Ah, Barcelona. Our last stop along our 18-day journey was bittersweet. How could I possibly say goodbye to dear Spain? We had a great time in discovering Barcelona in a day, despite being sad to leave. Barcelona is a vibrant, lively city, and unique in its own, indescribable way. Looking to spend one incredible day in Barcelona? Look no further!
How to Get to Barcelona
Being a major Spanish city makes it pretty easy to get to Barcelona. If you are flying, you will likely arrive at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport. We flew direct from Los Angeles with Norwegian Air, which I highly recommend as an airline.
Once we flew into Barcelona we rented a car and drove around Spain on a two week adventure, ending our road trip back in Barcelona.
If you are traveling by train, Renfe has affordable options from Madrid and many other cities in Spain to Barcelona.
Parking in Barcelona
We stayed in the Gracia neighborhood, which I knew in the back of my mind was a mistake because all my research said that Gracia was too far from the major attractions for a first, short visit. But the idyllic cafes and artsy vibes drew me in anyways. I don’t have too many regrets about it honestly.
My one major regret about staying in Gracia? The parking.
The whole trip I had been worried each time we approached a new city and had to find parking. The worst experience thus far had been in Valencia, where myself and our AirBnB host had to help navigate Luke through the many twists and turns all the way to what seemed to be the center of the earth. That seemed easy compared to the disaster that was Barcelona.
In Gracia, we tried to park in a lot that ended up being a day lot only. All the cars were parked in a way that wouldn’t allow us or the cars parked behind us out of the garage. We ended up getting wedged into a situation where we couldn’t get out and a Catalan man (who spoke neither English or Spanish) had to pull the car out. It is funny in retrospect, but at the time it was a bit humiliating.
We finally managed to find a parking garage that we could safely maneuver and could remain in for more than a day. It was called Saba Barcelona and it was easily the most expensive parking garage we visited in Spain yet at a whopping $3.70 per hour, but the multi-day passes can be discounted, so check here first.
Read More: Spend a Day in Valencia, Spain
Where we stayed
We stayed in an AirBnB in Barcelona as well, although this one was an AirBnB plus. It was fairly nice, with a pretty view of the street from the balcony, and our host went over the major sites with us.
How to Get Around Barcelona
This itinerary goes in a semi-circle, so it is easy to walk but not necessarily short. I always prefer walking in a city so I can catch smaller details.
Barcelona is a large city, however, and we did find ourselves taking the bus several times. There is also a metro that we used a couple times. A single ride on the metro or bus is 2.20 euros, but there are other cost effective options if you are staying in Barcelona longer than a day. The Barcelona Card gives you unlimited travel by bus or train as well as free entry to certain museums, and discounts to several attractions. The Tourist Travel Card gives you unlimited rides for 2, 3, 4, or 5 days and includes the funicular to Montjuic. The T10 ticket gives you ten rides and can be used for multiple people, although not for airport transport.
Barcelona in a Day
Parc Güell
A trip to Barcelona wouldn’t be possible without this iconic park designed by Antoni Gaudi. This is a very popular spot and likely to be crowded. We arrived at 8 am, when the park opens, to beat the crowds but there were still many people there. Despite this, we didn’t have to wait in line very long. Make sure to buy tickets in advance. Entrance costs 10 euros.
Getting photos alone was near impossible unless you were either very pushy or not very picky. There was also construction going on while we were there that severely limited the space on the terrace, which made it significantly more crowded.
Despite all that, it was quite interesting and fun to visit. This is something you should do at least once during your time in Barcelona.
Fargo Coffee
Luke and I enjoyed Fargo Coffee, which reminded us more of a hipster style coffee shop back home than a European coffee shop. It is right next to Sagrada Familia, which is convenient.
Sagrada Familia
This structure was also created by Antoni Gaudi, who is no longer living, but his building, Sagrada Familia, is still being constructed today based on his plans. It is estimated to be built by 2028.
Sagrada Familia is an incredible site to see, the architecture is unlike any cathedral I have ever seen and feels futuristic.
Buy tickets in advance for this site as well, including the towers. The towers were my favorite part of the cathedral, so I recommend spending the extra money. It is 17 euros to visit Sagrada Familia by itself. For 32 euros, you will get an audio guide and access to one of the towers.
Read More: Visit Spain’s Capital
Purchase the tickets in advance as they do sell out several days before. When you purchase tickets, you will have to choose between the Nativity and Passion Towers. You must select a time slot for both Sagrada Familia as well as the tower. We chose the Passion Tower, but the Nativity Tower is supposed to have a better view of the bridge that connects the two towers.
