while our barcelona trip is still fairly fresh in my mind i want to share some tips and tricks that might make your visit easier. this is by no means the most comprehensive list out there but is simply what helped us have a great visit.

barcelona is 1 hour ahead of gmt and 6 hours ahead of eastern standard time.

spain uses a standard european plug with 2 round pins. if you are traveling from outside europe make sure you have the appropriate adapter / converter for your electronics.

you’ll need euros for spain. at the time of writing, €1 = $1.10. there were atms aplenty, but honestly we paid by card everywhere and never even had a need for cash.

spain is also on the contactless map, so you can tap your card or use apple pay everywhere you go. you can use it even if you don’t have data, which is super convenient.

the country code for spain is +34 in case you need it.

public transit is super easy and affordable. honestly barcelona is very walkable, and i highly suggest using that as your main mode of transportation, but the bus is very convenient for getting to and from the airport. you can purchase a ticket at the kiosk outside the terminal and ride the bus all the way into the city center. metro stations are everywhere, signs are easy to read, and it is very reliable.

as with london, download the citymapper app to get suggestions for your different travel options to get between destinations. you’ll see routes, times, and suggestions for how to get where you want to go.

go with some semblance of a plan, but allow yourself room for flexibility. there are so many things to see and so many places to eat in barcelona that it is easy to get overwhelmed or to try to do too much and burn yourself out. we knew we wanted to go to pintxos street and we knew we wanted to see the sagrada, and everything above and beyond that was just gravy. we didn’t get to park güell and we didn’t get the full experience at boqueria, but we did the best we could with our 48 hours and never felt rushed.

xx