Things to do in Barcelona: the insiders recommendations

Being one of the most beautiful cities in the world (a local says…) there’s so much to see and there are so many things to do in Barcelona that sometimes when you get here you feel lost, you don’t know how to start discovering it. Here’re a few recommendations based in a combination between “must do’s” and special tips that I’m sure won’t appear in your guides… Check out our list of things to do in Barcelona: the insiders recommendations.

Let’s start with one of the musts in town: Antoni Gaudí. Gaudi’s in one of the first words that come to our mind when they made us describe our city. We feel so proud of having with pieces spread all over town… All of them are great: Casa Batlló, Palau Güell, La Pedrera, Sagrada Familia, Teresianas School and of course, Parc Güell.

There’s many ways of visiting this buildings, I suggest to see them as the locals do: go to Pedrera to hear a jazz session, enjoy a cocktail in Casa Batlló, go for a piknic in Parc Güell…Of course you can do it the regular way, waiting the line, paying the ticket and seeing it with an audioguide, but I’m trying to make it more special :-)

One of the local’s favorite things to do in Barcelona is “Vermut” or “aperitiu”. Have you heard about it? This is like al small meal we have before lunch. Sometimes we don’t have lunch after it because we’re already full…In Barcelona we have lunch at 2 pm so before that is vermut-time. An “aperitiu” normally includes drinks, beer or Vermut, which is a drink itself like a Martini, but hand made and better…olives, chips or little tapas. Now, the question is where to go? Most of the bars with a terrace offers Vermut but I’ll recommend Sant Antoni’s quarter for that or Barceloneta (the area close to the beach).

Another must in Barcelona that I particularly love is Plaça Sant Felip Neri in the Gothic Area. This is one of the treasures of the city, so hidden, so difficult to find but so beautiful. Barcelona was bombed for three days in 1938 by the Italian army. A lot of citizens died, but Barcelona resisted. Winston Churchill said about it: “I believe our countrymen will show themselves capable of standing up to it, like the brave men of Barcelona”. The bombing is part of the city’s history and we can still see the scars of it in the walls of this square.

There’s a neighborhood in Barcelona that doesn’t appear much in the guides but that the local people we like a lot. Maybe because it looks like a little village (it was in the past) and we love to feel sometimes outside the craziness of the big city. It’s called Gràcia. It’s a great place to go mid-afternoon for a hot chocolate, then some shopping in the little shops owned by young designers, try on some vintage clothes that could be from your grandmother but that are totally trendy now and end with a great diner. There’s a lot of different restaurants form all kind of nationalities especially in Verdi Street. If you have the chance to be in Barcelona in August you can’t miss “Les festes de Gràcia”, is the big party of the area and all the streets are decorated.

These are just a few tips on how to enjoy the treasures and traditions of the Catalan people. Of course there are many more things to do in Barcelona, I promise to come back with more. But always keep in mind, there’s no better way to enjoy the city than being surrounded by locals and feeling like one of us.