A Week in Barcelona

I recently went on a girls trip to Barcelona. I had been before, but with my family as a baby and then again as a teenager. I don't remember much of my trip during my teen years, as it rained pretty much the whole time, so we didn't get to do much. That being said, I was very excited to go back as an adult with my two best friends. Barcelona is a beautiful city full of stunning views, buzz and culture. This blog post is going to be a little glimpse of some of the things we got up to each day of our trip, with recommendations and advice I would give if you are planning to take a trip there one day.

Disclaimer: I am very aware of the protests that are happening at the time of writing this post. There are a lot of locals in Spain who are not happy with the tourist culture that is present in their home. This is due to the way some tourists behave and conduct themselves in public spaces. As tourists it is our duty to respect the environment we are in and to be considerate of others around us. When going to places like Barcelona, please remember to respect the community around you, and their space. 

Sunday 21st July

This was our travel day! We had an evening flight booked for 7:45pm with Ryanair. Unfortunately our flight was delayed due to the outages and staff shortages, which meant we didn't actually take off until about 9:30pm in the end. Ryanair were pretty good at keeping us regularly updated via the app, which I really appreciated. Although the delay wasn't ideal, the time passed fairly quickly. We found a table in Burger King to stay whilst we awaited our gate details, and had some dinner there too. When we saw the queues at Birmingham Airport, we thought we'd be waiting for a very long time, but we actually got through check-in and security within about 40 minutes. The flight was fairly smooth, and we made it to our hotel without any other issues. 

Monday 22nd July 

On our first full day we decided to explore the city. The initial plan was to take the train into Placa de Catalunya and go on one of the hop on and off tour buses...but things didn't work out that way. Our hotel (Sercotel Ciutat de Montcada) was about 20 minutes away from central Barcelona, and the cheapest mode of transport to get around was via train. Let's just say it took us a while to get used to their train system. I think we spent the majority of the day on the train, going back and forth, trying to find the correct stop! After what felt like eternity, we finally made it to the correct location but we only had time for lunch before we needed to head back to our hotel. We ate at a restaurant called Gino's, which I would highly recommend. The food was great and the staff were very welcoming. We even got free lollipops after paying our bill! 

Tuesday 23rd July

We decided to spend the day at Barcelona Zoo. It was way bigger than we had expected and had significantly more animals than we thought there would be. During the journey there, we tried to guess which animals we would come across, and honestly they had everything. One piece of advice I would give is to make sure you bring food and drinks with you if possible. They only had one restaurant open and the choices were very limited. If you are able to bring things with you, definitely do so. 

After the zoo, we walked through Ciutadella park - it was stunning. We were saying how perfect it would be for a date. The park was so peaceful and pretty. We caught a taxi from here to Barcelona Beach, which was about 10 minutes. If you like being around large crowds, you'd enjoy this beach, but it really wasn't our vibe. We like quieter beaches with fewer people, and Barcelona beach is anything but. We ended up staying for about half an hour before going back to our hotel, because of how overstimulated we felt. I've never been to such a busy beach in my life! Given that Barcelona is a city, I expected it to be quieter than beaches in other parts of Spain, but I was completely wrong. Make sure to be vigilant and aware of your surroundings if you go to this beach. We saw a few people who definitely seemed off - we think they might have been pick pocketers. We were very on guard, so we didn't experience theft on this trip, but I know it is quite prevalent. 

Wednesday 24th July

This was one of my favourite days! We went to Park Guell, which is very famous for its beauty, and was one of the locations in Cheetah Girls 2! As older gen z, I definitely had my fan girl moment. Whilst we were there, we of course had to make a cheetah girls Tik Tok on my best friend's page. Click here to watch. We had so much fun making it. This park was GORGEOUS. We spent absolutely hours here and if it wasn't for the heat, we could have stayed longer. There was so much to see, that I'm sure we only saw a tiny portion of it. We bought our tickets on Get My Guide about a week in advance, which I would highly recommend doing, as they always sell out. I would also recommend that you bring your own water, as they do not have stalls or shops selling it. They have refilling stations dotted around the park, however bring your own bottles. I brought my own, but my friends did not and they really struggled until a guy came selling some iced cold water in one of the spots we were at. He only had about 10 on him and we were lucky we were there at the time of him selling, because they were gone within 2 minutes. 

After the park, we grabbed ice-cream and sorbets and then wandered around the nearby shops for a little while. 

Thursday 25th July 

On Thursday we spent the entire day shopping  Barcelona has just about every shop you can think of. We had a great time wandering around the many shops in Placa de Catalunya, and trying the McDonalds (how cultural). I picked up a few things, but not as much as I thought I would have. After shopping, we got lunch at a sports bar called Belushi's. They also have a hostel there too. The food was really good and it was quite a lively vibe. I would recommend if you like street style tapas. The patatas bravas were 10/10. 

We spent the evening chilling, reading and watching Tik Toks before heading to bed. 

Friday 26th July 

After an incredibly busy few days, we decided to spend Friday chilling by the pool in our hotel. We had a great time tanning, reading our books and generally just attempting to rejuvenate. I read Just for the Summer - which I have a review for here, if you're yet to read it. In the evening, we grabbed dinner at a restaurant called La Pasta Lab Laboratorio Di Pasta. The service was great and I enjoyed the food. We then went to a really cool bar called Orient Express. It includes an interactive game where you can choose your cocktails based on the character you are given, and then it comes to your seat on a steam train! It was such a fun experience. They have another bar opposite which feels like you're sat in a train carriage drinking the cocktail(s) you've ordered. I loved both and I would highly recommend them. 

Saturday 27th July

On our final day, we went to the Sagrada Familia - it's absolutely huge! It was nice to see it in the day time (we'd previously seen it at night). We then grabbed some KFC for lunch and then headed back to our hotel to chill by the pool for a few hours. We managed to get a late check out as our flight wasn't until 10pm, which was really lovely. It meant that we didn't have to rush around, and was able to have a shower after sitting in the sun, before we needed to head to the airport. 

I had a  great time in Barcelona on our annual girls trip. We certainly didn't get to do and see everything we wanted to within the week, but it was a very jam packed holiday and we definitely lived the full city life. I can't wait to see where we end up next year. 

Have you been to Barcelona before? Let me know in the comments below.