Gimme Some Barcelona Travel Guide

El Born Barcelona

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

La Colmena Panellets in Barcelona Spain

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.

Barraca paella | Gimme Some Barcelona Travel Guide

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

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

Paella & Fideuà

Vegetarian & Healthy Food

Pizza & Italian Food

Mexican Food

Middle Eastern Food

Southeast Asian Food

Desserts / Sweets

Coffee

Drinks

Sagrada Familia | Gimme Some Barcelona Travel Guide

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

Our Favorite Parks

Live Music Venues

More Fun Stuff To Do

Day Trips

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!
Alma Hotel Barcelona Spain

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:

Also, for more boutique/luxury hotels, we recommend looking here. For discount hotels, check out this list. For hostels, we recommend looking here.

Cocktails In Barcelona at Dr Stravinsky

Questions? Requests? Recommendations to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below. ♡

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87 Comments

  1. AJ says:

    I would recommend this guide to anyone traveling to Barcelona! We had an unforgettable culinary tour of the city thanks to Ali’s recommendations, and would agree that the patatas bravas at Bar Mendizabal are the best we’ve ever tried. Thank you for this generous resource.

    Reply
  2. Lea says:

    Thank you for all your recommendations, they were so helpful when visiting Barcelona this week. We ate at a really nice tapas bar called Elisabets (Carrer d’elisabets 2) in El Raval. Delicious food, low prices, not touristy at all, I can only recommend it! Also, I loved all the little alleys in El Born, so pretty!

    Reply
  3. Janelle says:

    This is so great, thank you! For an unlocked iPhone, do you recommend picking up a SIM card there or ordering one online (any particular brand/company?) thank you!

    Reply
    1. Barclay says:

      Hello Janelle! Thanks for reaching out. We’d recommend just picking up a SIM card once you arrive. If you want to make sure you’re connected the whole time, you can pick up a SIM card at the Crystal Media Shop in Terminal 1 of Barcelona’s main airport, El Prat. Otherwise, you can go to nearly any mobile shop in the city. Three of the main mobile companies are Vodafone, Orange and Movistar. It’s really nice to have someone walk you through the process so you know you’re connected when you walk out of the store. Have a wonderful trip!

  4. Temple Morris says:

    Thank you so much for this travel guide! It’s wonderful and very helpful. Might I ask your favorites among the budget-friendly restaurants that serve dinner? We’ll be in Barcelona with 5 teenagers this December, so we’re trying to find places that won’t drain our budget. We’re definitely not looking for fast food or fluorescent lights — a nice sit-down meal is important to us. I’m just a bit overwhelmed by all the choices!
    Many Thanks!
    Temple

    Reply
    1. Barclay says:

      Hello Temple! Thanks for reaching out. You’re right…it’s pretty overwhelming. Generally, tapas are a really fun way to eat, and Bar del Pla in El Born is one of our favorites. It’s a casual, fun environment. Depending on how picky your eaters are, patatas bravas are usually a good bet. Not too expensive, and pretty filling fried potatoes. To keep costs down, you can always order a few and see how everyone’s doing. We often end up needing less food than we thought.
      One quick note: paella is also popular here, but decent paella is sneakily expensive. Usually €15-€20 per person, which can add up quickly.
      I hope this helps!

  5. Neliya says:

    Hello, would you recommend renting a car in Spain or is it easier/more cost effective to use public transportation?

    Reply
    1. Barclay says:

      Hi Neliya! It really depends how much traveling you’d like to do while you’re here. If you’re mainly going to spend time in Barcelona, or a few other big cities, we tend to love going carless. Barcelona and Madrid both have great public transportation and their metro and bus systems are quite affordable. That said, if you want to see some of Spain’s charming smaller towns and places of interest, a car will be nearly essential and would save you a lot of time getting from place to place.

  6. Patty says:

    Hola! We just returned from 6 months in Barcelona and had the most wonderful time! Going back again next year and hopefully permanently sometime soon. I was surprised that Teoric in the Eixample district was not listed as a restaurant favorite. I know there are over 8000 restaurants but honestly this one is truly a standout. Delish and innovative tapas and super nice folks. Check them out and tell Teo that Patty and Todd said hola!

    Reply
    1. Barclay says:

      Hello Patty! Ali and I are excited about this one. We’ve never been, but it’s at the top of our list now, thanks to your suggestion! We’ll keep our eye out for Teo :)

  7. Truly says:

    Hi Ali,
    Coming to Barcelona at the end of the month; I’m wondering if you know of a good spot for an afternoon snack near Parc Guell on Sunday. It’s hard to find places that are open on Sundays! Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    1. Barclay says:

      Hello Truly! That’s a good question. We’ve usually done our snacking oustide of that neighborhood, but a well-reviewed option could be Guelly Sandwichpark. It’s short on seating, but it does say that it’s open on Sundays. Plus, it’s a good excuse to carry your snack with you on your way to or from the Park. Have a wonderful time in Barcelona – I hope our guide helps!

  8. Carley says:

    Hey Ali,

    Thank you so much for this guide! I went to Barcelona a few weeks ago and hit up so many of the spots on your list! All were delicious and so cute. Definitely my favorite food stop on my three week trip!

    Reply
  9. Paige says:

    This was unbelievably helpful on our vacation to Barcelona this month. Thanks for all of the work you put into everything! We loved our time there! ?

    Reply
  10. Rachel says:

    Loved looking through your list and am excited to visit one day!

    My question is on expat life (and excuse me if this has already been covered somewhere in your blog– I am a first time reader and haven’t looked through other posts yes).

    Do you have any blog posts that dive into your life/experiences as an expat? My partner and I are considering expat life in Portugal and have began the research process. There is a lot to think about, but my main concern at the moment is getting a visa and/or residency. I’m sure Spain has a different process than Portugal and I’m not sure if you came from somewhere in the EU or States or somewhere else. Do you have any advice on expat life– specifically residency?

    Thanks in advance and if this is too much to get into, don’t stress about responding!

    Be Well,
    Rachel

    Reply