The Best of Barcelona

We visited Barcelona in May 2016, initially to see Coldplay in concert at the Olympic Stadium of Barcelona. However never having been to Barcelona we decided to stay for 4 nights to explore this beautiful city. The weather was fantastic, and we spent most of the time in t-shirts and shorts. We stayed at the 4* Barcelona Catedral which is a modern boutique style of hotel with a small roof top pool right in the centre of the Gothic Quarter. It is more or less opposite the Cathedral and a short walk from Las Ramblas and Place de Catalunya where you can pick up the hop on hop off buses. I would highly recommend this hotel for its service and location and wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. There is so much to see in Barcelona and I would recommend planning your visit before you arrive. We purchased a 2 day Hop on Hop off bus ticket. There are 3 different routes and if you plan your visit in advance you can make good use of this when visiting the sights. I would suggest pre-booking your tickets to Park Guell as they limit the number of visitors to the monumental zone throughout the day. We also decided to take a guided tour which was really worthwhile. This place is truly magical with houses that look like something out of Hansel and Gretel, this was my favourite of Gaudi's projects. We visited La Sagrada Familia which is stunning, and I would recommend that you purchase a ticket which includes the audio guide and towers as once you arrive you are unable to upgrade your ticket, which unfortunately was a mistake we made. You can’t visit Barcelona without taking a walk along Las Ramblas which was bustling with tourists. On our way down, we came across Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria which is a very colourful food market selling everything imaginable from fruit and vegetables to sweets, ice lollies, meat and fish. Being on Las Ramblas it gets extremely busy but is well worth a visit if you love your food! We also visited La Pedrera another of Gaudi’s projects built between 1905 – 1910 as apartments and an office block. The apartments are open for viewing and once on the roof which is the most extraordinary part of the building with chimney pots resembling medieval knights. From up here you can also see La Sagrada Familia at a distance. As well as visiting all of the Gaudi masterpieces a visit to Barcelona Cathedral should not be missed. We also took a wander through the Gothic Quarter which is very quaint and down to Port Vell where there are plenty of restaurants around the marina. As we were staying for 4 nights we decided to take a wine tour during our trip which I pre-booked. It was a full day tour and we visited Montserrat in the morning with a guided tour around the monastery followed by lunch and wine tasting at a small vineyard called Oller del Mas. It was a great day out, Montserrat was beautiful, and the scenery was stunning, not to mention the wine tasting which was great fun. Barcelona has so much to offer and with just over a 2-hour flight from London it makes a great city break which can be combined with the beach and countryside too, or why not book tickets to see a concert like we did!