Barcelona hotels, restaurants, bars, attractions, and other useful stuff
There’s so much do do and see in Barcelona it can be bewildering. These are a few of our faves.
A spectacular space on Montjuïc with views over the city below, and an excellent collection make this one of the highlight museums in Barcelona.
Buy the Barcelona Museum Pass or Art Passport and gain priority entry to Fundació Joan Miró, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB),the Museu Picasso, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, and Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), and avoid the queues.
The Mies van der Rohe pavilion was designed in 1929 as the German pavilion for the International Exposition, and is an icon of modernist architecture. To top it all off van der Rohe also designed the iconic Barcelona chair to showcase here. The €5 entry price is a bit steep however, because the pavilion is much smaller than today’s standard wedding-cake brick veneer McMansion. Unless you’re an architecture tragic, it’s not a destination in and of itself; visit in conjunction with the MNAC or the Caixa Forum across the road.
On the surface at least, Casa Batlló is Gaudí at his most imaginative, despite it being a renovation of what was an existing building. Buy tickets in advance – after La Sagrada Familia this is about the most popular tourist attraction in town and there are always queues.
Don’t forget to check out Casa Amatller and Casa Lleó Morera adjacent – part of the “mansana de la discòrdia” or block of discord of Barcelona, named because of the sharply contrasting architectural styles.
Casa Milà, more commonly known as La Pedrera (the quarry), is Gaudí’slast civil work and reflects the influence of nature in his work.
Of all of architect Antoni Gaudí’s works in Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia has to be the most iconic. Whether or not it strikes you as gaudy and ostentatious, it is difficult not to be impressed. It’s a major tourist attraction – a couple of million visitors per year – so you’re unlikely to have the place to yourself, though the visitor numbers are managed reasonably well. Book online.
