Barcelona

Spain

Barcelona

Welcome to Spain’s most famous northern city: Barcelona! This quick weekend trip is perfect for exploring the city and closest nearby sites. If you’re already in Europe, this is a quick trip for a weekend. Or considering adding it to another itinerary, such as Spain in 10 Days or enjoy France to Spain: Dordogne to Catalonia.

Length: 4 Days

Transport: This is a train and bus based trip

Recommended Guide Book: Rick Steves Spain, Lonely Planet Spain

Day 1 – Barcelona

Day 2 – Barcelona

Day 3 – Montserrat

  • Grab breakfast
  • Train to Montserrat
    • From Plaça Espanya take the R5 line to Aeri de Montserrat (1h30 train)
    • From Aeri de Montserrat take the cable car up the mountain
    • You can buy a combo ticket at the Plaça Espanya station
  • Take the cable car or funicular up to Montserrat monastery
  • Explore Montserrat:
    • Montserrat basilica
    • Sant Joan funicular and hikes
      • Look at a map of hiking options when you arrive
    • Sacred cave
    • Choir concert with Escolania de Montserrat
  • Train back to Barcelona (1h30 min)
  • Dinner – Direkte Boqueria, Tapas 24, Vinitus, or select from our Barcelona restaurant recommendations
  • Lodging – same place (night 3/4)

Day 4 – Sitges

In Depth Itinerary 

Day 1 – Barcelona

Either arrive in the morning and make your way to lodging to dump your bags or, if you arrived the night before, wake up and grab breakfast from the nearby bakery (or nearby if you’re staying in our recommended place or in the Eixample neighborhood off Rambla de Catalunya) Forn de Sant Jaume. It’s a bakery serving incredible chocolate croissants, along with other tempting breakfast goodies.

In terms of arrival into Barcelona, you can get to downtown easily via Barcelona’s local train system (get off at Passeig de Gracia, timetable here, runs every 30 minutes out of terminal 2, buy a ticket at the kiosk), a bus (the blue Aerobuses are a fast shuttle service between the airport and Plaça de Catalunya leaving from Terminal 1 and 2 – buy a ticket in cash from the driver or ahead of time online), or by cab (download the MyTaxi app).

Arrange for a 1/2 day Barcelona walking tour. While it’s possible to explore the main sites (Barri Gotic, Sagrada Familia, Ramblas) having done it twice, once with a guide and once with out, it was infinitely better with one. We went with pepitotours.com which ended up being fantastic, but there are also tours offered through the tourist office. Let your guide take you from your hotel to the Placa Catalunya, along the Ramblas cutting through side streets and pointing out some great local restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and artisan goods, to the Barcelona Cathedral. From there you can enjoy an in depth overview of the Old Gothic Quarter, seeing thousands of years of history from Roman ruins, pagan sites, Christian churches, modern art, markets, and more. From the Gothic Quarter you can proceed with your guide to the incredible Sagrada Familia and enjoy a thorough tour of Gaudi’s most impressive work. If you can’t arrange a tour of the church, we recommend the audio guide you can purchase with your entrance tickets. If you are not on a tour providing you tickets of the church, make sure you get them in advance online – it sells out even in the off season. On your way back towards your hotel, pass by Casa Battlo (the more impressive exterior) and Casa Mila (the more impressive interior).

Once you part ways with your guide consider heading to La Boqueria Market where you will find stalls selling a remarkable array of fresh and local products. Grab lunch at one of the booths or find somewhere on the meridian on Rambla de Catalunya and enjoy people watching.

After lunch it’s time to wander La Rambla. While you might have heard of this area as being overly touristy, filled with kitchzy shops and pickpockets (and there is some truth in that), the walk itself is lovely. Stroll down the wide tree-lined boulevard, serving as a passage to the waterfront for citizens and tourists alike for over 100 years. There are some nice stops along the way (look at Rick Steves book for a comprehensive self-guided walking tour) and the waterfront at the end opens to an enjoyable seaside promenade where you can continue your walk and take in some ocean air.

On your way back to your hotel grab ice cream or a drink (or both) at Rocambolesc, a funky Willy Wonka-like shop and Boadas Cocteleria, a historic and local watering hole.

