Sort this out and the rest is easy.
Skip the taxi queue. The train’s comfortable and it drops you at Passeig de Gràcia, dead centre. You walk out of the station into the middle of everything.
Line R2 Nord from Aeroport station, attached to Terminal 2. From Terminal 1 take the free shuttle bus, about 10 minutes. 30 minutes to Passeig de Gràcia.
Open in MapsThis is the old T-10 under a new name. It replaced it in 2020, and the catch is that the T-10 could be passed round a group and this one can’t. 10 journeys, 1 person, so buy one each. Works on the metro, the buses, the tram and the local Rodalies trains.
Any metro machine sells them, around €13. Each journey allows 75 minutes of changes, so a bus onto a metro is 1 trip, not 2. Trips further out, Sitges especially, need extra zones; enter the destination and the machine works it out. Fares change, so treat any price you read online as a guess.
The city is best on foot. Start here.
My favourite walk in the city and nobody ever tells you to do it. You start with the Modernista buildings on Passeig de Gràcia, then it turns into ordinary Eixample: the grid, the cut-off corners, people getting on with their lives. You come out at Sants.
About 3.5 km, 45 minutes at a wander. Go along Carrer del Consell de Cent, the green axis: traffic is broken up, the asphalt is gone, and there are trees and benches most of the way. It runs down to Vilamarí by Parc Joan Miró, which leaves you a short walk from Sants.
Open in MapsGo up and walk around it. Gardens, the castle at the top, the view back down over the port. It’ll eat a whole afternoon if you let it. Go up on the funicular, which nobody queues for: it runs from inside Paral·lel metro station, takes 2 minutes, and your normal metro ticket covers it.
Follow the Funicular de Montjuïc signs from the Paral·lel platforms. No separate fare, no waiting, and it saves you the cable car.
Open in MapsThe old fishermen’s quarter behind the beach is tight and tangled, nothing like the Eixample grid you’ve just come from. The seafront’s a good long stroll.
Barceloneta up to Port Olímpic along the front is about 2 km.
Open in MapsThe best views of the city, no argument. You’re looking down over the whole thing with the sea behind it. There’s a church at the top and an old funfair, but you’re going for the view.
FGC line L7 from Plaça Catalunya to Avinguda Tibidabo, then the funicular the rest of the way up. Allow half a day, and check the funicular’s running before you set off.
Open in MapsThe view without the half-day trip. Old anti-aircraft positions on a hilltop, 360 degrees over the city, free. Go at sunset. Everyone else does too, but it’s big enough to absorb them.
Bus V17, or a 20-minute uphill walk from Alfons X metro. Bring water, there’s nothing up there.
Open in MapsSpend an evening here. It was a separate town until the 1890s and still behaves like one: small squares with bars spilling into them, no traffic, almost no tour groups.
Start at Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia and wander outwards. Fontana or Joanic metro.
Open in MapsThe best market in the city, right off La Rambla.
Monday to Saturday, best in the morning. The stalls by the entrance are priced for tourists. Walk further in and eat standing at one of the counter bars at the back.
Open in Maps4 restaurants and a few bars under one restored roof off Passeig de Gràcia. You each pick a counter, which solves a group that can’t agree on anything.
Passeig de Gràcia 24 bis. Book ahead.
Open in MapsThe cava bar. A glass costs about €1, the bar is packed 3 deep, and you order a bocadillo because you have to order food with it. Loud and fast, and nothing like the wine bar you’re picturing.
Carrer de la Reina Cristina 7, just up from Barceloneta. Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays. Go early evening unless you want to queue on the pavement.
Open in MapsOpen since 1929, in El Born round the corner from the Picasso museum. Their own slightly sweet house cava, anchovies, tiled walls, and a crowd pressed in shoulder to shoulder.
Carrer de Montcada 22, closed Sundays. Listings disagree about August: Google has it trading, others say it shuts until the 24th. Worth a phone call before you cross town for it.
Open in MapsIf you like Boqueria, Santa Caterina and Sant Antoni are where people actually shop. Same idea, a fraction of the crowd, better prices.
Santa Caterina is in El Born under the wavy coloured roof. Sant Antoni is a restored iron market hall; time it for Sunday and you get the book and collectors’ market outside.
Open in MapsDon’t turn up hungry at 7. Kitchens shut between about 4 and 8. Lunch is the big meal and starts around 2; dinner gets going at 9 and fills up by 10. Anywhere serving dinner at 6.30 is fishing for tourists.
August is the other trap. Loads of the good family-run places shut for the whole month, Quimet & Quimet in Poble Sec among them. Check the day you go rather than turning up.
One right beach, one wrong one.
Swim here. Wide sandy beach, room to breathe, actually clean. Everything Barceloneta isn’t. Make a day of it.
Rodalies train from Passeig de Gràcia or Sants, about 30 minutes. Get off at Castelldefels-Platja, not Castelldefels. The town station is a long walk from the water.
Open in MapsA week gives you room for both.
Just over the hill and almost nobody goes. The monastery has a Romanesque cloister that’s one of the best things in Catalonia, and the town around it is an unhurried place to spend a few hours.
FGC S1 or S2 from Plaça Catalunya, about 25 minutes through the tunnel under Collserola.
Open in MapsWorth a whole day. Whitewashed old town on the sea, a church up on a rock above the water, good beaches, and a completely different pace to the city.
Rodalies R2 Sud from Passeig de Gràcia or Sants, about 40 minutes. The stretch of track along the coast is part of the fun.
Open in MapsNot worth it. Limited view, very long queues. Take the funicular from Paral·lel instead.
Walk it, don’t swim it. Most crowded beach in the city, the water isn’t what you want it to be, and it’s the easiest place in Barcelona to lose your things while you’re in the sea. Castelldefels is 30 minutes away.
The ones here are good, and they work the same few places: La Rambla, the metro at rush hour, the beach, and anyone who strikes up a conversation you didn’t ask for. So keep your phone out of your back pocket and don’t leave anything on a towel while you swim. Nobody is going to mug you. Someone might lift your wallet while their friend asks you for directions.