So many people want to hit as many destinations in possible while touring Europe, so they spend 2 or 3 days in a city before moving on to the next. Honestly, I do the same thing a lot of the time. Europe makes it easy with everything being so close together and amazing public transportation options being available. However, in my opinion Barcelona is different. Barcelona deserves more than just a few days, because there is really so much to see, do, and feel! I spent 2 weeks in Barcelona for my honeymoon, and still could have stayed longer to fit in other activities and do some more wandering. Here are the reasons why I believe you should visit Barcelona and give it more of your time:
- Culture: Taking a walk in Barcelona transports you to another culture. Different from the rest of Spain, Barcelona is steeped in its Catalan culture. You could say it is the Texas of Spain. The people in Barcelona are super friendly, and the streets are super walk-able. If you are lucky, you might be in Barcelona during a festival. We were pleasantly surprised to get to partake in the St. Jordi day celebrations, which is basically Barcelona's version of Valentine's day where sweethearts exchange books and roses.
- Natural Beauty: Barcelona has everything you could need in life if you are a nature lover, being literally situated smack dab between the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea and breath-taking mountains. I will get to beaches in a second, but from different high vantages in Barcelona, you can get amazing views. Also, there are plenty of day trips to the mountains, including to Monteserrat which has a really cool abbey set into a very distinctive multi-peaked mountain.
- Beaches: Not only is Barcelona a hop, skip, and jump away to beach towns along the coast, Barcelona itself has beaches. Barceloneta is a fun beach to go to with Barcelona's unique sky-scrapers in site, right in the city center! I'd also recommend taking a day trip to one of Spain's beautiful beach towns. We went to Sitges, one of the closer towns, and had a nice relaxing day soaking up the sun.
- Sports: Like other cities in Europe, Barcelona has a well known soccer team. Messi, anyone? Games are super fun to go to, as the crowds get really into it. Also for the sports fans out there, it is fun to visit the Olympic stadium where you might catch the soccer team practicing!
- Architecture: If you've heard of Barcelona, you've probably heard of Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi designed many buildings around Barcelona, and his works are like nothing I had ever seen before. His biggest masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, is still not finished to this day, but it is an absolute must-see for anyone visiting Barcelona. Parc Guell is also pretty amazing; it looks to me like it could be out of a Dr. Seuss book. I'd definitely recommend seeing as much of Gaudi's work as possible while in the city. Besides Gaudi, Barcelona has been known to attract famous architects with all different styles. A hop-on, hop-off bus tour is a great way to check out all the main attractions without needing to find your own way around the city.
Casa Mila 
Inside La Sagrada Familia 
La Sagrada Familia 
Casa Batllo 
hop-on, hop-off tour 
Torre Agbar skyscraper - Art: The grandest of museums is certainly the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. If you do not have time to spend looking through all its incredible works, I'd definitely suggest making a trip there just for the view! There is also a really cool Picasso museum housed in adjoining Medieval palaces that showcases Picasso's development as an artist. If you have time, which I did not, the Dali museum is a short train ride away in neighboring town Figueres.
- Food: One of my favorite parts of any vacation is the food, and Barcelona did not disappoint! From paella and fideua to tapas and pintxos, Barcelona is a foodie paradise. Paella is basically like pizza, in that some are better than others but it is never bad! Being on the coast, Barcelona is known for its seafood and mixed paellas. Fideua is basically paella made with noodles rather than rice. Everyone knows what tapas are, but I loved pintxos bars even better. Pintxos are basically tapas on a small slice of bread with a toothpick sticking out of it. Pintxos bars allow you to grab whatever you'd like, and you pay for however many toothpicks you end up with. Seafood was always super fresh, the cured hams to die for, and the pan com tomate (bread with tomato) delicious!
fideua 
empanada at La Boqueria 
Pintxos 
Pan Com tomate at El Xampanyet 
Paella - Wine: I almost put wine in the same category as food, but then my paragraph started getting way too long! The Catalan region of Spain has some good vineyards. We took a day trip to a castle and vineyard for wine tasting, which was a really cool experience. Also while in Barcelona, I discovered cava which is a Spanish form of sparkling wine. Cava has become my very favorite type of wine! Deliciously dry and citrusy, cava is amazing, especially paired with some yummy tapas. During our two weeks, we went to a tiny little bar El Xampanyet that made its own cava and had delicious tapas multiple times during our stay, that's how good it was!
If this post isn't enough to express how great Barcelona is, I urge you to go see for yourself! And again, Barcelona deserves more than a just few days of your time. Let this amazing city seduce you with its amazing culture, sites, and food. I assure you, you won't regret it!
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