Five days in Barcelona, Spain

Introduction

We went to Barcelona in early July, 2018. Yes, it was HOT.  Maybe mid 80’s; hot enough for us to pick the side of the street with shade to walk under.  Due to a flight cancellation from San Sebastian, Vueling bussed us the 7 hour ride.  FML.  Thus, we got in around 7pm or so.

 

Where to stay

We stayed at the Le Meridien, which was GREAT.  It was along the main road where all the action was.  I know some people mentioned the W, but that’s on like a peninsula and hard to get to unless you love the beach.

 

Getting around

We actually took the bus from the airport to the hotel.  They dropped us off at the Catalunya plaza, which we then walked ~10 minutes to the hotel.  Besides that, we walked most of the day.  To get to some far away stuff, we took the L3 subway (pretty easy to use.)  We took a taxi a few times to and from the train station.  The one time we tried to use Uber, it said none were available.

 

Day 1

Checked into the hotel, walked around, ate dinner and that was it for day 1.

 

Day 2

We woke up, ate breakfast and then went to the Picasso Museum.  I suggest you book tickets online ahead (they email you a PDF that they can read on mobile) – no need to print out any paper.  Also, go early to avoid the crowds.  Afterwards, eat lunch at Bar Pla (get the tapas; avoid the grilled octopus.)  I believe after that we went to the nearby Gaudi museum, which we then bought a combo ticket to Casa Batllo, which is where we walked to after that.  After that, dinner and called it a day.

 

Day 3

We explored the beach area.  Fair warning – it’s topless optional.  I was cool with that until I saw dudes without bottoms.  We walked the entire beach area, all the way down to the W.  We did some shopping at the nearby mall and skipped the aquarium.

 

Day 4

We went to Girona since we had lunch reservations at El Celler de can Roca.  We were very early and didn’t realize parts of Game of Thrones season 6 was shot here.  So we walked around to “the wall” there and saw a few of the scene shots.  Even if you don’t go to the restaurant, I think a day trip here would be pretty cool.

 

Day 5

We went to Park Guell (pre-book online) early in the morning.  Almost missed our time slot because we took the 2nd stop off the subway, which led us to the back of the park.  So if you go on the L3, take the stop before what Google Maps tells you (you’ll know because people will get off and you’ll see the signs in the tunnel.)  After that, we walked down the main shopping mall area.  We wanted to go to the Casa Milia, but the line was too long.  Protip – as we were walking back on our slow 3G Tmo network, we found out you could buy tickets online for 3 EUR less than the box office and remember, they’ll email you a scannable PDF asap.  I forgot what we did after that.

 

Places to Eat

Like I said, Bar Pla was pretty good for tapas.

If you’re at the Meridien, walk to the Boqueria to eat lunch (kinda pricey, but worth it.)  They close at 8PM which we found out one night.

We ate at Resturant Mino one night for their seafood paella (around block from Meridien.)  It was okay; nothing too special even though it has really high reviews on Tripadvisor.

A friend recommended Flax and Kale, which was on the healthy side.  The salmon burger was pretty tasty.

Roca Moo is owned by the Roca brothers, so if you can’t get a reservation at El Celler, you can just eat here and get 75% of the experience.  This was recommended by AMEX Plat concierge and we got 2 seats at the bar.

I got tickets to Tickets.  You have to reserve seats online about 2 months out EXACTLY.  For the day we wanted, all the seats sold out within 30 seconds.  I had a few friends try with me and only I scored.  That’s how hard it is.

 

Conclusion

We loved Barcelona.  I could have spent a few more days there and still feel I can’t get enough of it.  I’d rank it as one of my top 5 cities in the world.  Great food, friendly people, lots to see and do.  Can’t wait to go back.