Barcelona

Barcelona is one of Europe’s most popular cities for visitors, and one of our favourite cities too. There’s loads to see and do, from the incredible architecture of Anton Gaudí, through to museums, UNESCO world heritage sites, markets, delicious tapas – and even a beach.

As you might imagine, it is not hard to fill your time when visiting Barcelona, even with three full days to play with. We’ve visited multiple times, and are always coming across new sites and things to do.

You should be aware that Barcelona is a fairly big city, with a number of fairly distinct areas. It does have a good public transport system, but obviously you want to spend more of your time sightseeing and less of your time on a bus or metro.

With that in mind, I’ve put together what I think is a good overview of some of the city’s main sights that will help you spend 3 days in Barcelona, either as part of a long weekend, or a longer European itinerary like this.

I’ve ordered the sights for each day by a logical order of how you might want to visit them and also put those sights first that you should visit earlier in the day before the crowds arrive, where possible.

Barcelona is very popular with visitors, and especially in the summer months attractions can become very crowded, so booking ahead where possible and turning up early are the key to a frustration free trip.

You might also want to consider looking into the Go Barcelona Pass, Barcelona City Pass, or Barcelona Card for your visit. These offer free and discounted admission, as well as skip the line access, travel options and various other perks that might make your visit easier.

For each attraction, I’ve highlighted which pass is best, and there’s a section on passes for Barcelona towards the end of the post. Jess has also written a comprehensive review and guide to using the Go Barcelona Pass, as well as a comparison of the main discount passes available in Barcelona, which are both worth a read.

Of course, an itinerary like this should just be a starting point for your plans, and at the end I’ve also added some optional sights that you might want to add in. You could also extend this itinerary over some more days if you really want to take your time exploring Barcelona.