What to visit
Sagrada Familia
In this project, Gaudí envisioned a colossal church greatly influenced by forms of nature. Construction began in 1882 and the architect devoted more than 40 years of his life to this structure. In November 2010 was consecrated and proclaimed a minor Basilica by Pope Benedict XVI.
The construction work continues to this day; the cathedral has evolved over time to incorporate various architectural styles. Just imagine, once finished, expected to be completed by 2030, the building will reach a height of 173 metres!
If you are thinking in visiting Sagrada Familia we recommend you to buy tickets in advance in order to avoid queues.
Rambla
La Rambla has become, over the years, the symbol of Barcelona. This street, located between Catalonia Square and the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the most cosmopolitan and captivating places of the city. It is a bit less than a mile, but it has many bars, restaurants and all kinds of establishments, apart from the well-known human statues and flower stalls, that characterize, undoubtedly, this place.
Batlló House
The Batlló House, with its covering of colored ceramic scales, is one of the most charismatic buildings in the Eixample area and one of the most characteristic works by Gaudí. The highly original façade is crowned by ceramic tiles with shapes that remind of fish scales and which represent the dragon killed by Saint George (Catalonia’s patron saint).
As a whole, Casa Batlló is intensely evocative of the sea, the Mediterranean, nature, Carnival and magic.
It is advisable to buy the tickets online, at the website, in order to avoid long lines.
The Cathedral
Built over a period of six centuries, the foundation stone of the Cathedral was laid down in 1298. The building itself is a mosaic of architectural styles and eras, dominated by the Gothic style; its calling card is its neo-Gothic façade, dating back to 1890. Its interior is filled with light and surprises for the visitor.
The choir stalls, 25 side chapels, the crypt of Santa Eulàlia and the 13 cloister geese; trusted guardians of the cathedral; will delight all visitors.
Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau
The Hospital de la Santa Creu and Sant Pau is one of the most representative works of the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, a contemporary of Gaudí who also designed the Palau de la Música. The modernist architect lived in Canet de Mar, where you can find some of his works; one of these works, the house where he used to live, transformed now into a museum, is near the campsite.
It is an excellent example of Art Noveau, imaginative and exuberant. Since 1997 it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Palau de la Música
One of Barcelona’s finest examples of Catalan Art Nouveau is also the home to an impressive and unique concert hall. It was designed by Lluis Domènech i Montaner in 1908.
The ornately decorated façade and hall, where colour and light play a starring role, will transform your visit into a great delight for the senses. Unforgettable!
El Born
The Born’s market is located in the oriental part of the city, which used to be known as La Ribera during the Middle Age.
This area has changed a lot through time: it was the Central Market of Barcelona until 1920, then it became a fruits and vegetables market, an exhibitions center, and it closed due to disagreements about its future.
In 2006, the building was declared Cultural property of national interest by the Catalan Generalitat.
Family Fun
AQUARIUM DE BARCELONA
In Aquàrium de Barcelona, which is one of the biggest ones in the world, you will find more than 11.000 fish and other kinds of sea animals of 450 differents species. It is an awesome place for children as well as for adults, in which there many activities that one can do, such as diving with sharks.
PARC TIBIDABO
Tibidabo is an amusement park for children built in 1889, with its views and friendly atmosphere that will make an enjoyable day out. There is also an awesome view of Barcelona since one can see the whole city.
BARCELONA ZOO
Open since 1892, Barcelona Zoo is a great attraction for locals as well as for tourists, since it is the ideal place to spend a nice day and see plenty of different animals.
FC BARCELONA
Camp Nou Experience has become an obligatory stop for visitors to our city. The Experience gives the chance to walk through the most emblematic areas of the stadium: the away team changing room and the players’ tunnel, the dugouts, the press room, commentators’ box and of course the Museum.
La Pedrera
The Milà house, also known as “La Pedrera” (the stone quarry), is a building designed by Antoni Gaudí between 1906 and 1912, which was declared UNESCO world heritage in 1984. This big petrified wave, which is the last work of Gaudí, is the nature turned into a building. All its movements are inspired by it. This work has a huge artistic strength and is extraordinary; it has nothing to do with the architecture of its time.
