How We Spent Our Mini Break in Barcelona (Including Four Attractions You Won’t Have To Queue For!)

Chimney pots on the roof of Palau Guell.

In town for the Spanish Grand Prix, J and I spent a few days in Barcelona last month either side of the race weekend, which if the trip had not been split into two parts (and if we’d not ended up spending over a week in Spain) would amount to something of a mini break. So, here everything we did on our ‘mini break’ to Barcelona, including everything we think you should know before planning your own trip!

View down a narrow street with a domed church at the end in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.

Flights & Airport Transfers

Barcelona Airport is about 30 minutes drive from the middle of Barcelona depending on traffic, and as it’s a major transport hub you can fly directly there from most other major airports, and plenty of minor ones too.

Lots of hotels offer airport transfers, and if this is an option I’d recommend it for ease once you get out of the terminal. However, you can also get Uber (but see the list of things you need to keep in mind when calling for an Uber in Barcelona) but keep a close eye on the pickup point in the app (and don’t plan for using airport Wifi to do this – it was not working when I tried to connect to it) as in some terminals the main pickup area (where there is an Uber sign!) is not the Uber pickup, which was about a minutes walk away: our driver told us they received massive fines if they enter the pain pickup area!

Getting Around

If you’re a big walker and you don’t mind the heat, Barcelona is a totally walkable city. However, you won’t want to walk all the time (we are, and we didn’t) so it might be worth also looking into their subway system or if you speak Spanish downloading their official taxi app. If like ours your Spanish isn’t up to scratch (mine was so bad and as we were near enough to the border I started ordering meals in French when English would not work!) Uber is your friend. However, a few things to keep in mind:

  • You’ll need to enter your passport number the first time you try and call an Uber in Barcelona.
  • Don’t bother trying to call the lowest level of Uber, the local taxi using the app. We did not manage to get picked up this way once and we both have ratings of over 4.75. However, going for Uber’s slightly ‘executive’ ride we were picked up very quickly.
  • On this note, if you cancel a ride request because it is taking forever and cars keep on accepting up then dropping you moments later, there is a short cooling off period of I think about 10 minutes before you’ll be able to call a ride again. Okay if you’re travelling as a couple as you just try again on the other persons phone, but I think very unfair if you’re a solo traveller. So see above about what sort of car to try and call!
A white plate of cuttlefish and meat balls and a plate of sausage and white beans in a Spanish restaurant.
Plate of seafood pasta with whole prawns, mussels and clams with a glass of beer in the background.

Where To Eat

I’ve put together my full Barcelona restaurant, bar and cafe guide here. However, it is worth keeping in mind that Spanish dinnertime is from 8pm onwards, so eat a big lunch if you’re used to eating much earlier. However, whilst some restaurants don’t open until 8pm, if they open a little earlier going at what is your normal dinner time (keeping in mind the time difference also if you’re on a shorter trip!) is also sometimes a great way to snag a table somewhere that is not already fully booked.

Local Currency & Tipping

The local currency is the Euro, but as you’d expect in a major European city you can get around perfectly well without exchanging any foreign currency. With a bank account like Chase or Monzo that does not charge you for foreign transactions we did not need or use any physical money whilst we were there.

It’s also worth noting that there is no established tipping culture in Spain unlike, say, the USA so feel free to tip if you’d like to reward good service, but you’re not going to upset anyone if you don’t want to / you’re not carrying cash and the card machine does not offer tipping as an option.

Weather

There is no escaping it, Barcelona is hot. Obviously our travel dates were dictated by the Formula 1 calendar, but we’d not choose to visit during the summer months again where the average temperature is roughly 30C. Both for the weather and so you have to deal with less tourists, I’d visit in the spring or autumn where you’ll most likely get to enjoy a lovely 22C, or winter with a still comfortable 14C average temperature.

Accommodation

As it was a split trip leaving the city in the middle, we stayed in two great hotels and different price points in Barcelona, both of which we can highly recommend.

Motel One (find my review here) is what I’d call a ‘luxury budget’ hotel, and Hotel Casa Sagnier (find my review here) is a five star boutique hotel in a historic townhouse, both in the heart of the city.

Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Close up of the coloured finials on Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Close up of the old original section of Basílica de la Sagrada Família

Booking the big attractions in advance

One of the big disappointments of the trip was not being able to see everything we wanted to: planning a Barcelona trip, you seriously need to adjust your expectations if you don’t plan ahead (and even if you do!)

Above are a few external snaps of Basílica de la Sagrada Família, the modernist Gaudi-extravaganza of a cathedral that has been under construction since 1882, and is not due to be completed until 2026. Go and walk around the outside, it’s absolutely incredible and there is plenty to see from there, but if you want to visit the interior, you’ll need to have snagged tickets online, at least in the high season at least two weeks in advance. It was disappointing to find out, especially when our entire trip was planned with just a week to go! (You can book them here!) Don’t be taken in by the signs when you get there pointing you to download their app for tickets (there is no physical ticket office) – it’s a waste of phone data, and will just take you directly back to their website!

