Your Ultimate Guide to Barcelona, Spain

Before I chose Barcelona, I had a long debate going on with myself on whether I should pick Madrid or Barcelona. Barcelona was my 3rd city on my solo backpacking trip and my favorite city out of all the European cities I visited that summer. This city has everything— beaches, cheap food, amazing architecture, warm weather all year long and nice nightlife. If there was any city in Europe that I would move to, it would be Barcelona. Hands down. Any day. After Paris, this was a lot different. I mean, in general Spain seemed a lot different from France just by being at the airport. I’ve told my family and friends about Barcelona so much that they consider me an expert when it comes to this city. Couple months back, My cousin and brother-in-law had a trip planned to Barcelona (which got cancelled due to COVID-19 crisis) but check out what she texted me when they were in the “planning” phase of what to do there. If you’re fantasizing about visiting Barcelona after the current lock down, don’t forget to save this blog because today I’m going to go through a number of things to make your trip to my favorite city a little bit easier.

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1. Airport – Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat – BCN

I flew Vueling Airlines from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Barcelona’s Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN) and had a little incident at the Paris airport if I must say. The flight was “Overbooked” so I was on standby apparently (even though this was my most expensive flight while I was in Europe. Paid about $80 for one-way), there was another couple that were on standby because of the same scenario. Luckily some passengers didn’t show up at the airport and all three of us got on the flight. The flight was about 2 hours so my 10 AM flight got me there just before noon. First impression? WOW. Paris airport was not very clean and coming to Barcelona Airport? It was a big change in itself. It also wasn’t crowded which helped a lot too and I believe that it was much bigger than Charles de Gaulle.

2. Public Transportation

I got out of the airport and a public transportation bus service got me from the airport to the city center in about 30 minutes. The buses are right outside of the terminal and it shouldn’t be hard to catch one. The service is called Aerobus, it’s a huge bus painted blue all over. It has 4 stops from the airport and the last and 4th stop is the city center. The bus is very clean, free WiFi onboard, has A/C and also has huge windows to take in the view.

• You would take the bus from Airport to Pl. Catalunya (City center)
• It’s 5.90 Euros ($6.38) one-way, if you know that you are going to be returning to the airport for a return flight (like me), I would get the two-way ticket for 10.20 Euros ($11.02) since it’s a bit cheaper
• There is a kiosk outside of the airport terminal to purchase a ticket but I highly recommend you purchase it in advance so then all you have to do when you get there is show them the bar code on your phone.
  • Here is a link if you wish to book your tickets in advance: Link

Public transportation in general is quite easy in Barcelona and you actually won’t need that much transportation besides if you do decide to go to Tibidabo. What I did was, I bought a 10 ticket pass for 10.20 Euros ($11.02) and used it when I needed it (To go to Tibidabo & to go to the beach). There is also another option of buying the Hola Barcelona card which gives you unlimited transportation for the number of days you pick. You can pick between 1 to 5 days.

• You can buy and find more information about Hola Barcelona Travel Card here: Link
• If you want to find more information about public transportation here: Link

3. Hostel – Generator Barcelona – 3 days

After getting to the city center, my hostel was about an 8 min walk, which was amazing! As I was making my way to the hostel, I was in a whole different mood, the sun was out, there were people on the street and just amazing vibes, something I like a lot. After admiring the amazing streets of Barcelona, I was in front of my hostel, ready to check in and start exploring the city. At Generator, I stayed in a six-bed dorm room without any problems, the hostel was wonderful, probably my second favorite hostel. My first favorite hostel was in Florence. Going back to the hostel, it was nice and clean, to a point where it was too good to be true. It had free walking tour guides like all the other hostels, its own restaurant, and bar, good locker space in case you need to store baggage after you check out, a great computer area with a lot of games, and a great seating area to relax and pretty much just chill.

• Here is a link if you would like to book Generator for your stay in Barcelona: Link

4. Five things you HAVE to see

The hostel had a free walking tour so on my second day, I did a walking tour and just like me, a bunch of other people had signed up for it. These free guided tours are amazing, especially for solo travelers because this is when you will meet fellow solo travelers that are staying at the same hostel. Something similar happened to me. I met three guys from Melbourne and a group of girls on this walking tour and became great friends with them. We all went on the walking tour together and then had lunch with some gelato afterward. Azzam, Dave, and Ray were great guys, I still talk to them here and there via different social media platforms. Later that night, we all met two girls— Kelsey and Alexis from Toronto, Canada that was staying at the same hostel. On my third day, I started my day early with Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, and guess what? I ran into them at the park. We all hung out together pretty much all day until I left to go see the Tibidabo church at sunset. On my last day, I chilled with them at the beach for a few hours before I left Barcelona to continue my journey towards Rome, Italy.

• I went through my 3 days at a very high level. If you want to learn what I did each day in detail, check out my full itinerary here: Link

Now, on to those five things you HAVE to see.