In the Milà house you will also find the only exhibition that is entirely dedicated to Gaudí’s life and work, with his creations, drawings, objects, photographs and videos.
Magic Fountains
Magic Fountain is the main feature of the collection of waterfalls and ponds on Avinguda Maria Cristina, which stretches from the Palau Nacional to Plaça Espanya in Montjuïc.
This spectacular fountain is very popular because of its water arrangements, sound and lighting.
Plaça Catalunya
Plaça Catalunya (Catalonia Square) is considered the city center. There is a train station and several metro and bus lines that will take you to all parts of the city.
The tourism office is located in front of el Corté Inglés shop. There you’ll be given free maps of the city and the metro maps, as well as personalized information in many languages.
Barceloneta
Barceloneta was once the home of fishermen, people associated with the fishing trade and the metal industry, and is now one of the city’s most visited and popular districts. Passeig Marítim is a long avenue that connects Barceloneta with the Olympic Port, offering a nice walk alongside the sea.
The streets of the Barceloneta in Ciutat Vella district are arranged like corridors running parallel and perpendicular to the Port de Barcelona, and draw us into a world of modest buildings, with balconies displaying clothes hanging out to dry and small ground-floor restaurants and tapas bars, filled with chatter and noise, and permeated by the constant smell of the sea.
Port Vell
Port Vell is the oldest part of the first artificial port of the city, but it was remodeled when the Olympic Games took place in 1992. It starts at the end of La Rambla, by the Columbus monument, a major city landmark since 1886. At the top of the column, 50 metres above city, a viewing gallery boasts breathtaking views of the sea and the famous boulevard.
It offers many possibilities to make the most of your visit, such as Imax, Aquàrium, Maremàgnum (a shopping mall) or the Museum of Catalonia’s History, amongst others.
Torre Agbar
The AGBAR Tower, inaugurated in 2005, is the headquarters of the Barcelona water company and a building of changing colors; it is the third highest building in Barcelona (it measures 144 m – 473 ft) and has become a new symbol of the city. It has 4,500 LED luminous devices that creates luminous images in the façade.
It was designed by the famous French architect Jean Nouvel, who took his inspiration from water and the towers of the Sagrada Família.
Cable Car and funicular
There is a big confusion with the cable cars and the funicular of Barcelona. There are 3: Montjuïc’s Funicular, Montjuïcs’s cable car and the port cable car. Each of them has its particularity.
- The Port’s cable car (Aeri del Port) : This astonishing construction, which is more than 80 years old, offers a staggering aerial view of Barcelona.
- Montjuïc’s cable car: The Montjuïc’s cable car offers an exceptional view over the whole city and allows to reach the castle of Montjuïc, an old military fortress built in 1640.
- Montjuïc’s funicular: Like the Port’s cable car, the funicular allows to reach directly the mountain of Montjuïc and its park.
Museums
Do you want to visit the best museums in Barcelona at a reasonable price? By buying Articket Barcelona you will save time and money, since with it you will be able to skip long ticket queues and enter six of Barcelona’s premier attractions for only 35 euros.
CCCB
The Centre for Contemporary Culture is an important point of Barcelona’s culture and creativity that is well-known not only in Spain but also around the world. It’s a place thought for production and creation and as well for exhibitions.
JOAN MIRÓ FUNDATION
Joan Miró foundation possesses more than 10,000 art pieces (paintings, sculptures, drawings, etc…) of the Catalan painter, including some of the most representative. It has its origin in Miró’s first big exhibition in Barcelona, in 1968.
MNAC
To all art lovers, the current National Art Museum of Catalonia, built in 1990, is especially renowned for its roman art collection that is considered as one of the most complete in the world, which makes this place unique.
ANTONI TÀPIES FUNDATION
The Antoni Tàpies’s foundation is a museum and a cultural centre that is mainly dedicated to the Catalan painter’s life and work. He founded it himself in 1984 with the aim of creating a centre to study and promote contemporary art.
