Barcelona
Barcelona is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain.
It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain after Madrid. With a population of 1.7 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the province of Barcelona and is home to around 5.7 million people, making it the fifth most populous urban area of the European Union after Paris, the Ruhr area, Madrid, and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range.
Getting to Barcelona
The main airport is 1MISSING WIKILINK Barcelona El Prat (BCN IATA). Some low-cost carriers, notably Ryanair, use the airports of Girona (GRO IATA), nearly 100 km (62 mi) to the north, or Reus (REU IATA), around the same distance to the south, instead. Since Ryanair started operating at BCN, you should check carefully where your flight goes. The three-letter IATA code should be part of your booking process.
Worth seeing
Walk around the winding streets and hidden squares, fountains and palaces in the Barri Gòtic (Ciutat Vella). Highlights include the
- 01Catedral
- 02Museu d'Història de Barcelona
- 03Plaça Reial
- 04Sagrada Família
- 05Casa Batlló in Eixample
- 06Casa Vicens in Gràcia
Where to eat
As with all cities which welcome large numbers of tourists, Barcelona's cuisine is inconsistent in quality, but there are plenty of restaurants serving excellent food at very reasonable prices, if you know where to look. The usual rules of thumb apply: to save money and get better food, look for places off the beaten track used by fellow travellers, and seek out cafés and restaurants which the locals frequent.
Getting around Barcelona the local way
- Get inThe ferries dock almost directly on the Ramblas.
- Get inThere are regular ferry connections with the Balearic Islands (Alcúdia, Ciutadella de Menorca, Ibiza City, Sant Antoni de Portmany, Mahón, Palma de Mallorca), Italy (Genoa, Porto Torres and Civitavecchia for Rome) and Tangier, in Morocco.
- Get inFrom Rome (Civitavecchia) it is actually cheaper to take the ferry than a bus.
- Get aroundThis is a historic tram that connects to the Tibidabo Funicular.
- Get aroundThe orange bikes of Donkey Republic are placed all around the city.
- Go nextDay trips from Barcelona include: Canet de Mar – Small enough to walk almost anywhere.
From Wikivoyage: Barcelona, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: HazteOir.org (CC BY-SA 2.0), Wikimedia Commons.
