travel blog, minus the bull$hit

If you’re like us and only have three days in Barcelona, get ready to trade your regular routine for Gaudí’s dreamlike architecture, tapas that demand “just one more bite,” and many other fun adventures! Whether you’re a foodie, an art lover, a night owl, or all three, Barcelona packs a lifetime of experiences into a 3 day stint.

Just like my Amsterdam post, here is how we planned our trip, along with the cost breakdown mostly split between 2 people. Itinerary excludes the, yet again, high number of siestas we needed. When in Spain, do as the Spaniards do! I love me a good nap.

Note: we were also briefly down with the travel bug during this part of the trip so we had to make some cuts to our itinerary

Cost summary:

• Accommodation: Hotel Praktik Vinoteca in L’Eixample – €456
  • Pros: the location is SO convenient. It’s very central and it was easy for us to walk to a lot of places we planned to go and incredibly close to a couple train station/bus stops. Friendly staff, they also give a free refillable water bottle and a complimentary glass of wine daily.
  • Cons: we aren’t big drinkers, and pretty much kept maxing out on sangrias and claras while we were out and didn’t want to drink any more. Rooms were a tad small but given that it’s Barcelona, we didn’t mind!
• Transportation: €37.95 each, includes round trip Aerobús and Hola Barcelona Travel Card valid for 72 hours.
• Excursions: ~€98, including cash tips for our tour guide
  • Park Guell: €18 each for the general ticket– see tickets/more details here
  • Sagrada Familia: €30 each for the self-guided audio tour– see tickets/more details here
  • Flamenco: $30 each (USD because we booked online with Viator)
  • Sandeman Free Walking tour: free, but we tipped €40
• Here are alternative booking options with Viator along with some other tour options I had considered exploring: my Viator Partner Shop

Some of the links on this page are affiliated links wherein I may receive a commission when items are purchased through my affiliate links. #CommissionsEarned

Obvious first question: how do I leave the airport to get into the city?

• Taxi or ride share apps
• Train (Renfe R2 Nord)
  • Where is it: Terminal 2B (look for the “Trains” signs) and hop on the R2 Nord line toward Sants, Passeig de Gràcia, or El Clot-Aragó.
  • Timing: Every 30 minutes, ~25 min to Sants
  • Cost: ~€4.60 for a single ticket
• Aerobús (the transit option we opted for)
  • Where is it: Outside Terminal 1 or 2. Stops include: Airport (T1 or T2), Plaça Espanya, Gran Via – Urgell, Plaça Universitat, Plaça de Catalunya (city centre)
  • Timing: roughly every every 5–10 min, transportation time can vary based on traffic, riders, and your stop
  • Cost: ~€6.75 one-way (€11.65 return) — you can either pay via the kiosk and present the receipt upon boarding or upon boarding. Don’t forget to keep your receipt for safe keeping if you paid for a return trip!
• Metro (L9 Sud)
  • Where is it: Both T1 and T2. To get to the city, L9 Sud connects with other metro lines—transfer at Torrassa (L1) or Collblanc (L5)
  • Timing: Every 7–10 min, ~35–45 min depending on your stop
  • Cost: €5.50 (airport metro fare)

Day 1

Kept this day pretty light since we landed around 2PM and already planned ahead to take a nap considering we both barely slept on the plane. Here’s how our day looked:

• Landed at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport and STRUGGLED to get to the Aerobus station because someone was trying to get an Uber for convenience (which makes sense) and we heavily struggled to even find the pick up point so ended up struggling extra in 40 degree C weather to get to the Aerobus station
• Checked into Hotel Praktik Vinoteca and got settled (napped)
• Spanish time dinner (9PM because yes we took a fat nap) at one of my favorite tapas restaurants La Flauta in Aribau which was very much chef’s kiss as usual

• Had our usual post-meal digestion walk and explored the area and stopped at a random gelato spot

Day 2

• Free walking tour with Sandeman (book here) where your local tour guide will take you all around the Gothic Quarter and El Born District to learn all as much history as your guide can possibly cram in the 2.5 hour tour
• Mercat de la Boqueria, the famous indoor public market with so many read-to-eat food options, cheese, product, meat, and many more!

• Did some light exploring on our way back to the hotel for siesta- saw Casa Mila, Casa Battlo, and some shopping in the area since we were right at Passeig de Gràcia which is a major street known for high-end fashion and designer stores.
• Enjoyed Park Guell (this was actually our 2nd reservation because we tried going on Day 1 but couldn’t get out of bed)

• Flamenco show at Theatre Barcelona City hall – totally worth seeing a Flamenco show! The one we booked came with a complimentary beverage, but HERE is another option that comes with a full dinner or tapas.

• Lucciano’s gelato for a sweet treat, mostly because I saw a long line out the store so figured it would be pretty good

• Got walk-in seats at Restaurante Vinitus for a light dinner/snack which earned it’s place as another favorite tapas restaurant of mine. The fioe micuit with raspberry jam was such a beautiful flavor combination– I still dream of it to this day!

Day 3

• The famous unfinished church, Basílica de la Sagrada Família. I’ve been to Barcelona many times before yet this was my first time actually going into the Basilica and it was absolutely stunning. It is also important to note that there is no airconditioning so it gets hot in the summer.

• Post-Sagrada meal at some random nearby restaurant for some rabbit feet + snail paella. Would recommend really looking at reviews of the restaurants nearby and also remembering that you are in a tourist area, so limit your expectations.
• Ended our last night in Barcelona at the underrated tapas street, Carrer de Blai. This street is so much fun! It’s just a street full of different tapas restaurant so we just went tapas hopping until our stomachs couldn’t take it anymore

Day 4-ish

We left around noon on Day 4 and the summer heat of Spain honestly had us extra exhausted these 3 days so we decided to just sleep in and head to the airport after a light breakfast at a nearby cafe

Three days in Barcelona might not seem like enough, but this city has a way of cramming magic into every moment—between Gaudí’s wild imagination, late-night tapas crawls, those blissful siestas you’ll inevitably adopt (I’m Filipino so I have already naturally accepted siesta is a part of my life, my Chinese boyfriend has fully leaned into siesta time now though), or maybe even the company you’re with. Despite the few hiccups (hello, travel bugs and summer heat), we still made the most of this trip. I’m excited for the day I get to come back to Barcelona, but maybe next time I’ll make sure it isn’t 40 degrees C!

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