MACBA
Barcelona’s Museum of Contemporary Art is mainly dedicated to the exhibition of art pieces that were made in the first half of the 20th C. The art critic and historian Alexandre Cirici-Pellicer had the idea to create a contemporary art museum in Barcelona, so he began the collection in 1959.
PICASSO MUSEUM
This museum is dedicated to one of the biggest Spanish artists in the city where Pablo Picasso spent the first part of his young adult’s life and where he exhibited his first pieces. The art pieces were made beetween 1890 and 1967.
Parc Güell
This park is the fruit of Eusebi Güell’s dream and Gaudí’s imagination. The garden city construction project was not as successful as expected, which was a stroke of luck as it leaves us with this extraordinary public park.
The organic forms used by Gaudí make any stroll through the park magical. A coloured ceramic bench, a fairy tale dragon and a large hall full of classical columns lend these gardens a dreamlike quality.
Park Guell is one of Gaudi´s most emblematic and unique work.
La Boqueria
Sant Josep Market, more commonly known as “la Boqueria”, is just next to la Rambla and it is the most known market in the city. Hundreds of people, tourists as well as locals, visit this great attraction every day. It is a labyrinth of stalls, smells and flavors, like an everlasting humain river.
There you will find a great variety of products: local fruits as well as exotic ones, natural juices, dried fruits and nuts, spices, chocolate, sweets, cheese, vegetables, cereals, meat, pork products, fish, eggs and wine. There are also bars and stablishments where one can buy prepared foods and eat tapas.
Montjuïc
Montjuïc is a 173 meters hill that looks out over the old city and the old harbour of Barcelona. It has numerous facets, historic as well as cultural, of enjoyment or also sportive. These are the main attractions of this symbolic hill:
- Plaça Espanya
- Arenas shopping centre of Barcelona
- Montjuïc’s castle
- The Olympic Stadium
- Palau Sant Jordi
- Calatrava Tower
- Poble Espanyol
- Montjuïc’s cemetery
- Open-air cinema at the castle (Sala Montjuïc)
Bellesguard tower
The Bellesguard tower (“beautiful view” in Catalan) is the work of the modernist architect Antoni Gaudí and was built between 1900 and 1909. This tower is little known despite being fascinating. At this place there used to be a castle until the 13th century. Then it was abandonned and Gaudí took advantage of the remaining elements of the old fortress, such as pieces of walls, courts…, to build the new Bellesguard.
Gothic Quarter
Barcelona is a city with a rich historic background, a very important part of which can be found in the Gothic Quarter. Very near the center and accessible by foot, you will have the opportunity to see the early Roman city of Barcino and the medieval town with its palazzos, mansions and Gothic churches. This is the style that defines “the heart of Barcelona”: a neighborhood where the splendor of the historic past coexists with the vibrancy of the present.
In the Gothic Quarter, we find the City Hall and the seat of the Catalan Government, the Palau de la Generalitat, the Cathedral and other Gothic churches, including Santa Maria del Pi and Sants Just i Pastor. Close to Plaça de Sant Jaume, right in the middle of this Barcelona neighborhood, there is the old Jewish Quarter, the Call Jueu, where some remains of the ancient synagogue still survive.
Parks and gardens itinerary
Barcelona has many parks and gardens, with areas for children, ponds, fountains… These places are always interesting, whether for their plants, urban design or sculptures.
The most known ones are Parc de Montjuïc, Parc de Collserola and Parc de Ciutadella. The Parc de Collserola, a protected natural site covering a surface area of some 8.000 hectares, is Barcelona’s green lungs. There you will find a wide variety flora and fauna and several archeological remains (a Neolithic cave, an old monastery of the 12th century, a hermitage, etc.). You can also go for a walk or for a ride.
There is the Parc del Laberint too (the oldest garden in Barcelona, Neoclassic and covering 55 hectares), Parc de Cervantes, Parc de l’Oreneta (you can see all Barcelona from there, besides it’s a perfect place to go with children since there are ponies and a small railroad), Parc de la Guineueta and Peira’s Hill.