Ever since we moved to Barcelona, we continue to receive many requests for travel recommendations around the city for those of you and your friends who are planning a visit. So today, I’m happy to finally present to you our official Gimme Some Oven Travel Guide!
Barclay and I have done our best to compile a list of our favorite places to eat, visit and stay in the city. And we’ve especially worked hard on the restaurant recs, because with so much amazing food in this city, I firmly believe you should never have a bad meal here! (Always such a tragedy on vacation.) We’ve also created a list of Barcelona-specific pro travel tips for how to navigate the city like a local. And we have created a Google Map so that you can download to have easy access to all of our recommendations while you’re out and about.
We’ll try to keep updating this guide as often as possible as we continue to discover more great places around the city. But please, if you have your own Barcelona travel recommendations, be sure to share any of your favorites in the comment section below too. And if you use this guide in any way, would you mind leaving a comment below just to let us know what you enjoyed? We’ve received hundreds of emails and DMs from readers over the years who have used and loved this guide, but very few people leave comments here and I’d love for you to be able to read one another’s feedback and share recommendations too.
For more travel guides and general travel tips, feel free to also check out the archives in our Travel section on the blog. And if you would like to follow along with our adventures behind the scenes living in Barcelona, you’re always welcome to check out my personal Instagram. Alright, without any further ado, here are our favorite Barcelona travel recommendations including:
- Our Barcelona Travel Tips
- Our Barcelona Travel Map
- Where To Eat
- What To Do
- Where To Stay
- Barcelona Culture 101
- Getting Around Barcelona
- Dealing With Money
- Apps To Download While Traveling In Barcelona
- Things To Know About Eating Out In Barcelona:
- 5 Ways To Be A Nice Person In Barcelona
- 5 Ways To Save Money In Barcelona
- Important: A Note About Pickpocketing
We would really encourage you to download our (free!) Gimme Some Barcelona Google Map, which includes all of the recommended places listed in this guide. It’s a great way to navigate around the city and can also give you the option to make an impromptu stop somewhere nearby if a place on the list catches your eye. Be sure to also click through to read the notes for each restaurant pin, where we have included our recommendations for what to order.
Naturally, my favorite subject. ♡ And also the #1 question we’ve received from friends, family and all of you readers coming to Barcelona — where to eat!
There are literally thousands upon thousands of places to eat here in Barcelona, with new great spots popping up literally every week. And as someone who tends to plan my vacations — and, let’s be real, everyday life — around food, it’s critically important to me that each of your meals here be home runs. So here is our current list of places we love and recommend. There should hopefully be something for everyone here!
Brunch
- Bohl (Eixample)
- Brunch & Cake (Multiple locations)
- Clubhaus (El Born)
- Faire (Eixample)
- Funky Bakers Eatery (Eixample)
- Gringa All Day (Eixample)
- Picnic (El Born)
- Roast Club (Eixample)
Bakeries
- Baluard (Croissants, bread, and more / Multiple locations)
- Brunells (Croissants and pastries) / El Born
