Logistics
We flew into Barcelona El Prat and took the train into the city centre, which actually brought us closer to our accommodation than other options would have done.
Our hotel was the Well and Come Hotel. For the three of us, we had two normal single beds and a single bed that had been made up on a portable bed (perfectly fine for me, a tall adult!). On arrival we paid the city tax then were handed a voucher each for a free drink to be used at any time during our stay (in the end, we had a beer and two cavas). The room was nice, had a hairdryer, a multitude of toiletries and a free chocolate every day. We were provided with tea and coffee, as well as a coffee maker and a kettle. There was a free minifridge in the room, whose free contents included a packet of crisps, a pack of two oreos and three cans of fizzy drink. It was a bit strange though that only two cups were provided when there were three of us in the room. There is also a great rooftop pool area with an unheated pool and areas to lay on. Another extra were that there were free snacks every afternoon that consisted of tea, coffee, and some mini muffins. Worth visiting the snacks if you're in the hotel but not worth travelling back from attractions purposely for. Overall, a really great hotel that I would certainly recommend.
In terms of travel around the city, I was going to buy a T-10 but I didn't realise they were expired now. Instead I bought a T-Casual at 11€, for 10 journeys on metros, trains and trams within the city’s zone one (which even includes getting to the airport), working out at €2.20 a journey. The other option I was considering was a T-día cad for 24h public transport at 10.50€ but we didn't end up using this.
Now for the fun stuff! The things we did that I recommend, do not recommend and things I would like to do on my next visit.
Recommended
La Boqueria
La Boqueria is a food market just off La Rambla. I thought it was actually much better than La Rambla themselves! Everything is clearly touristy and expensive but it's great to grab a snack and have a wander around.
Park Güell (the free areas)
I've been to Park Güell twice now but I've never been to the bits you have to pay to see. We were intending to go during this visit but it was a long wait before the timed entry would let us in so we just explored the free part instead. I would strongly recommend buying in advance (10€pp) or apparently it is free before 8:30am or after 6pm. But it's a great place to visit even just in the free part, with lovely views over the city.
Pudding
Pudding is an unofficial Harry Potter themed cafe. A great surprise find for big HP fans!
El Bosc de les Fades
This is a very instagrammable bar just off La Rambla. A bit quirky and a great place to nip in to the toilet and get a drink.
Les Galeries Maldà
For a gigantic geek like myself this was a great find! A shopping centre but filled solely with Game of Thrones/Harry Potter/Disney merch and Japanese sweets. Definitely worth a visit for nerds!
Not Recommended
Hop On Hop Off Bus
The bus worked well as part of this trip but I wouldn't do it again, especially with public transport being so widely available and relatively cheap. There are a few choices for the bus but we used the Barcelona Bus Turistic because we looked up where we wanted to go and this hit the most stops. We used the blue route and got off at Park Güell (it was quite a walk uphill to get there though) and FC Barcelona’s stadium. the audioguide was especially bad on this route. We then used the red route, which had a better audioguide but it ended up we didn't want any of the stops because everything was stopped for the off season (it was the February half term holidays). The green route was not operational during our stay.
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| gocity.com |
La Rambla
I find La Rambla overrated. Maybe I'm missing something? It's a long street with expensive touristy newsagent-type shops, flower shops and maybe some people selling fans on the floor. I don't really get it.
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| theculturetrip.com |
FC Barcelona
As part of a Hop On/Off bus trip, we got off at the Barcelona Stadium and got a Basic Tour and Museum ticket for 26€. We had a free voucher from the bus which made it cheaper than online but if you don't have a voucher, I would say you might as well book online. It was OK but I don't like football so I didn't enjoy it (my sister does though!). Also, for a book with 3 photos in they will charge you 40€.
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| FCBarcelona.com |
Sagrada Família
I've seen the Sagrada Família before but I had never been inside before. We stumped up the 33€ fee (visitors under 30 are eligible for 2€ off tickets or half-off tickets for Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for the last two hours before closing of the Basilica. Look here under Discounts for up to date information) for a tower view and headed inside. Tip: book in advance! We got there at ~11am but had to wait until ~1pm for our time slot to enter.