For dinner give Denassus, Gresca Bar, or Tapas 2254 a try and delve into some innovative tapas. Of note, we love tapas in Spain. We’re going to mostly recommend tapas bars for 2 reasons: 1) you can eat before 9pm and not get weird looks from locals and 2) Barcelona is an expensive city for food and tapas are cheaper. They also give you local and fresh ingredients while letting you try a bunch of different things. However, check out our Barcelona restaurant recommendations for a full list of places we like.

For lodging we strongly recommend Central Suites Barcelona which was a lovely apartment in an unparalleled location to walk to virtually all tourist sites you’ll want to see. If you choose to stay elsewhere, try and stay in the Eixample neighborhood. It’s less touristy than staying in the Old City/Barri Gotic or off Las Ramblas meaning food quality is better and cheaper and you get a break from the swarm that descends on Barcelona in the peak tourist months. Other good options of hotels include The Hoxton, Casa Bonay, Room Mate Anna, Praktik Garden, Motel One Barcelona-Ciutadella, Hotel Claris, and Grand Luxe Barcelona.

La Sagrada Familia
Las Ramblas

Day 2 – Barcelona

Wake up and grab breakfast.

Next head over to the Picasso museum. If you were smart, you got tickets early online and can skip the queue. This very museum offers a collection of Picasso’s work from his early years living in Barcelona (think before he gets into cubism) and tracks the progression of his development. Of note, these are works from his time in the city so the trajectory of his work seems to suddenly end as you wind through the museum.  It’s worth the visit, especially if you like Picasso, but it won’t take more than about 45 minutes to visit.

While you’re in the neighborhood you can grab a snack by popping into Mercat de Santa Caterina, another fun market offering up fresh local food. Make your way to the Barcelona Cathedral, and enjoy a self guided tour of this Baroque structure on top a holy site that’s been in constant use for over 2000 years. Make sure you head to the rooftop terrace and enjoy the sweeping views of the city.

Find a tapas bar to enjoy lunch, we thought most of the options off of Rambla de Catalunya were good, and then head over to Casa Mila to see the Gaudi designed apartments. While you can also see Casa Battlo, Casa Mila is arguably the better of the two because Gaudi fully designed the interior. But on your way walking there or back, stop and take in the exterior of Casa Battlo.

In the afternoon, take a cab or bus out to Park Guell. This park feels like a peaceful refuge in the center of the large metropolis. However the real reason to go is to see the restricted area that includes all of the Gaudi designed elements: two houses, a sweeping staircase, and a wavy balcony. It’s especially nice to head to the park in the early evening around sunset as it gives you wonderful views of the sun setting over the city. To get back, head to the nearby cab stand located right next to the park, or if you’re feeling adventurous you can grab one of the buses.

For dinner, try Cal Pep or Estimar. For drinks, consider Paradiso, one of the best bars in the world.

Park Guell

Day 3 – Montserrat

Train to Montserrat (1h44 train) high in the hills outside of Barcelona. Grab the R5 line to Aeri de Montserrat at Plaça Espanya station. When you arrive at Aeri de Montserrat take the cable car up the mountain. You can actually purchase a combo ticket for this entire travel at the Plaça Espanya station. If you’re tight on money, another option is to take the train one stop further to Monistrol de Montserrat where you’ll change to a railway that runs up the top of the mountain. It actually takes longer to do this and isn’t as scenic, but it’s up to you. Again, you can get combo tickets at the Plaça Espanya station.

Montserrat has been the most famous pilgrimage site in Catalunya for over a millennium and still offers a monastery peached high in the tall peaks of a natural park. The landscape itself is rugged, dramatic, and beautiful and the only way to reach the monastery/park is to park your car and take a cable car or funicular up from Montserrat-Aeri station or Monistrol de Montserrat Station respectively. Once you reach the top everything is close by.

