Barcelona Blog
Author: Taylor Havens (Class of 2025)
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Hello!
My name is Taylor Havens and I am a Senior this year at USC. This past spring I got the opportunity to study abroad for the entire semester. I learned a lot over my time in Europe, but I want to highlight my ideal weekend in my favorite city - Barcelona. |
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Trip Details:
Thursday Night: Fly in to BCN and buy a month long pass on the Metro. This is 20 Euros and will give you unlimited rides on the metro, which you will use a lot. It will also grant you free transportation to and from the airport. As a tourist trap, the weekend passes are much more expensive and offer limited rides.
Accommodation: Check out hostelworld.com and find a nice private room with some friends. This will keep your costs down and give you the opportunity to meet other travelers. Rooms with a rating between 7.5-8.5 are typically the perfect mix of reasonable pricing and nice accommodations. I suggest staying near the beach, the Sagrada Familia, or the Gothic Quarter.
Thursday Night: Fly in to BCN and buy a month long pass on the Metro. This is 20 Euros and will give you unlimited rides on the metro, which you will use a lot. It will also grant you free transportation to and from the airport. As a tourist trap, the weekend passes are much more expensive and offer limited rides.
Accommodation: Check out hostelworld.com and find a nice private room with some friends. This will keep your costs down and give you the opportunity to meet other travelers. Rooms with a rating between 7.5-8.5 are typically the perfect mix of reasonable pricing and nice accommodations. I suggest staying near the beach, the Sagrada Familia, or the Gothic Quarter.
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Friday:
8:00am - First things first, start your day early! There is so much to see and do you will want to get right to it. Start at the Parque Ciutadella. The park is huge and is filled with dog owners, runners, street vendors, greenhouses, statues, and other sights to see. It is a great place for a morning walk. On your walk there, you will pass a ton of coffee shops, so pick one and grab a coffee with some breakfast, then explore the park. There is a pond where you can rent a row boat for under 10 Euro, enjoy the Cascada Monumental, a beautiful fountain, and explore the green houses in the park. There will be runners, and lots of locals with their dogs, as Barcelona is an extremely pet friendly city. 10:00 am - After you have gotten breakfast and enjoyed the park, walk over to the Arc De Triomphe. There will be street performers, workout classes, and street vendors to entertain you on the walk there. 10:30 am - Make your way to La Barceloneta. Take time to enjoy the beach, people watch, and take some nice photos. 12:00 pm - After the beach, head over to La Boqueria Market for some lunch. The market hosts a wide variety of local vendors each day, serving things from fruit to meat skewers. You truly cannot go wrong with any choice here, but observe how they cut the meat. It caught me off guard when I showed up and all the meat was cut off a whole animal leg right in front of you. 1:00 pm - After your bite to eat, head over to the Cable car up to Montjuic. You get to see the entire city from this beautiful view for only 8 Euros. 1:30pm - Once you have arrived at Montjuic, spend some time walking around. You can overlook the entire city, explore beautiful Gardens, and enjoy the museum. 4:00 pm - At this time I am sure you’ll be hungry so head down the hill via metro and find somewhere that looks appetizing. There are amazing restaurants on every block. For some authentic Catalan food, try to find and try some Paella. 5:30 pm - After a good meal, head up to the Bunkers De Caramel. Take the metro as far as you can and then start your hike. The hike up is on the street but extremely steep so there is an option to pay for a bus or Uber up there. At the top you can see more beautiful views of all sides of the city, meet other travelers, and enjoy the sunset depending on the time of year. This was one of my favorite spots, you truly can’t miss it. 8:00 pm - Head to dinner. My favorite spot was Kibuka, but there are amazing restaurants all over the city. 10:00 pm - Barcelona comes alive at night so explore the city! |
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Saturday:
9:00 am - Start for breakfast at the Corgi Cafe! Barcelona is a very Dog friendly city. Up until recently, dog owners were allowed to walk around the city with their dogs off leash! You may see some owners still practicing this, and the local dogs are great at following the rules and staying near their owners. At this cafe you can meet the four legged owner “juice” with her owner the CEO. Grab a coffee and some breakfast and meet some of Barcelona’s local corgis. 10:00 am - After you are fueled up, make your way to one of Barcelona’s main attractions, the Sagrada Familia. We lived right outside of this basilica and it was absolutely amazing! However, everyone else thinks that it is just as cool so make sure to book entry way in advance. The basilica is absolutely breathtaking and is still under construction. The whole structure tells a story that you can follow via video guide upon entry. The inside of the structure is full of color and stained glass windows. The outside has beautiful carvings and every single time I walked by on my way to class I noticed something new. 11:30 am - You could spend all day trying to fully appreciate the Sagrada Famillia and it would never be enough time. After you have tried your best, head a few blocks over to La Cava Cakery. This was my favorite dessert shop that serves specialty cupcakes! My personal favorite was the oreo but there are tons to choose from. 12:00 pm - Next head over for a FREE walking tour of the Gothic quarter. I did this on my first full day in the city and it was awesome learning all the quirks of the city, architecture, and history. We learned about how they made the streets and all of the ways that Gaudi influenced the city's buildings and design. You could spend all day in the Gothic quarter. There is the Cathedral de Barcelona as well as a ton of different vendors, boutiques, and restaurants. One of my favorites was I Wear Dolls jewelry shop where I got a permanent bracelet for only 19 Euro. 3:00 pm - You will pass the Casa Batllo on your tour, so once you are done, circle back to take a tour of the inside. It is such an interesting building with so much history. You are really able to see into the mind of such a creative artist. 5:00 pm - Sign up for a boat tour to see the coast of Barcelona! There are many different tour guide sites that offer this and it is such a beautiful experience. I took my mom to do this and we met so many nice people from all over the world and got to see a different angle of Barcelona. Our boat driver played so much fun music and we had the absolute best time. 7:00 pm - For dinner, head over to the Wanderlust Rose. This is an amazing rooftop restaurant that looks right over the Sagrada Familia. They had tons of food options that were amazing and the view was priceless. However, the restaurant books up quickly so make sure to make reservations two weeks in advance. |
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Sunday:
8:00 am - Stop for some breakfast at any of the local cafes and make your way to Park Guelle 9:00 am - Head over to Park Guell and spend the day exploring the parks! Brother Alex Trevisani and I made a whole day out of this amazing park. The different structures and gardens are so unique you could just look at them for hours. This is also a great place for people watching because there are tons of comfortable places to sit and lots of tourists. When we were there a young spanish girl came up to Alex and I just to ask a bunch of questions about American Football and it was really sweet to talk to her. The park also has great restaurants in and around it for a midday lunch. |
Other Tips and Tricks For Barcelona:
- Watch your belongings - this is the pick pocketing capital of the world
- Be nice to the locals - they are not fond of tourists
- Learn some basic spanish before you go such as directions
- Go with friends! I went with 8 other brothers and it was amazing.
- Try new foods - a lot of their food looked strange at first but was amazing.
- Walk wherever you can - walking around the city and finding small businesses and boutiques was one of my favorite parts of studying her.
Enjoy!