Hey y'all! I just got home from quite a long trip, but for the end of my trip I spent three days in Barcelona, Spain. I am here to tell you all about what I did, what I did not do, what I learned about Spain, and how I did it.
Pictured above: My favorite photo from the trip of Parc Guell.
For the first part of my trip, I was travelling with a group, but for Spain, I was solo. I will touch on this later, but keep that in mind. Solo travel has a lot of benefits, but it also certainly has it's challenges.
First and foremost- the food. I know you're all thinking it. Spain is famous for its food and its drinks, like cava and wine. (Of course, it is famous for many other things as well, but if you are anything like me, your mind went straight to the food, too.) Most of the food I ate was delicious and lived up to the hype. My favorite meal was the seafood paella from this little restaurant I stumbled upon called La Lucha. It was rich, spiced wonderfully, and perfectly hearty. I was on the hunt for a smaller, more intimate vibe rather than the tourist trap places, and I think I nailed it with this one. I also saw a seafood pasta that looked absolutely delightful here. Another winner was a more touristy place right on the marina called B-One Palau de Mar. I got tapas here, the calamari and this fabulous little grilled avocado with veggies and quinoa. And of course a sangria; however, this was special Barcelona sangria made with cava, a type of Spanish, sparkling wine. I sat right by the water. Great views and great food. Of course, this place was a little more expensive due to the location and the fresh ingredients, but totally worth it for a treat yourself moment. A couple other things I recommend: a Spanish omelette (which isn't a traditional omelette at all), Iberian ham (found in many dishes), and then a fresh squeezed fruit juice from La Boqueria in the morning (I had a strawberry coconut and WOW).
Pictured above: First, the seafood paella from La Lucha (the one thing on this list you cannot miss), second, my refreshing strawberry coconut smoothie juice thing, third, my brunch (french fries, Iberian ham, and two fried eggs), and fourth, my avocado and calamari with a side of cava sangria.
Next- things I saw/did. The one major thing I will say before I go into more details: Barcelona is pretty expensive in terms of activities and museums. Even for one person, going into museums and all of the tourist destinations would have really added up, so I skipped out on going into a lot of places. However, after I went, I found out that there is a GoCity Barcelona pass which I believe would be 100% worth it. For example, Parc Guell was $12, La Sagrada Familia was about $40, Casa Batllo was about $40, La Pedrera was about $30, and the aquarium was about $28 (these are approximate costs; the euro to USD changes often). The GoCity offers 2,3,4, and 5 that range from about $115 to $165. I cannot say exactly whether this would be worth it because I did not purchase it, but in hindsight, I think this sounds cost effective and ideal for Barcelona. (P.S. this also includes a hop on hop off bus which would be amazing because Barcelona is massive.)
Now, what I did. The first full day I was there, I woke up and began the hike to Parc Guell, and when I say hike, I mean it. It was uphill, and then more uphill. I was on a budget so I walked everywhere, which I enjoy but a hop on hop off bus would be necessary in Barcelona if you are not big on walking 10-12 miles each day.
Side note: I stayed in a hotel right off of Las Ramblas which is an extremely touristy spot in Barcelona. This is a pretty central location and I recommend staying near here for a few reasons which I will come back to throughout this post.
But back to the park. Even if you do not recognize the name of this place, you have almost certainly seen pictures. This park was designed by Gaudi and it is amazing. It is a very large area with so many details and views. This was 10 euro to enter (without a tour) and it was absolutely doable without a tour guide. I walked around here for about 2 hours before wandering back to my hotel for a siesta. On the walk to the park and back, I passed by two other famous Gaudi architectural wonders: Casa Batllo and Casa Mila (or La Pedrera). These two houses are almost right across from each other on a main street in Spain straight down from Las Ramblas. (Also, if you are in the market for any designer goodies, these two houses are right in the midst of the designer stores in Barcelona). After my siesta, I wandered back out and I found myself in the Gothic quarters of the city and got lost here for a few hours before dinner (La Lucha seafood paella!!!!). This was a great end of the day activity, shopping around and taking pictures. And that ended day one!
Pictured above: The top row is all photos of the wonderful Parc Guell, as well as the first photo of the bottom row. Middle of the bottom row is Casa Mila and last photo on the bottom is Casa Batllo.