Begin by exploring the Monastery itself – though of note, it’s very ornate and modern and feels a little out of place in the history and scenery. The Basilica that looms over everything else was built in the 1950s and the facade is from 1968 (however there has been a church on the spot since the 11th century). The main focus of the basilica is the Black Virgin (La Moreneta), a wooden statue discovered in the Sacred Cave part way up the mountain in the 12th century allegedly carved by St. Luke.  Join the line of tourists and pilgrims alike and get ushered down an ornate hallway along the side of the church to the main alter where you can admire the piece up close and touch her orb. Duck into other chapels surrounding the main church and end by walking the Ave Maria Path which holds hundreds of colorful votive candles.

Once you finish the basilica you can opt to visit the museum of Montserrat if your really like art – it has a collection of paintings and artifacts donated by Catalan Catholics and includes some lesser works by Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Caravaggio, etc.

If you want to skip the museum, head straight for the Sant Joan Funicular and enjoy a hike through the dramatic landscape. The funicular heads up above the monastery (a 5 minute ride) and from the top you can take a 20 minute walk to Sant Joan Chapel and the nearby hermitage remnants or a 45 minute loop back to the monastery. If want an intense hike you can opt to instead walk down from the monastery to the Sacred Cave where the Moreneta was originally discovered (and then back up–approx 45 min each way).

Once you’re finished with the hike, you can choose to stick around for Montserrat’s Escolania (Choir School) concert, the oldest boy’s choir in the world. It performs every day but Saturday and the concert lasts 10 minutes. Concerts are at 13:00 and 18:45 – and be careful you don’t miss the last train/cable car down the mountain.

Go back the same route in which you came to Barcelona.

Head over to Direkte Boqueria, Tapas 24 or Vinitus for dinner.

Montserrat

Day 4 – Sitges

Sitges (24 miles south of Barcelona) offers a fantastic escape from city life in Barcelona with its 17 pristine beaches and charming old town. It’s an extremely LGBTQ friendly beach town and can be known to be a party and festival spot in the summer, so be prepared for crowds if you’re visiting July and August. It also hosts a film festival in October which may make it crowded then too. Located only a 40 minute train ride from downtown Barcelona, 16.50 euros gets you there and back on an easy commuter train that runs about every 20 minutes. Your ticket will work on any of the trains during the day (it’s not time sensitive). If you’re staying in the area we recommend, grab the the train a few minutes walk away at the Passeig de Gracia station.

Grab the train in the morning to allow yourself maximum time in the resort town. After reaching Sitges head to the TI (directly outside of the train station) and grab a free map. Make your way into the charming Old Town and enjoy the rambling narrow streets, balconies dripping with flowers, art galleries, and shops selling upscale goods. Sitges has been a resort town since the 19th century and was an important location for the Moderinisme movement. Once you reach the water, you can’t miss the impressive Sant Bartomeu i Santa Tecla Church right on its edge. Pop in to see the 17th Baroque style interior.

Walk along the beach promenade, Passeig Maritim, to El Vivero, a beach club and restaurant that offers amazing views of the water, old town, and church. Grab a coffee or juice and enjoy the sunshine and views.

Continue wandering the promenade. You have your choice of beaches. San Sebastia is one of the locals’ favorite beaches. Bassa Rodona is considered the main gay beach. Fragata has volleyball nets and paddle boats. Most of the beaches offer chair and umbrella rentals and many locations have kayak and stand up paddle board rentals.

Once you get hungry, make your way to El Cable for lunch.

After lunch, decide if you want to grab a drink along an oceanside restaurant or on beach bar, take a dip in the ocean, or rent a chair and sunbathe. You can also visit one of Sitges museums. Museu Maricel shows the artwork of a local collector and includes some Modernista works. The Museu Cau Ferrat has an eclectic collection of art. Museu Romantic is a mansion demonstrating bourgeois life in the 19th century and lots of antique dolls.

Once you’ve had your fill of beach life, hop on the train back to Barcelona.

For before dinner drinks consider La Cervesera Artesana to sample Barcelona’s craft beer movement or for a local feel make your way to the charming Bar Bodega Quimet for a vermouth.

Grab a final dinner at Alkimia (which is undeniably a splurge) or the more casual Ciudad Condal (aka Ciutat Comtal Cerveceria depending which guide you read).

If you need to get home a day earlier, head out this evening and onto home or your next adventure.

Sitges

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