Parc de la Ciutadella
Walk through Parc de la Ciutadella and take a breather from the endless site seeing. Sit in the park and watch a guy play frisbee with his dog. Gaze at the Arco de Triunfo of Barcelona, a arc that is similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. This is a huge park and we only explored a small piece of it, but I would love to walk around more in the future.
Tapeo
With our stomachs growling, we wandered through the Gothic Quarter to Tapeo, which we loved (and was actually recommended by my Dad’s friend… thanks!). It was hard to resist all the decadent desserts we saw along the way though. Tapeo is a tapas restaurant so we order the patatas bravas (which up until this point we had not been very impressed with in Spain, but Barcelona would be the end of that), tuna belly, sausage mushroom pasta, and broken eggs with black sausage. Everything was delicious although I was a little nervous about the black sausage.
Read More: Discover Granada
Demasie
After lunch we, of course, had to return to Demasie to taste the glorious donuts we had admired before. It was one of those shops in which they put decadent glazes on their donuts and have interesting flavors or donuts that come with cookies on top. They also had some cinnamon rolls that looked amazing. But if that’s not your thing, there was an ice cream shop and a pastry shop next door as well.
Gothic Quarter
I highly recommend taking a stroll through the Gothic Quarter and getting lost in the small shadowy corridors. It is a great place to take pictures and it wasn’t too hard to find an empty street either.
Swiit
Go to this gelato shop! This is the good stuff – locally sourced and produced in small batches. it is amazing and the shop is adorable. They also have coffee and some pastries. I will definitely be returning here on my next visit to Barcelona.
Mercado de La Boqueria
If you have time, stroll through La Boqueria, a Spanish market complete with produce, snacks, cheese, jamon, and drinks. Beware of pickpockets here thought, as this is one of the most common places for this activity.
Read More: my experience with theft and how to avoid it
Two Shmucks
You absolutely need to go to this bar as well. The owner of this bar is from England and Luke follows him on social media. The entire trip was Luke telling me he couldn’t wait to go to this bar. It is in a different part of town, a bit sketchy but I didn’t feel unsafe. You will know you’re getting close when you see people walking by with patatas fritas (French fries) from Bocatas de Sultan. Apparently they are only a dollar and come either plain or with mayonnaise or ketchup or both, so if you need a snack after your trip to the bar, that may be a possibility.
Two Shmucks is most certainly a dive bar but with high quality craft cocktails. The menu changes monthly, but when we went they had easily the most interesting drink I have ever had called Peanuts and Celery. It tastes just like eating aunts on a log, or if you are English, aunts on a stick. It was incredible! We also ordered several other drinks and chatted with the bartender a bit – everything from the drinks to the conversation was lovely. They also had some snacks but as we were heading out for dinner, we didn’t order any food.
Hawker 45
Sometimes you just know you will love a restaurant as soon as you look at their menu. That was Hawker 45. Apparently after all of our time in Andalusia, we were craving Asian food as we had it here as well as in Madrid.
Sounds a little weird, right? But they were both really good. Plus I love seeing how different countries interpret different cuisines.
At Hawker 45, watch Chef Laila Bazham prepare street food style dishes from all over Asia, enhanced with European flare. She runs the restaurant with just her cook staff and no waiters. Everything we had was delicious and innovative. Asian dishes with Latin American fusion such as bulgogi balls, prawn toast okonomiyaki, and kalbi short ribs will fill your stomach until you are blissfully full.
Do you have more that one day in Barcelona?
Take a Born to Eat food tour with Wanderbeak. This was one of my favorite things we did in Barcelona and Wanderbeak was the perfect tour operator. The group was small, we only had five people including the tour guide but they limit the group sizes to eight. The tour takes you to four spots in El Born to taste 10 delicious dishes, interspersed with history of the area. It was a great way to get to know Barcelona and the food scene better. I highly recommend it.
You can also head to the beach, where you could do drinks at the W Hotel bar, Eclipse, with a great view of the coast, take a cable car to Montjuic, or simply lounge around by the ocean.
If architecture is what sets your soul on fire, there is more of Antoni Gaudi’s work to be found in Barcelona. Check out Casa Batlló and Casa Mila, two interesting houses that Gaudi designed.
Paradiso is a speakeasy that was also a lot of fun, the drinks were incredibly intricate and delicious, similar to those at Salmon Guru in Madrid. The line to get in can get pretty long however, so try getting there when they open or avoid going at the busiest times.
For our last night in Spain we went to Set de Born, a typical hole-in-the-wall tapas restaurant, for a classic plate of Jamon and cheese. It seemed like the best way to say goodbye to Spain.
How would you explore Barcelona in a day?
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Now I wanna go! Sounds like a great trip- love the photos and the review of your itinerary sounds like a great adventure – we just love your posts!