- Chök (Cronuts, donuts, chocolate / Gothic)
- Demasié (Cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, desserts / El Born)
- Eric & Benjamin (French breads and pastries / Eixample)
- Hofmann Pastelería (Croissants and pastries / El Born)
- Origo (Breads and pastries / Gràcia)
- Turris (Breads, pastries and more / Multiple locations)
Tapas
- Bar Del Pla (El Born)
- Bar Betlem (Eixample)
- Bar Mendizábal (El Raval)
- Bar Mut (Gràcia)
- Bormuth (El Born)
- Centric (El Raval)
- Cerveseria Catalana (Eixample)
- Ciudad Condal (Eixample)
- El Nacional (Eixample)
- El Quim de la Boqueria (Raval)
- El Xampanyet (El Born)
- La Cova Fumada (Barceloneta)
- La Paradeta (El Born)
- La Pepita (Eixample)
- La Rovira (Gràcia)
- Quimet y Quimet (Poble Sec)
- Tantarantana (El Born)
- Teòric (Eixample)
- 1881 by Sagardi (Barceloneta)
Paella & Fideuà
- Barraca (*favorite paella* / Barceloneta)
- Camping Mar (Barceloneta)
- Martínez (Montjuïc)
- Peix Vela (Barceloneta)
Vegetarian & Healthy Food
- Bohl (Eixample)
- Bon (Eixample)
- Flax & Kale (Multiple locations)
- Frizzant (Eixample)
- Honest Greens (Multiple locations)
- Hummus Barcelona (Eixample)
- Les Filles Café (Eixample)
- Maoz Vegetarian (Gothic)
Pizza & Italian Food
- Bella Italia (Eixample)
- L’antica Pizzeria Da Michele (Eixample)
- Las Sorrentinas (El Born)
- Maccaroni (El Born)
- NAP (Multiple locations)
- Parking Pizza (Eixample)
Mexican Food
- Costa Pacífico (El Born)
- La Güerita Mexicana (Multiple locations)
- Quiote Mezcaleria (Eixample)
- Pikio Taco (Gràcia)
- San Pedrito (El Born)
Middle Eastern Food
- Bistrot Levante (Gothic)
- Hummus Barcelona (Eixample)
- La Balabusta (Eixample)
- Mazah (Eixample)
- Maoz Vegetarian (Gothic)
- Mustà Shawarma (Gràcia)
- Parking Pita (Eixample)
Southeast Asian Food
- Bun Bo (Vietnamese / Gothic)
- Burne (Korean / Eixample)
- Grasshopper (Ramen / El Born)
- Liuyishou Hotpot (Hotpot / Eixample)
- Mosquito (Asian Fusion Tapas / El Born)
- Nakashita (Sushi / El Born)
Desserts / Sweets
- Chök (Cronuts, donuts, chocolate / Gothic)
- DelaCrem (Gelato / Multiple locations)
- Demasié (Cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, desserts / El Born)
- Gocce Di Latte (Gelato / El Born)
- La Cava Cakery (Cava and cupcakes / Eixample)
- La Colmena (Traditional sweets, chocolates / Gothic)
- La Pallaresa (Churros / Gothic)
- Rocambolesc (Soft serve ice cream / Las Ramblas)
Coffee
- Cafés El Magnífico (El Born)
- Eat Nudes (El Born)
- El Noa Noa (Gràcia)
- Hidden Cafe (Multiple locations)
- Nømad (Multiple locations)
- Syra (Multiple locations)
- Xiloteca (El Born)
Drinks
- Bar Marsella (Hemingway’s absinthe bar / El Raval)
- Bar Salvatge (Natural wine / Gràcia)
- BierCaB (Craft beers / Eixample)
- Boca Chica (Cocktails / Eixample)
- Casa Almirall (Vermouth / El Raval)
- Dr. Stravinsky (Cocktails / El Born)
- Garage Bar (Craft beer, natural wines, etc / Sant Antoni)
- Garage Beer Co (Craft beer / Eixample)
- Hotel Praktik Vinoteca (Wine tasting / Eixample)
- La Vinya Del Senyor (Cava / El Born)
- Old Fashioned (Cocktails & wine / Gràcia)
- Paradiso (Cocktails / El Born)
In a city that offers so many great things to do, choosing places to visit isn’t always an easy decision! But whether you like to see a place through its sights, sounds or flavors, we’ve put together a list of our favorite ways to experience Barcelona. Two things that we would say that you can’t miss here — visiting La Sagrada Familia (trust us, it’s not like any cathedral you’ve ever seen) and taking a food tour (always our favorite way to get to know a new city).
