Ten Tips Before Travelling to Barcelona: Barcelona Travel Guide
By Travel blogger, Flight and Travel expert Mr Plane Guy
Barcelona the Spanish cosmopolitan city set along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, Barcelona is a celebration of urban design, amazing tapas, diversity, nightlife and beachside city living.
There is so much happening in this vibrant city of nearly 2 million that it feels much larger than it actually is. Here are my top 10 tips before travelling to Barcelona to help you get the most of Spain’s second city.
10. Plan Your Barcelona Visit At The Right Time!
If you want the best prices, fewer queues but still want to make the most of the great weather, then you should plan your visit to Barcelona to be just before or just after peak season.
This way, everything will be open but you won’t be queueing nearly as much and the price of hotels and flights are likely to be lower.
Avoid Bank Holidays, School holidays and High Season
New Year's Day Sat, 1 Jan
Epiphany Thu, 6 Jan
Good Friday Fri, 15 Apr
Assumption of Mary Mon, 15 Aug
National Day of Spain Wed, 12 Oct
All Saints' Day Tue, 1 Nov
Constitution Day Tue, 6 Dec
Feast of the Immaculate Conception Thu, 8 Dec
Spanish School Holiday Dates
Christmas break: 23 December 7 January
Easter break: 1–2 weeks between April 6 – 30 April
Summer break: 10–12 weeks between 18 June – 8 September
9. Arrive To Attractions Early
One of the best tips and pieces of advice for visiting Barcelona is to arrive to attractions early if you want to avoid crowds. Main attractions like the Sagrada Família and Park Güell can get extremely busy, but if you arrive early you get the chance to enjoy them whilst they’re still fairly quiet and take advantage of the jet lag!
If you ever wondered how the influencers and content creators get such amazing photos and videos, they are up mega early! avoid the crowds and start your day early whilst its nice and cool! You can even purchase your tickets in advance. This way, you’ll not only benefit from skipping ticket queues!
8. Get The Bus From The Airport
The metro and Aerobus are easily accessible from the arrivals section of the airport, and both have enough space for luggage on board.
The Aerobus is the Barcelona Airport express shuttle bus that takes you to and from the airport and the city centre, there are stops right outside each terminal.
The main bus stops in Barcelona city centre are at Plaça de Catalunya and Plaça España which are also Barcelona's main transport hubs. At Barcelona Airport there are stops outside each of the terminals.
Single ticket: €5.90
Return ticket: €10.20*
(prices correct at the time of going to press!)
They pretty much run 24 hours at least every 15 minutes! So easy and convenient!
7. Stay Central
When in Barcelona I always stay at the Andante Hotel
Located in the Raval Quarter, which is in the old city center, right in the heart of Barcelona, a few minutes walk from Las Ramblas, Port Vell! A Great location!
Andante Hotel is a 3* great value hotel but feels more like a 4 star, with gym, terrace, amazing breakfast and each room was renovated in 2021.
Whats more it has a spectacular infinity pool with amazing views!
The last time I stayed my room even came with a little cute garden terrace!
6.Look Past The Most Popular Sites
There is a lot more going for Barcelona beyond La Rambla and the Sagrada Família. The neighbourhoods of Sants or Poblenou, for example, have much to offer, from authentic bodegas to cool art projects.
Nau Bostik, a space for meeting and artistic creation in La Sagrera.
This former factory brings together creators, associations and collectives from the neighbourhood’s social and cultural ecosystem.
5. Don’t Visit La Barceloneta Beach
Over the past decade or so, and in particular the past few years, Barceloneta Beach has become increasingly overcrowded and super touristy (is that even a word?)
What was once one of the top things to do in Barcelona has since become a tourist trap and instead I recommend the nearby beaches Nova Icaria Beach or Ocata.
4. Don’t Eat On Las Ramblas
Due to its incredible popularity, Las Ramblas is now home to tourist traps and overpriced foodie spots which aren’t necessarily of the highest quality. As always, I recommend avoiding spots which display photos of food on the menu.
don’t eat at the restaurants directly along the main Barcelona thoroughfare. Instead, head just a few streets back and you’re guaranteed to find much better quality food (and tapas) at more reasonable rates!
3. Use The Metro Getting Around
The Barcelona Metro is reliable and frequent, and when compared to public transport in most major cities, the service is very good value for money.
One of our top Barcelona tips is to buy a T-Casual ticket to use on public transport in the city. The T-Casual ticket entitles you to 10 journeys around the city, and can be used on the metro, buses and trams. As of 2022, the cost of the Barcelona T-Casual ticket is €11.35, which is great value for 10 journeys.
Journeys aren’t limited to one means of transport, so if you need to take a metro and then a bus then it will only count as one journey – as long as the trip does not exceed 75 minutes in total. You can make up to 3 transfers per journey, but if you are making a return trip then the return leg will count as a separate journey even if it is within 75 minutes.
Click here For more information.
Or why not use the hop on hop off bus, you can see all of the sights and get around easy checking out the spectacular gaudi architecture as you drive around the city of Barcelona
2. Adjust Your Eating Schedule
Similar to France and Italy, people in Spain tend to eat much later than in other European destinations like the UK, Sweden, or Germany. Most restaurants don’t even open until at least 7:30 PM and people will typically eat from 9 PM onwards through to 11 PM.
If you’re looking to go clubbing, then while most clubs close by 2:30 PM in the UK, people don’t even generally tend to go out before midnight in Barcelona and clubs are frequently open until 5 AM, if not later.
1. Beware Of Pick Pockets
Barcelona is an amazing city but beware just like other huge european cities this comes with its fair share of crime. Be Especially careful around tourist hot spots and central areas, outside metros etc
Don’t cary all your cards and cash, use the hotel safe, have emergency credit card back in your hotel room.
Check out my TOP travel tip for using a hotel safe!
Also take a copy of your passport- trust me, if you loose this or have this stolen, its easier to get an emergency replacement one from this. Leave your passport in your hotel safe!
If your flying with Vueling to Barcelona, check out this review here!
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So that's Ten tips BEFORE travelling to Barcelona! If your off soon to Barcelona have a great time and enjoy this amazing city, I can't seem to get enough and hop on a flight whenever I can! Its super cheap to fly to Barcelona from London and sometimes the price of the flight is less than the train ticket to the airport! Check out the flights for yourself!
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10 tips BEFORE travelling to Barcelona
TEN tips Before travelling to Barcelona Barcelona Travel Guide
Hello I’m Paul a Travel and flight expert, I spent most of my career working in and around planes with 15 years providing top-notch service with a London-based airline. I became an expert in travel after soaring across the Atlantic up to 10 times a month!
I’m now, producing travel content, reaching millions of viewers monthly. Reporting on travel news, sharing travel tips, reviews, and deals with a sprinkle of humour and a whole lot of authenticity!
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