L'Eixample
The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) is considered to be the symbol of Barcelona by many residents, and the…
Must-see attractions in Barcelona
Barcelona
Visitors and locals alike love Park Güell. The waving balcony and the colorful Guard’s House, with the imposing Barcelona skyline and sea in the…
L'Eixample
One of Europe's strangest residential buildings, Casa Batlló (built 1904–6) is Gaudí at his fantastical best. From its playful facade and marine-world…
L'Eixample
In the top tier of Gaudí's achievements, this madcap Unesco-listed masterpiece, with 33 balconies, was built in 1905–10 as a combined apartment and office…
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
Barcelona's most central fresh-produce market is one of the greatest sound, smell and colour sensations in Europe. It's housed in a packed-out Modernista…
Barcelona
Joan Miró was a Catalan painter and sculptor born in Barcelona who combined abstract art with surrealism. He is considered one of the most influential…
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
La Rambla is a tree-lined boulevard featuring a wide array of architectural delights, beautifully decorated flower stalls and particularly talented (and…
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
Barcelona
The spectacular neobaroque silhouette of the Palau Nacional can be seen on Montjuïc's slopes from across the city. Built for the 1929 World Exhibition and…
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
Barcelona’s central place of worship presents a magnificent image. The richly decorated main facade, dotted with gargoyles and the kinds of stone…
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
One of Barcelona's most fascinating museums travels back through the centuries to the very foundations of Roman Barcino. You'll stroll over ruins of the…
El Raval
Built off La Rambla in the late 1880s for Gaudí's wealthy patron the industrialist Eusebi Güell, the Palau Güell is a magnificent example of the early…
Barcelona
A pilgrimage site for football fans around the world, Camp Nou is a must for FC Barcelona fans. On this tour, which can be guided or self-guided, you'll…
El Raval
An extraordinary all-white, glass-fronted creation by American architect Richard Meier, opened in 1995, the MACBA has become the city's foremost…
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
The wealthy Catalan sculptor, traveller and obsessive collector Frederic Marès i Deulovol (1893–1991) amassed one of the wildest collections of historical…
Barcelona
A Unesco-listed masterpiece, this angular, turreted 1885-completed private house was Gaudí’s inaugural commission, when the architect was aged just 30,…
Barcelona
The city's maritime museum occupies the mighty Gothic Reials Drassanes (Royal Shipyards) – a remarkable relic from Barcelona's days as the seat of a…
Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes
Barcelona
Founded in 1327, this serene convent is now a museum of monastic life (the few remaining nuns have moved into more modern neighbouring buildings). It…
Barcelona
One of the city’s most popular family-friendly attractions, this science museum is a favourite with kids (and kids at heart). The single greatest…
Barcelona
A series of beautiful, broad, sandy golden beaches dotted with xiringuitos (seasonal beach bars) stretches northeast from the Port Olímpic marina. They're…
Barcelona
Within the revitalised 1880s Palau de Mar, this excellent museum travels from the Stone Age through to the arrival of Modernisme in Catalonia and the…
L'Eixample
The Fundació Antoni Tàpies is both a pioneering Modernista building (completed in the early 1880s) and the major collection of leading 20th-century…
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
If you can’t catch a night at the opera, you can still take in the awe-inspiring architectural riches of one of Europe’s greatest opera houses. Opened in…
L'Eixample
One of Puig i Cadafalch’s most striking flights of Modernista fantasy, Casa Amatller combines Gothic window frames and Romanesque flourishes with a…
Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau
L'Eixample
Domènech i Montaner outdid himself as architect and philanthropist with the Modernista Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau, renamed the 'Recinte…
L'Eixample
Puig i Cadafalch’s 1905 Casa Terrades is known as the Casa de les Punxes (House of Spikes) because of its pointed tile-adorned turrets. Resembling a…
Barcelona
Welcome to Spain! All of it! This ‘Spanish Village’ is an intriguing scrapbook of Spanish architecture built for the local-crafts section of the 1929…
Barcelona
Apart from La Sagrada Família, Gaudí’s last big project was the creation of a utopian textile workers’ complex for his magnate patron Eusebi Güell outside…
Barcelona
Enjoying commanding views over the Mediterranean, this forbidding fortress dominates the southeastern heights of Montjuïc. It dates, in its present form,…
Barcelona
Framing the north end of the city, the pine-forested mountain of Tibidabo, which tops out at 512m, is the highest peak in Serra de Collserola. Much of its…
Barcelona
Barcelona was the city most heavily bombed by Franco's air forces during the Spanish Civil War, and as a result developed more than 1300 air-raid shelters…
Barcelona
Once an urban wasteland, this area has seen dramatic changes since the turn of the millennium, including sparkling buildings, open plazas and waterfront…
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
The early-15th-century Palau de la Generalitat opens through a monumental late-Renaissance facade with neoclassical leanings, designed by Pere Blai, but…
Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
Barcelona
Nicknamed la grapadora (the stapler), Barcelona's fascinating design museum lies inside a monolithic contemporary building with geometric facades and a…
Basílica de Santa Maria del Pi
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
Begun in 1320, on the site of a 10th-century Romanesque church, this striking 14th-century basilica is a classic of Catalan Gothic, with an imposing…
Basílica dels Sants Màrtirs Just i Pastor
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
This slightly neglected single-nave church, with chapels on either side of the buttressing, was built in 1342 in Catalan Gothic style on what is reputedly…
Barcelona
It's hard not to shudder at the sight of a shark gliding above you, displaying its toothy, wide-mouthed grin – but this 80m shark tunnel is the highlight…
Barcelona
Delving into Catalonia's rich heritage, Barcelona’s ethnology museum presents an intriguing permanent display from its 70,000-object collection, with…
Barcelona
Muslims razed the one-time Roman encampment-turned-Visigothic monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès to the ground in the 8th century. These things…
Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu
El Raval
Behind the Mercat de La Boqueria stands the Gothic Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu, which was once the city’s main hospital. Founded in 1401, it…
Barcelona
An entrancing work that combines Gothic and Modernista elements, this lesser-known Gaudí masterpiece was rescued from obscurity and opened to visitors in…
