we needed, including a small pool, a treehouse and lots of toys for the kids. The owners were so friendly – they even sent us Joy’s kindle after she forgot it in their house and wouldn’t take any money for the shipping costs.
Amazing day trip to the Costa Brava + Dalí museum + Besalú. We set out early one morning to hit up a couple of beaches on the Costa Brava. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take the kids to a true nude beach (l’Illa Roja). We’re sorry we don’t have any pictures from the beach itself, but it was certainly one of the most memorable experiences for us as a family! While we were northeast of Barcelona, we went on to the Dalí Museum. The kids were mesmerized by the unusual art as we tried to get inside the crazy mind of Dalí. Finally, we met a friend of a friend for a delicious paella dinner in the medieval walled town of Besalú (where scenes from Westworld season 3 were filmed). It’s always nice to meet a local to hear the real story of life in that place. We talked a lot about the independence movement by the Catalan people and the imprisonment of their leaders by the Spanish government.
Other Things We Liked
Mercado de La Boqueria – This market is near the extremely crowded La Rambla, and while it is not the same market like it was in the past when chefs used to shop there, it is still a great way to try a variety of Barcelona foods. It would have been a Favve if it were not so crowded.
Montserrat – We also debated whether to call this one a Favve. This mountaintop monastery is the perfect easy day trip outside Barcelona and it offers breathtaking views on the cable car ride up to the top. In addition to some fun nature walks, it houses the Virgin of Montserrat, which is one of the black Madonnas of Europe. We didn’t get the chance to see it up close because the line was too long.
Picasso Museum – Picasso’s cubism makes it seem like something a child painted, but no, you could not do that. At this museum, you get to see a variety of pieces across different phases of his life that demonstrate his creativity and mastery in a variety of forms.
Palau Dalmases Flamenco – We felt we could not visit Barcelona with the kids and not see some traditional Flamenco dancing. This venue is one of the higher-rated ones and the dancers were very talented, but it still felt a bit fabricated.
Plaza de España Fountain Light Show – The free evening show of lights and water spraying from the fountains choreographed with music was definitely cool. But also incredibly crowded.
Churros like at Xurreria – we definitely ran around the city trying to get a taste of as many of these sugar-coated fried dough sticks as we could.
Logistics and Miscellaneous Notes
- Barcelona is an extremely accessible city with many low-cost airlines serving the city (Volotea, Vueling, Ryanair). We were able to fly direct from Turin, and then direct onto Lisbon.
- Rental car – We used Europcar via Autoeurope.com, but this is before we banned Europcar forever. We definitely wouldn’t recommend them. You need a car only if you plan to stay outside the city or to take day trips. Within the city, there is excellent public transportation.
Next Time We Go
- Revisit La Sagrada Familia – can’t wait to see what this is like when it is complete.
- More of Gaudí – Güell Palace, Gaudí’s crypt, Sant Pau hospital, Casa Vicens
- Watch Barcelona FC at Camp Nou – we were supposed to go back to watch Barça and Messi play against Napoli (Grandpa’s team versus Kai’s team) in a Champions League match at Camp Nou, but it was canceled due to COVID.
- More tapas and wine please! La Xampanyeria or La Plata seem like they would be perfect spots for a night out in Barcelona.
The Avventura 