My thoughts were that the outside was way nicer than the inside. It was cool to see the light reflecting off the windows but, really, it is not something I would do again. The audiobook was OK but seemed to drag it out a lot.
There was a long queue for the tower view. If you bring a rucksack they make you put it in a locker for 1€ so make sure you have the coin or, better yet, with the airport-like security, leave it at the hotel. Also don't go if you do not like heights! You take an elevator up to the top and then have to walk down a long spiral staircase with intermittent railings all the way back down. The tower was a good view but I do feel that similar views can be found elsewhere.
Arco de Triunfo
An OK place to visit if you want to do something free but I think there are better things to visit.
Taller de Tapas
I read online that Taller de Tapas was a great tapas place to go and visit so we went along. We sat outside and we didn't realise that carried an additional charge per item you order. We placed an order of a jug of sangria, one cheese board to share and some tomato-soaked bread. The wrong cheese board was delivered and the bread was completely plain and dry- no tomatoes, no oil, just plain bread. We tried to get the waiter's attention to tell him it was wrong but we couldn't get his attention. We tried to order more food but we couldn't get anyone's attention. So we just paid (And got charged triple the price for the bread!) and it came to 34.65€! Definitely would not visit again.
Xurreria Trebol
Something else I read online was that eating Churros y Chocolate from Xurreria Trebol was a must do. The churros were OK, nothing special. The staff looked very unhappy. They're not really worth going out of your way for.
To Try Next Time
Montjuïc Cable Car
I really wanted to go on the Montjuïc Cable Car for a hop on/off ticket to Parc de Montjuïc, Miramar and Castell de Montjuïc for a great view of the city. They used to be free with a T10 card but I'm not sure about the TCasual, and 13.50€ for a normal ticket. Unfortunately it was out of order during my visit.
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| barcelona.de |
Recinte Moderista de Sant Pau
I saw this attraction from the Hop On/Off bus and it looked amazing!
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| atlasobscura.com |
Sant Sebastià
Next time, if the weather is good, I'll go to the Sant Sebastià beach.
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| barcelonacheckin.com |
Park Güell (paid for bits)
I've been to Park Güell twice now but I've never been to the bits you have to pay to see. We were intending to go during this visit but it was a long wait before the timed entry would let us in so we just explored the free part instead. I would strongly recommend buying in advance (10€pp) or apparently it is free before 8:30am or after 6pm.
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| timeout.com |
Magic Fountain of Montjuïc
Another attraction I would have liked to have visited but it was closed during our visit.
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| theculturetrip.com |
Free Walking Tour
Like most cities, there were numerous free walking tours that we could have gone on. I was particularly interested in a graffiti art tour, after going on a similar tour in Toronto and loving it. But in the end we ran out of time. I would like to maybe give it a go next time though.
Menu del Dia
One thing I really wanted to do was to try out a Menu del Dia (menu of the day). At lunchtime, you can get quite a bit of food for a good set price. One example I have heard about is Guixot, where for €10.50 you can enjoy three courses and a beer, or a glass of wine. Another example is La Rita, which has a daily lunch menu from Sunday to Thursday for €15 per person with a starter , 2 main dishes, dessert, a drink and bread included.
Food, Food and More Food!
Some more places I had heard to eat at but didn't get around to it were: Chivuos for street food, Caravan Made for street food from a food truck, Gyoza Bar or Bao Bun and gelato from Gelaaati Di Marco.
Costs
- Public Transport 11€
- City tax at the hotel 10.89€
- Food 5.60€ croissant and coffee in a cafe for breakfast + 12€ for Harry Potter cafe lunch + 4€ for churros + 11.55€ for "tapas" + 7.17€ for McDonalds (don't judge me!) + 11€ groceries + 8€ at La Boqueria for doughnuts, juice, sausage roll and fruit + 9.33€ lunch at a bar + 23€ drinks at a bar
- Hop On/Off Bus 27€
- Stadium 25.60€
- Sagrada Família 33€
- Gifts/stamps (you buy stamps at Tabacs) 8€
