Barceloneta
Hotel Arts
A Gran luxe tower on the beachfront by the Port Olímpic, with rooms over the sea or the city and two outdoor pools in its gardens.
Barcelona guide
Luxury travel guide to Barcelona
The art, the food and the sea of Catalonia's capital, and how to spend your days there.
By Ramin Jafari · Facts checked
Barcelona is Gaudí’s city and a Gothic one, with a serious table and beaches of its own: the Sagrada Família and the houses of the Passeig de Gràcia, the lanes around the Cathedral, three-star tasting menus and tapas bars, and more than four kilometres of sand. Come between April and June, or in September and October, and give it four or five days. Here is when to go, where to stay, what to eat and what to see, with three days in the city; our Barcelona page sets out how we plan a stay there.
At a glance
- Best months
- April to June, and September and October
- How long
- Four or five days; a week with a day out to Montserrat or the Penedès
- Getting there
- Fly to Barcelona–El Prat, or the high-speed train from Madrid
- Best for
- Gaudí and the modernists, Catalan food, and a beach in the city
- World Heritage
- Seven works of Gaudí, and the Palau de la Música with Sant Pau
When to go
The best time to visit
Spring and autumn suit Barcelona best.
From April to June the average high climbs from about 18°C (64°F) to 25°C (77°F), and in September and October it is about 26°C (79°F) and then 22°C (72°F): weather for walking the city and for lunch outside. July and August, at 28°C (82°F) and more, are the beach months. September and October are also the wettest of the year, with rain on five or six days in each.
The city keeps its own feast days through the year: Sant Jordi on 23 April, when the streets fill with books and roses, and La Mercè, Barcelona’s festival, around its holiday on 24 September. If you would like a trip timed around one of them, tell us when you enquire.
Our best time to visit Barcelona guide goes season by season and month by month, and the best time to visit Spain looks at the whole country.
Where to stay
Where to stay in Barcelona
On the beach or in the Eixample: three of the hotels we recommend in Barcelona, each a different way to stay.
Eixample
Cotton House
A five-star house in the Eixample, the cotton guild's former headquarters, with a library, a rooftop pool and a tailor's workshop.
Barceloneta
W Barcelona
The glass sail at the end of Barceloneta, with its own way onto Sant Sebastià beach, pool decks over the sea and a spa.
They are a selection, not the whole choice. Our Barcelona accommodation overview compares every hotel we feature in the city, area by area, and we arrange others to suit you; see also our best luxury hotels in Barcelona. For the rest of the country, see luxury hotels in Spain.
Food
The food of Barcelona
Catalan cooking, from the market stall to the three-star table.
Barcelona has four restaurants with three MICHELIN Stars in the 2026 guide. Among them, Lasarte, on the Passeig de Gràcia, cooks Martín Berasategui’s food and has held its three since 2017, and ABaC, at the foot of the Avinguda del Tibidabo, serves Jordi Cruz’s single tasting menu. Moments, also on the Passeig de Gràcia, holds one star.
The everyday table is Catalan: pa amb tomàquet, bread rubbed with tomato, olive oil and salt; escalivada, aubergines, peppers and onions roasted in the embers; and crema catalana, scented with lemon and cinnamon. The wines come from the country around the city: cava from the Penedès, reds from the Priorat, and the Empordà’s garnatxa and carinyena. And the Boqueria, on La Rambla, is the market to see first.
We can arrange a cooking class with a chef, a winery visit or a tasting with a sommelier, on request: see our culinary and wine tours. Our Barcelona food and cuisine guide has the restaurants, the markets and the wines in full.
Sights
Sights and experiences
Three of the city’s great buildings, and the experiences we can arrange around them.
The Eixample
The Sagrada Família
- Begun
- 1882; Gaudí took charge in 1883
- World Heritage
- The Nativity façade and the crypt, since 2005
Gaudí took over the works a year after the first stone was laid, in 1882, and was still building when he died in 1926; the work goes on, and the central tower of Jesus Christ, topped out in 2026, was blessed on the hundredth anniversary of his death. A private guide reads its façades and its symbolism with you. For the city’s other great buildings, and Spain’s, see our private architecture and cultural tours.
