A few weeks ago, I visited Barcelona for a quick weekend-trip. I had been to Barcelona already twice before but my fiancé hadn’t seen the city, so we decided to book the flights during the Swiss National day sale last August. So, I only paid 100 Swiss francs (about 90 euros) for the flights.
I noted down some details about our trip and the money we spent to give you an idea about the price levels. Also, below is a little impression video I made about the trip.
https://youtu.be/q2CaN7rCZfw
Accommodation
We were quite late with booking our accommodation and I had to go against my own tips. Although lately I have always been staying in Airbnb instead of hotels, we were so late with booking our accommodation that no centrally located Airbnbs were available anymore. For me an accommodation in a central location is very important and therefore we ended up booking a hotel room 3-minute walk away from Placa de Catalunya, one of the main squares, for around 150 euros per person for two nights. Considering the location of the hotel, the room standard and the breakfast, I have to say that it was worth the room price. I can highly recommend Serennia Exclusive Rooms if you are looking for a hotel right in the city center.
Sightseeing
Because of the central location, we could easily reach many of the sights by walking. We used Google Trips for checking recommended day tours and decided to do the Eixample District tour and the Gothic Quarter tour during the two days.
On the Eixample District tour, we decided to go in to the Casa Batllo, a house designed by Antoni Gaudi. The house was currently under restoration but they had tours called “Explore the restoration” where you can walk around the house with an audio guide and an augmented Reality guide to show you how the rooms looked like when they were furnished. There are different ticket levels (blue 22€ for students, silver 28€ for students and gold 32€ for students). As the waiting time with the regular blue ticket would have been over 30 minutes, and we had a lot to see afterwards too, we decided to get the gold ticket package to be able to skip the line. With the gold ticket you can also walk along the façade of the building and see the restoration of the towers as well as get a free vintage photo of yourself in an old-fashioned setting. For me, spending the extra 10 euros was worth it simply just by being able to skip the line.
We also went inside the Cathedral of Barcelona in the Gothic Quarter, which had a free entry. Tip: If you want to go inside the well-known church Sagrada Familia, you should book it before the trip already, as it is usually fully booked for the day. The basic ticket to Sagrada Familia is 17€.
Only thing we had booked before the trip, was an entrance to the Park Güell, which is recommended to book beforehand. The general ticket to Park Güell is 10 euros per person, and with that you can enter the regulated zone and spend 30 minutes there. It is important to be there when your time slot begins as the entrances and exits to the park are controlled.
We didn’t book any tours for us, but there are also a lot of free walking tours and bike tours that you can find online for Barcelona.
Transportation
There’s an airport bus going from the airport to the city every 5 minutes with a few different stops in the city center. The one-way tickets are 5.90€ and this is a very convenient way to getting to the city and faster than by train or metro.
Barcelona has a very good metro and bus network and many different ticket options. A single ride ticket costs 2,20€, a 10-journey card 10.20€ and a 48-hour ticket €15.20 so travelers can choose the most suitable option for them. We went for the 10-journey ticket as we were both able to use the ticket and we didn’t need many rides over the 2.5 days.
Food and drinks
There are a lot of tourist traps next to all the popular sights and the main avenue La Rambla, which are over-priced and the food is not necessarily good for the price so we tried to avoid them.
For lunch we usually grabbed something quick and cheap but for dinner we always did some research of the nearby places by checking their reviews, ratings and menus.
On our first night we decided to follow a recommendation from my colleague and went to a tapas restaurant La Taperia at El Nacional, and old market hall turned into many small restaurants. What is special about this tapas place is that they have a “verbally-announced” flowing tapas, where the waiters walk around with the food on their tray, shouting the name of the tapas and in case you want it, you raise your hand. Altogether we tried 7 different tapas, all of which were delicious, and had a bottle of wine for the overall price of 75 euros for the two of us. This is a nice and entertaining concept and the food is very good so I can definitely recommend this place for those planning to visit Barcelona.
On the second night we went to a restaurant called Teleferic, which we found by googling for good tapas places. Altogether we had 8 different tapas to share and a bottle of wine for 77€ altogether. Again, the tapas were delicious and I can highly recommend this restaurant.
Although both of our dinners might seem expensive, for me they were both definitely worth the money. The atmosphere and service in both places were great, we had different types of delicious food (seafood, meat, vegetables etc.) and good Spanish wine. For lunch I would not pay that much, but for dinners during holiday, I’m paying for the experiences and therefore like to go to nice places with good ratings.
For cheap bars I can recommend Nevermind, a bar located close to Placa Catalunya. It has a rock/punk/skater type of vibe and very cheap drinks. A beer there costs 2.5€ and they have happy hour until 22.30 every night when a beer is only 1.50€ and a cocktail €4. Clubs in Barcelona can get quite pricey, so it might be worth checking out the reviews beforehand to find out the price levels.
Shopping
Barcelona has very good shopping opportunities. (I’m only talking from girls perspective.) You cannot walk far without seeing a Zara, Mango, Oysho or Bershka somewhere. They are literally everywhere. As Spain is the origin of the Inditex Group (owner of Zara, Bershka, Oysho, Pull&Bear) the prices at these stores are also very affordable. So if you are in a need of updating your wardrobe, Barcelona is a good place to start!
All in all, Barcelona is not the cheapest destination. It is a very touristy city and you can see it from the prices. However, if you do some research, you will be able to find some more affordable places. Also, staying away from the touristy main streets and squares helps you find cheaper (and more authentic) places.