Day two began with a trip to La Boqueria, a marketplace right in Las Ramblas with fresh fruits, meats, seafood, snacks, and any other foods you can think of. This is where I got that inspiring fruit juice that began my day with a great note. After that, I had the plan of making my way to La Sagrada Familia (which ultimately I did), but first, I got exceptionally lost. The good thing about getting lost in Barcelona is you end up finding something you wanted to see anyway! I ended up going to the Parc de la Cuitadella and seeing the Arc de Triomf. This was such a cool spot and I am so glad I made my way there. The park is stunning, with lots of older buildings that honestly did not seem that well cared for but they were still cool. I also stopped in one of my must sees which was one street away from the park- El Borne Centre de Cultura i Memoria, a FREE museum that shows excavated Roman ruins. I will do anything for a good set of ruins, and these ruins were so worth the stop. Also in the park is the Barcelona Zoo if you want to stop there. From the park if you walk towards the arc and keep going, you'll almost run into the Sagrada Familia. If you haven't heard of La Sagrada Familia, it is a famous church, created by, you guessed it, Gaudi. However, this is additionally famous for being the largest unfinished Roman Catholic church on earth. Yes, unfinished. It is still worked on to this day. You can go on a tour of the inside for about $30, or go on a guided tour for about $50 with a skip the line pass. It was super crowded, and while I did not go in, there did seem to be many long lines, so an additional cost for a line skip may be worth it. After the hike back to my hotel, I took part in my second, very culturally significant siesta. When I was hungry enough to venture out for dinner, I made my way to Barceloneta, the little beach area. I was searching high and low for a seafood pasta, and while I did find one, it was not great, so next time I go, I will need to try again for this.
Pictured above: First is la Sagrada Familia, second is the Arc de Triomf, third is another photo of la Sagrada Familia, and fourth is the ruins in el Borne Centro.
Side note here: While I felt totally safe in Barcelona at most times, Barceloneta was the one spot that felt a little more chaotic and unsafe than the rest of the city. As long as you are aware and conscious of your surroundings, solo travel is safe. But you have to trust your gut, and my gut did not love this particular area.
The third day of my trip was kind of boring and not very eventful. I flew out at about 10:30 that night, so I laid around until checkout and then I left my bags and ventured out. I found a little late breakfast/brunch. Then I went shopping. Popped into shops whenever I felt like it. I found this really cool spot called Galeries Malda, which was a little mall almost of specialty shops. Or, if I may, "nerd" shops (no judgement here, I went into almost all of them). Harry Potter, Tim Burton, LOTR, all anime, and more. Very cool way to spend an hour shopping around and exploring. Afterwards, I made my way to the Barcelona Erotic Museum, which was a wild experience, and I will leave the rest up to you to experience on your next trip to Barcelona. One last stop of the tourist things included a walk by the Palau de la Musica Catalunya, which I intended on going in for a tour and was honestly just too lazy to do (which I do regret). After that, I did even more walking and shopping around, purchasing my pair of handmade, genuine, Spanish espadrilles from Handmade Barcelona. They had so many options and all of them were great quality. After another couple miles and some more euros spent, I ended my time in Barcelona with a trip to the airport.
Pictured above: First is the entrance to the "nerd" shops (again, no disrespect, I loved this part), second, one of the few photos I took that were acceptable to post from the Erotic Museum, and third, the exterior of the Palau de la Musica Catalunya.
Now for where I stayed- Hotel Nouvel. I adored this hotel. The location was ideal, the price was perfect, and the room itself was super nice (rainfall shower). The only thing I will say is that if you do end up in Barcelona in the summer months, it would be SO NICE to have a pool in your hotel, which Hotel Nouvel did not have. It did have a rooftop with tanning chairs and an outdoor shower which was adorable and a nice touch, but I did want a pool. There were a lot of other hotels and hostels in the area as well, and at the very least I suggest staying near Las Ramblas. It is easy to find and there is a ton to do around the area, and the aerobus (more about this below) stops right at the end of Las Ramblas.
Side note (for my solo travelers)- I love a good hostel, but for solo travel, I do recommend a hotel. It is just really nice to have your own space and to not have to worry about your belongings.
Barcelona tips:
-June, July, August are extremely hot (according to a local, my taxi driver), reaching 90-95 sometimes. If you are not a fan of the heat (me), I would NOT recommend this time to be here. I sweated so much that it was almost unbelievable.
-Talk to the locals. They are super kind and helpful.
-As I said briefly, I felt very safe in Barcelona (except for around the beach). The idea of solo girl traveling can be really intimidating, but this is a really good city for solo travel. The city is easy to navigate and the Spanish were nice and helpful.
-Buy an aerobus ticket to get to and from the airport if you are staying near Las Ramblas. It is about $15 for a roundtrip ticket (compared to the $35 taxi ride one way). A bus runs every 5-10 minutes. I actually did not book this coming in so I do not know where the bus picks you up from the airport, but it stops in Plaza de Catalunya (right at the end of Las Ramblas and the biggest city square in Barcelona) and takes you directly to the airport (there are two other stops but we did not even stop at those because there was nobody there waiting).
Pictured above: Photo from the Gothic Quarters. Such an intricate spot.
Overall, I adored my time in Barcelona. It was beautiful and unique and artistic and delicious! Three days in Barcelona is the perfect amount of time to get a taste of the city, just enough to make you want to go back and do the rest of the things you did not have time to do! But still enough time to eat, drink, and explore to your hearts desire.
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