1. The Sagrada Familia

20 Euros ($21.61)

You will have to reserve your tickets in Advance! They only let a certain amount of people in the church at a time and if you don’t have a printed ticket and a time slot picked out, they will not let you in. So, as soon as you book your tickets to Barcelona, book your tickets for this first thing!

Tickets and time slots do get SOLD out.

You can purchase your tickets here: Link

2. Park Güell

10 Euros ($10.81)

This park has free areas and paid areas. Free areas only make 5% of the park so it’s definitely worth it to pay and go inside.

However, the picture on the right is taken from one of the outside areas of the park. I wasn’t aware that you had to book tickets in advance and so I actually couldn’t see the park but my point is that, this place gets sold out, so you have to purchase your tickets well in advance. So, my advice is that as soon as you book your tickets to Barcelona, book your tickets for this first thing!

You can purchase your tickets here: Link

3. Bunkers Del Carmel

FREE

Panoramic views of Barcelona from Spanish Civil War bunkers where anti-aircraft guns were installed. A very easy walk/hike from Park Guell.

4. Tibidabo

FREE

Tibidabo is a hill overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At 512 metres, it is the tallest hill in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it has views over the city and the surrounding coastline. The summit of the hill is occupied by the Sagrat Cor church and adjacent Tibidabo Amusement Park.

5. The Beach

FREE

Take some time to relax and enjoy the city at a slow place. There are multiple different beaches you can head to.

1) Barceloneta Beach – My favorite.

2) Playa de Bogatell

3) San Sebastian Beach

I’ll give you guys a bonus 6th thing to see since Barcelona is my favorite city!

6. Camp Nou

26 Euros ($21.61)

I’m not a huge fútbol (soccer) fan and I still thought this was really interesting.

My goal is to watch an actual soccer game at Camp Nou sometime in my life so it’s even better if you’re in Barcelona during the season and can catch a game here

I have friends that have been to the game and have told me that it’s completely a different environment and so much worth it.

If you want to check out if there are any games during your time in Barcelona, you can check the schedule here: Link

5. Currency Exchange

Currency Exchange. Local Currency: Euros (EUR). 1 USD = 0.88 EUR

You have 3 options, I recommend option 3:

1) Open a prepaid card. This is the method I used and it had its ups and downs. I used Travelex Money Card that you can find here. It’s pretty much like a debit card. What you will have to do is, open the card for $10 and you will be able to link it to your bank account. Every time you feel like you want to convert some money onto your Travelex Money Card, you can use their app to say what currency you want to convert it in and within seconds, that money will be on your card and you can use it right away. It’s also contactless, so you can use it on public transportation and you can set a 4-digit pin so you’re safe as well. I did a lot of research when I went to open this card and I couldn’t find a better exchange rate than Travelex. So if you are planning on picking this option, you’ll get a good rate out of its competitors.

2) You can also carry around cash but I DO NOT recommend this option. When you’re exchanging cash, you won’t get a good exchange rate and there is change of it getting stolen or lost.

3) Open a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees. I recommend this option because when I left for my backpacking trip for the first time, I did not know such credit cards existed and so I never did my research. My personal favorite is United Explorer Visa Card that you can apply for here. I use this card pretty much anywhere I go abroad and since it’s a Visa card, it works almost everywhere. Another reason why I really like a credit card is that no one will give you a better exchange rate than a bank. It’s also very easy to use, simply use it as if you were to use it in the US, and when prompted to choose between USD or EUR, pick EUR. It’s also contactless, no foreign transaction fees, and you 2 lounge pass for United. So, if you’re in a place to open a credit card, I really recommend this option.

6. Food

Last topic! One of the reasons why I loved Barcelona is because the food and CHEAP food. If you’re in Barcelona, you have to try the food items I’m going to tell you about.

1. Paella
   • This is a rice dish originally from Valencia and is one of the best-known dishes in Spanish cuisine.
   • There isn’t a specific restaurant I can name here. You can honestly find vegetarian paellas at every corner, just pick an option that looks good to you and go for it.
   • To get started, look for any restaurants on “Passeig de Joan de Borbo” street. There are shops on both sides of the street and I’m sure you’ll find your fix for paellas here.
2. Hot Chocolate and Churros – Xurreria Trebol
   • Hot chocolate and churros are another staple Spanish food item and you DO NOT want to miss this.
   • You will have to go to a shop called “Xurreria Trebol”. It’s a local churros shop owned by a family and it has the best hot chocolate and churros I’ve ever had.
   • I went there all 3 days I was in Barcelona and on my last day, the guy had my order memorized. He saw me and started packing my usual. 😂
3. Sangria!
   • It’s a Spanish beverage and is very common among the locals. Any restaurant will be able to serve you Sangria at any given time of the day.