Another big disappointment was also the ticketing arrangements for Park Güell, Gaudi’s famous sculpture park and something I really, really wanted to visit in Barcelona. Again, you can book tickets in advance (or at least try to, here!) but here we failed not because they were already booked out (when I checked there were tickets for the next day) but because their online booking system is frankly terrible and was broken, so it would not accept a booking on any device or browser I tried it on. You can book on the gate (but not for the same day in high season) so if you’re in Barcelona for a few days you can book in advance in person, but if you don’t have the time to take a trip out to that part of the city you have to rely on the internet, and by the time they’d fixed the issue the next available tickets were after our flight home.

The lesson? Take a very casual approach to a trip to Barcelona, and try not to over plan as things might not work out how you want them to!

The outside of an old church in Barcelona
Outside of the Barcelona Academy of the Arts
The outside of Casa Mila

Make sure to look up!

However, even avoiding the main tourist attractions that top every ‘things you must see’ list in Barcelona, there is still plenty to see and do where you might even have a chance at avoiding the crowds. My main tip? Make sure you look up at the facades of buildings: Barcelona is a truly architecturally beautiful city, and you’ll be missing out a lot if you walk around glued to Google Maps.

Gaudi's chimney stacks on the roof of Palau Guell

Palau Güell

For a Gaudi fix without tickets to Park Güell, try Palau Güell instead, a 19th century mansion tucked away just off La Rambala with a slightly off kilter Modernism-meets-Medieval interior and a fantastic roof terrace. Okay, so we both thought the house was missing something stripped of all it’s furniture and the audio guide frankly does not follow a logical order through the house and can be quite confusing, for 12€/£10 each at a box office you don’t have to queue at it’s worth it to get on the roof which is covered in Gaudi’s stunning chimney pots made from reclaimed tiles, a taste of what is on display in the gardens.

Wooden vaulted ceiling at Palau Guell
Modernist gold and black metalwork at the top of a pillar.
View into the vaulted ceiling at Palau Guell
Yellow and blue tiled chimney pot at Palau Guell
Green tiled broccoli-like chimney pot at Palau Guell
Front of Barcelona Cathedral
Inside the nave of Barcelona Cathedral.

Cathedral de Barcelona

If big, gothic Cathedrals are your thing (and anyone who has read enough of my travel guides will know they’re certainly something we always seek out on holiday!) Barcelona Cathedral is well worth a visit to view something classically gothic filled with some quite beautiful church art. Basic tickets are 14€/£12 each (though after 5:30pm until closing entry is free) and include access to all parts of the building, a virtual reality show which is pretty cool, plus access to the roof with excellent views over Barcelona if you’re up for the queue inside, and the climb!

View of a palm tree in an archway in the courtyard of Barcelona Cathedral.
Stained glass window in Barcelona Cathedral.
View of the tower and the view over the city on top of Barcelona cathedral.
Front of Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi
Inside the nave of Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi

Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi

Another church worth the visit for a view of Barcelona is Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi, a 15th century gothic church which is quite typical of those in the older part of the city, but which has a much better view than the cathedral (though, this comes with a much harder climb to the top!) Tickets on the door are 8€/£7 but entry is free between 6:30pm and 8pm.

View over Barcelona towards the sea in the rain.
Vaulted ceiling of Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi
The outside of the National Museum of Art Catalonia
Painted Medieval church walls.

National Museum of Art of Catalonia

If you’re an art fan but not that into Modernism, Barcelona as the city of Gaudi and his compatriots can be a little… much. I personally enjoy his style but my clear preference, as is J’s is for something a little older. If this is the case, head to the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, which is housed in the middle of a botanical garden with stunning views over the city, if it is cool enough for you to want to explore it!

Tickets are 12€/£10 and last two days, if you want to visit more than once to take in the collection which spans from Medieval to modern. We loved the Medieval collections that focused heavily on religious art and contained some stunning painted church interiors that had painstakingly been transferred to the museum for preservation. In spite of the slightly jarring way they’ve mixed all modern periods and mediums together (so early modern paintings were on display next to early photographs) in the modern collection, it’s worth visiting for their fantastic and poignant exhibition of photographs and propaganda posters from the Spanish Civil War (though it is worth noting most of the notable paintings from the period are on display in Paris, rather than in their native Spain).

View over Barcelona looking towards the mountains.
Medieval king on a black horse on a red painted box.
painting of a still life flower arrangement.
Wall of Spanish Civil War propaganda posters.

I hope all of this has been helpful planning your trip to Barcelona! And, if you’ve got this far but you’re still not sure if Barcelona is for you but you’ve still got your heart set on a break in a beautiful European city, click through for my guides to Siena, Pisa, Vienna and Dubrovnik.

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