Barcelona City Trip

Quick Summary

We spent close to 3 full days in Barcelona in late April and early May. Weather was great although, the nights were slightly colder.  Here's the quick summary.

Day 1
 Casa Milà ( Metro: Diagonal)
 Casa Batlló ( Metro: Passeig de Gràcia)

 Sagrada Familia (Metro: Sagrada Familia)
 Passeig de Gràcia, Olympic Stadium  (Metro: Espanya + Bus 150)

Day 2
 Montserrat, Gothic Quarter Old City
 Plaça Catalunya
 Magic Fountain

Day 3
 Guell Park
 Museum Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
 Plaça Catalunya

*check opening days for the above. Some are closed on Monday and some on Sunday and so plan accordingly.

Where we stayed : Hotel Gran Ronda


Day 1

We arrived early at 9.30 AM in Barcelona and took a taxi to Hotel Gran Ronda. The hotel allowed us to drop luggage before check in.  We headed to Passeig de Gràcia and strolled around the place. This area has some nice buildings including Casa Milà.

Casa Batlló  was our next stop but it had really long queues and so we skipped it. Note, you can book tickets online and if you are going in the morning, it is better to do that. We eventually went in the evening and there was hardly any queue. So evenings might be a good time to go.

We had a quick lunch and then went to Sagrada Familia for which we had booked tickets before. This is an excellent building but the outside has scaffolding and this messes the view. Nevertheless it is an a great building to visit. The inside view is also great and some good photo opportunities.

We then took the Metro to Espanya and wandered around the square. It has a nice hustle and bustle and large streets. We had a coffee there and headed out to the Olympic stadium. The stadium is huge and nice place to wander and have a view of the city. You can walk from Espanya or you can take the bus.

We then headed back to Casa Batlló  as we had skipped it during the morning. This is a very good place to visit and the architecture is amazing. This is must see in Barcelona.

We wandered around the town for the remainder of the day and ended with a meal in one of the many restaurants near Passeig de Gràcia.


Day 2

For day 2, we decided to do go outside the city and to Montserrat which means serrated mountain in Catalan. Contrary to some reviews you don't need to pre-book this. You can go to Espanya station and buy a ticket. 

You have to decide if you want the cable car or the Funicular when you buy the tickets because it also dictates which station to get off.  If you took the cable car, you need to get down at Aeri de Montserrat and if you gone for the Funicular the station is the one after called Monistrol. The cable car ride gives good views but it is standing only and on a crowded day there can be long lines. The Funicular is more comfortable option as you can sit but you don't get the views. We took the cable car and the view was good is definitely recommended.

Montserrat has a nice Benedictine Monastery and religious ceremonies are still held here. There is also a Museum , a cafe and a restaurant. The other thing we did here was take another cable car up the mountain and then hike down. You can probably hike both ways but that would take more time, especially going up.  This has better views and let's face it is a good workout :)

Montserrat is a good day trip and for more information, read this review from trip advisor or check out more nature trails.

Once we got back, we went to the Gothic Quarter Old City or Barri Gotic which has some nice city walks.  As we hadn't done enough walking, we then went to Plaça Catalunya and wandered around there as well. These places are all nearby and if you don't want to walk you can take the Metro.

After dinner, we went back to Espanya for the Magic fountain.  The fountain has fixed timings and do you need to check that. But more more than the fountain this area looks great under lights.  On a good summer day, this would a great place to cool off and relax.

Day 3

Day 3 was tempered a bit. We woke up late, tired from all the walking. We started with Guell Park which is a nice picturesque place. If you want to go to the Museum, you have to book ahead as it is only at fixed slots.  We chose not to go there and so we just wandered around the place.

We then had lunch and went to Museum Nacional d’Art de Catalunya which is by Espanya and then ended the afternoon by wandering around there and doing some shopping. We could have done more on this day but we decided to take it easy.

Barcelona Tips

Language
Knowing Spanish or Catalan helps but you can get by with English and a translator app on the phone.

Transportation
If you hotel near a Metro station, your life will become easier. Metro is cheap, operates at most hours and can take you anywhere.  Our suggestion is to buy the T10 Metro ticket card which gives you 10 trips and can be used by more than one person.  So you can keep getting a new one as you need. There is also the Barcelona Card but it is not that useful in our opinion.

Taxis are also available for places like Airport and we only used them for Airport trips. Buses have good coverage as well and the T10 card works on them.

Also download the BCN metro app for Android or Iphone. You can also download an offline PDF map;


Food
Restaurants stay open late here and there are plenty of cafes and tapas bars. If you are vegetarian like we are, then you need to scout a bit. But there are several places that cater for it and you always that some tapas.  One of the awesome places we went was Teresa Carles which is a vegetarian only restaurant. Overall, it catered well for vegetarians and there were several options.

Another place to visit, especially in the morning was Barcelona Reykjavik which has awesome bread.