Museums / Cathedrals / Top Sights
- Barcelona City History Museum
- Chocolate Museum
- La Sagrada Familia
- Palau Güell
- Picasso Museum
- Miró Foundation
- National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC)
- Santa Maria del Mar
Our Favorite Parks
Live Music Venues
More Fun Stuff To Do
Day Trips
Recommended Guides / Tours
- Adler & Marlow (custom-designed experiences and tours – $$$)
- Devour Tours (group food and culture tours – $$)
- AirBnB Experiences (we made paella with Sara – $$)
A Few Of Ali’s Favorite Local Places To Shop
- Be (fun gift shop, multiple locations)
- Biscuit (favorite boutique)
- Charly Therapy (cute sunglasses)
- La Nostra Ciutat (art, apparel, gifts, all made in Barcelona)
- Natura (apparel, home goods, gifts)
- Oysho (yoga apparel, leisureware and more)
- Boutique-ing around El Born or Gràcia in general. There are so many great local shops in these neighborhoods!
We still have yet to do much research on where to stay in Barcelona, but we promise to report back with some updates on great places to stay soon! A few great places we have stayed and loved so far include:
- Alma Hotel ($$$)
- Casa Bonay ($$)
- Seventy Barcelona ($$)
- Praktik Bakery ($$)
- Yurbban Passage Hotel & Spa ($$)
- Casa Gracia ($)
- AirBnB
Also, for more boutique/luxury hotels, we recommend looking here. For discount hotels, check out this list. For hostels, we recommend looking here.
Questions? Requests? Recommendations to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below. ♡
Any recommendations for gyms tourists can use?
Too bad you two haven’t had time to go out and have some fun since you got there?! WOW. This was worth the wait. What a comprehensive guide, and so thoughtfully and beautifully prepared. Can’t wait to check it out this summer.
I love seeing so many of the places that we loved on your list! ??? Our favorite eats while we were there visiting last fall included Bar Del Pla, El Nacional, Can Paixano, and La Paradeta. We also loved FireBug for brunch!
Thank you for doing this! My partner and I will be there in late June for a too short two days before we train north to a family wedding in France. We’re going to stay in the El Born neighborhood so I’m basically just going to plan to look at all of your recs for food and drink! Woohoo! If we see you and I say hello, please know I’m a friendly, not creepy, blog fan. LOL.
And now to make your crockpot beef ragu on a rainy Sunday!
If you are craving a good burger, head to OVAL, close to the University of Barcelona. It’s a build-your-own-burger kind of place with high quality ingredients. I also wanted to recommend El Comidista blog, El Pais newspaper food blog. You will find recipes, the history of some famous Spanish dishes and restaurant reviews, mainly from Barcelona, as most of the staff lives there. I hope you enjoy Barcelona and if you come to Madrid, I’d be glad to give you some recs!
Marina
This makes me want to come back! We were in Barcelona last year and loved this little tapas place in El Born – El Xampanyet. It’s noisy and chaotic in a good way, the house cava is delicious and the tapas were the best we had!
SO excited about this guide! Going to be in Barcelona staying in Barceloneta for 2 months w my fiance (we’ve been traveling around the world for the last 6 yrs) and normally I do alllll of our travel research and planning and I’m so happy to see it’s all been done for me by you guys! YAY! : ))) So many amazing spots I cannot wait to check out!
This guide is AMAZING! I visited Barcelona back in college (15 yrs ago) and have been itching to go back ever since. These recs may have just bumped the city back to the top of our list. Everything looks so delicious. I bet you guys are having the time of your lives!
What an amazing list! Thanks for putting this together for us.
Yay! We’re coming to Barcelona this July, and I was hoping you would post some recommendations sometime soon. Thank you for this comprehensive list!
Have you visited any vineyards yet near Barcelona?
My daughter and I took this day wine tour . The 3 vineyards on the tour were fantastic.
https://www.viator.com/tours/Barcelona/Wine-and-Cava-Day-Trip-to-Jean-Leon-Torres-and-Freixenet-Wineries-form-Barcelona/d562-2140BCNWINECAVA