Barcelona City Breaks

You are met at the airport and taken by private car to your fabulous boutique hotel right in the heart of Barcelona’s atmospheric Gothic quarter. You can unwind with a drink and a dip in rooftop pool before heading out to explore the neighbourhood and have some lunch at one of our favourite Catalan cafe-restaurants.

You spend the afternoon visiting La Pedrera, one of Gaudi’s landmark buildings on the Passeig de Gràcia, crowned with its spectacular terrace offering panoramic views of the city. Without a straight line anywhere, La Pedrera shows Gaudi’s love of nature and his great artistic skill showcasing some of his fantastic work with stone, iron, wood or ceramics.

In the evening we’ll recommend an atmospheric terrace bar, where you can stop by for an evening drink. For dinner you are booked in to one of the city’s most acclaimed restaurants, where you’ll discover great examples of the inventive Catalan food that is being raved about the world over.

After breakfast you visit the Sagrada Família, Gaudí’s spectacular basilica for a private tour with a local expert guide. The unfinished exterior is due for completion in 2028, but inside the basilica’s nave is complete and light floods in through the multi-hued stained glass just as Gaudí envisioned. A visit to the towers to enjoy the dizzying views is complemented by a tour of the museum.

We meet you for lunch for a back-street gastronomy and tapas tour of the trendy Born region in the company for a real introduction to Catalan cuisine. You visit a bustling market to try some extra virgin olive oil and other local produce before heading on to two of Barcelona’s best tapas bars, serving classic and new regional tapas which are best enjoyed with a glass or two of some of the great catalan wines on offer. There’s plenty more to experience on route such as the magnificent church of Santa Maria del Mar, one of Europe’s most beautiful gothic buildings.

In the evening you visit a group of Barcelona’s castellers, (human towers) at their cultural centre. They will give you a warm welcome, explain the Catalan art of building human castles, and invite you to watch their practice session. Afterwards, you can join them at the bar for some tapas, a beer or two and a chat about this historic tradition. A remarkable feat of balance, strength and courage, the castellers are an important part of Catalonia’s cultural identity and are justly proud of their heritage.

For dinner, we’ll make reservations at one of the city’s most fashionable haunts, set in a remarkable converted 19th-century warehouse, where you can pick your favourite from a host of bars each serving a different Spanish speciality.

In the morning you visit Parc Guell, possibly Gaudi’s most flamboyant work. Designed as a housing project for the wealthy, Gaudi himself lived here and let his imagination loose on the area. There are wonderful examples of his work around every corner of the park.

The day’s second stop is La Palau de la Musica, Barcelona’s magnificent concert hall. Designed by Lluis Montaner i Domenech in 1905, its ceramic arches and stained glass roof make this one of the best examples of Catalan Modernist architecture.

For lunch you are booked in to a seafood restaurant in the port where you can order some of the best rice dishes and paellas in town.
From the port a cable car takes you up to the mountain of Montjuic where you get incredible views of the city and on a hot day you can cool off in its extensive gardens.

Dinner on your last night is extra special. You are booked into another fantastic restaurant, this one in the Eixample district has one Michelin star and is one of our favourites.

We pick you up at your hotel to take you to the airport for your flight home, where we say “Fins Aviat!” – “Hope to see you again soon” in Catalan.