The old city
Carrer del Bisbe and its bridge The Gothic Quarter
- Founded
- As Roman Barcino, about 10 BC
- The Cathedral
- Begun in 1298
The old city stands on Roman Barcino: lanes and squares around the Cathedral, and the remains of the Roman town beneath the city’s history museum at the Plaça del Rei. A historian as your guide puts its two thousand years in order.
The concert hall under its skylight The Palau de la Música Catalana
- Opened
- 1908, to Lluís Domènech i Montaner's design
- Guided visit
- About 50 minutes, in English among seven languages
Domènech i Montaner built it as the home of the Orfeó Català, which it still is, and a great stained-glass skylight lights the concert hall from above; it has been on the World Heritage List since 1997. Hear a concert there, with seats we reserve, or take the Palau’s own guided visit, which opens rooms usually closed to the public.
Beyond the monuments, and each on request, subject to availability:
- The coast by private boat, with a skipper from the Port Olímpic, and cava on board.
- Gaudí’s houses early: Casa Batlló early in the morning, with few others in the house, and La Pedrera’s Premium visit, which opens parts of the house the general visit does not.
- The market and the kitchen: the Boqueria with a chef, then a class in Catalan cooking with what you bought.
- Barcelona from the air: about twelve minutes by helicopter from the heliport in the port, or a longer flight to Montserrat.
- An art walk in Poblenou, with a guide who knows its galleries and studios.
Travelling as a family, see our luxury family trips to Spain; for a honeymoon, our honeymoon trips to Spain. There is more in our things to do in Barcelona guide and among the experiences on our Barcelona page.
Three days
Three days in Barcelona
Three days cover the essentials at an easy pace, from a private transfer on arrival to a farewell dinner. Each is a starting point we shape around you.
Day 1
Gaudí on the Passeig de Gràcia
Lunch
On a rooftop above the Passeig de Gràcia.
Afternoon
Casa Batlló and La Pedrera with a private guide.
Evening
A tasting menu at a restaurant with two MICHELIN Stars.
Day 2
The Sagrada Família and the sea
Morning
The Sagrada Família with a guide.
Midday
Half a day along the coast on a private boat.
Late afternoon
The Eixample’s shops with a personal stylist.
Dinner
A modern Catalan restaurant with a seasonal tasting menu.
Day 3
Montserrat, the Penedès and a farewell
Morning
Montserrat by car, or by helicopter on request, then a private tasting in the Penedès.
Afternoon
A spa, or the galleries of El Born.
Evening
A farewell of tapas and flamenco at a tablao.
For a longer stay, our four days in Barcelona adds the market, Picasso and Miró, and a choice of day out.
What travellers say
I just finished a glorious four-day visit to Barcelona, arranged for me by Ramin Jafari and Avelia Travel. What a delight. This guy knows his stuff!
Ginny Welek
Itineraries that include Barcelona
Catalonia Experience
from $13,200 per person
The Grand Spanish Tour
from $27,200 per person
Luxury Spanish Honeymoon
from $16,800 per person
Spanish Family Adventure
from $9,400 per person
Barcelona guides
- Things to do in Barcelona
Gaudí with a guide, the table, the evenings, the sea, and days out beyond the city.
- Barcelona food and cuisine
Barcelona's table, where to eat, and the markets and the wines of Catalonia.
- Four days in Barcelona
Four days, day by day, where to stay, and how to extend the trip.
- Best time to visit Barcelona
Season by season and month by month, with the festivals and the beach months.
More city guides: Madrid, Mallorca, San Sebastián and Seville, or all our Spain guides. Across Spain: our luxury travel guide, luxury destinations, the top five-star hotels and boutique hotels, why personalisation matters, Spain’s castles and palaces and Spain’s national parks.
Plan your Barcelona trip
Tell us your dates and who is travelling. Everything else we can work out together.
Plan your Barcelona trip Our Barcelona page
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