My Barcelona Diary
Updated: Jan 6, 2020
One of the most popular destinations in Europe is the vibrant city Barcelona. Its warm weather, delicious food, history, stunning architecture and also the warmth of the people make the city exquisite. Situated on the northeastern coast of Spain, it is the capital of Catalonia region.
You need at least four-five days to visit Barcelona. Of course, visiting Barcelona is also possible in less than four days. I visited Barcelona with my friend in November. My itinerary does not include information regarding the beaches as it is hard for me to get into the cold water in November.
I concentrated more on the city and surroundings. If someone is visiting in the summer month, do not forget to check out also the famous beaches in Barcelona.
Here goes what to do if you have four-five days in Barcelona:
Day 1: Take a stroll in the city following the narrow, cobblestoned path, enjoy mouthwatering food and Sangria. For us, the first day was relaxed since we just arrived in the evening.
Day 2: Visit Sagrada Familia, Lunch, go for a city tour to explore the important places.
Day 3: Day trip to Beautiful Monserrat.
Day 4: Day trip to Girona, Visit Casa Milà and Casa Batlló
Day 5: Visit Park Guell and way back home.
You can always pick up the places you want to visit and adapt your itinerary as per your choice.
Before I start, I would like to mention, visiting Barcelona in summer months can be tricky and expensive because it is overcrowded in the peak seasons. Consider booking flights, accommodation in advance and also tickets for the places to visit to skip the line or reduce the waiting time in the queue. You can visit Barcelona also in shoulder-months (September -November or Easter - Early June) to avoid the crowd.
Day 1: We reached at Barcelona Airport around 19.00 in the evening, took Aerobus from the airport and headed to the city center. Aerobus is the cheapest option that we found. There are other buses that take a longer route than Aerobus. Taxi is available from the airport as well. Once we checked in to our Airbnb, we had the entire evening for us. Without wasting not much time, we headed towards the city center. Our Airbnb was 10 minutes walk from Plaça d'Espanya. It is one of the important squares in Barcelona. We ended that day strolling around the city followed by a scrumptious dinner at a Tapas bar and home-made Sangria.
Important Information: You might consider taking Barcelona city pass or Barcelona pass before start visiting the places but it entirely depends on how you plan your visit. We did not take the city pass. What we took was the T-10 card for the metro which allows 10 free journeys. For more information visit https://www.barcelona.com/barcelona_city_guide/all_about/metro_barcelona.
Day 2: Our second day started with visiting Sagrada Familia. We already booked our ticket for Sagrada Familia before. Upon reaching there on our scheduled time, we entered Sagrada Familia and collected our audio guide.
Sagrada Familia or Basilica de la Sagrada Familia is the unfinished Roman Church designed by Antoni Gaudí and a UNESCO heritage site. It is under construction to date. When you entered the Basilica you could see a forest-like architecture inside but from outside it looks completely different. With this forest-like architecture, the stained-glass colored windows, and the captivating light through that windows created an enigmatical world inside the Basilica. Sagrada is unique and one must not miss this while visiting Barcelona.
Now comes what ticket to buy for Sagrada Familia. There several options for tickets. Check out here https://sagradafamilia.org/tickets. It has two towers: Passion Tower and the Nativity Tower. You can choose one of them depending on which one you want to visit. We took the "SAGRADA FAMILY WITH TOWERS" tickets and we chose the Passion Tower. Unfortunately, because of the construction, it is hard to get a great city view if you climb up the tower. I would suggest taking a look at the website before your visit to get updated information. Also, I would recommend taking at least the audio guide because the audio guide explains many things about Sagrada Familia.
After visiting the Sagrada Familia, we headed for lunch and then for the City Trip. I love walking tours. There are several companies which offer city tours in Barcelona such as Free walking tour Barcelona, SANDEMANs. We took the free tour from SANDEMANs. The 2.5 hours trip starts in front of the Jaume I metro exit and finishes by El Born Centre de Cultura I Memòria. You will hear about the fascinating story of the historical characters during the tour. While Strolling in the Gothic Quarter, we relived history again. Our tour guide Claire was funny, informative and very friendly. We enjoyed every bit of it.
Now come Las Ramba and Magic Fountain visit. Las Ramba: the famous Pedestrian Street in Barcelona. It is worthwhile to walk through this touristic street once in Barcelona. In the late evening, we went for light and sound show in the magic fountain. It is free of charge, but you might want to go early to get a better place.
For more information visit the website: https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/albums-en/magic-fountains-montjuic/index.html as the timing keeps changing. After the light and sound show, we ended our day again some amazing food. We tried a very special crab soup in the nearby restaurant.
There are plenty of other places where you can visit separately such as the Barcelona History Museum, The Grand Royal Palace, Barcelona Cathedral, Picasso Museum.
** If you have time you can also visit Montjuic castle too. You can walk or take a cable car to reach there.
Day 3: Time to visit Monserrat and the surreal mountain range. If you want to take a break from hustle and bustle of the city, then head towards Monserrat on a half-day trip. You can visit the beautiful Monastery, go hiking, ride a cable car, take the funicular and go up in the mountain and enjoy the breathtaking view.
Day 4: Day trip to Girona.
Girona: Girona is a beautiful walled city beside the river Onyar in the northeastern Catalonia region. It is often overlooked by most of the traveler. But you are a “Game of Thrones” fan you can find the resemblance with some places. It is just 100 km from Barcelona and can be reached from Barcelona via Renfe Train. The journey takes 38 minutes with high-speed AVE train and around 80 minutes with the normal train. You can spend an entire day wandering around the city, can climb up to the city wall and enjoy the beautiful vibe of this medieval city.
** We came back from Girona and then visited Casa Milà and Casa Batlló. I liked Casa Batlló the most and to me, it looks like a fairy tale world from outside. Both are the beautiful masterpiece of Antoni Gaudí and needless to say, are worth a visit. For more information and tickets visit
https://www.casabatllo.es/en/online-tickets/
https://www.lapedrera.com/es/prepara-la-visita/tarifas
If you want to more about Girona and Monserrat, follow my next posts. :D
Day 5: Our flight back home was in the evening. So we took that opportunity and visited Park Guell before lunch.
Park Guell: One of the vibrant places in Barcelona where you can see Gaudi’s beautiful artwork. But the park is so overcrowded, I recommend to buy tickets before to visit the Beautiful Balcony. The designer houses and colorful tiles are a delight for the eyes.
**If you are a football fan, Barcelona is the right place to be. You might visit Camp Nou or go for watching a match there.
Where to eat in Barcelona: Barcelona trip is incomplete without tasting the awesome Spanish cuisine. It is one of the best things to do. Where do I begin with? It is a difficult choice for me since I love Spanish cuisine. There are plenty of restaurants, amazing cafes in Barcelona. But I am listing few of them which I liked during my visit:
Bodega Biarritz: Delicious Tapas and homemade Sangria
Restaurant Salamanca: I loved this place. We had to drag ourselves after dinner because there is so much food
Cerveseria Catalana: I found Goat meat in the menu for the first time and not to mention amazing food
Cera 23: Exotic and fresh food
To conclude my Barcelona blog I want to say we should never rush in Barcelona but enjoy the city at a slow pace. The city has so much to offer.
Blend in with its laid-back vibe, soak in the sun, relish the food and get drunk with Sangria.