5 Reasons to Make Barcelona Your Next Destination

You may already be familiar with the beauty and uniqueness of Spanish cities; you may be completely clueless. Let me tell you: it doesn’t matter. Whenever you visit Barcelona, it will always leave you breathless, whether it’s your first visit or your hundredth.

How do I know? I was lucky enough to have had a chance to visit Barcelona (along with several other cities including Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, Monte Carlo and Nice) back when I was only 17, and I fell in love with it despite the fact I only had two days to explore it.

Then I came back in winter of 2016/17 with my new husband and spent a full week immersing myself in Barcelona experience, having confirmed my love for it that I established over eight years ago!

Now, it’s not like Barcelona is a hidden destination and you need much convincing about it. But knowing you may be planning your upcoming trips, I want you to keep on reading so I can convince you to put Barcelona on your bucket list!

I love hearing your opinions – if you have any more suggestions, please share them with me in the comments below or tweet me. Enjoy!

The food is actually incredible

Spanish culture has a very unique and protective take on food – I read somewhere that in the rest of the world people eat to live, while in Spain, people live to eat!

So what does this mean for travelers? It means it’s next to impossible to visit Barcelona without truly experiencing its food. And when you are experiencing it, you surely won’t leave you indifferent.

It’s important to note that, in Spanish culture, all meals happen later than you may be used to. Breakfast is usually in the late morning, lunch happens around 3 pm and dinner may not happen until 9 or 10 o’clock in the evening! This may affect restaurant opening times – we found cross-checking between Yelp and Google working like a charm for these situations.

Don’t leave Barcelona until you’ve tried paella, ordered at least six different plates off a tapas menu, and had a waiter ask you ‘Do you want to try traditional Spanish tomato bread as a starter?’.

(Yes, yes I do, why was that even a question?)

You’ll never get stressed

I’ve always felt this way about Spain, but this trip has confirmed it. It could also be because my husband and I promised to each other that we wouldn’t run around trying to see a million things in a day; we ‘limited’ ourselves to two each day.

But it is definitely also because it’s part of Spanish culture. Public transport doesn’t seem like a mad rush. Restaurants, coffee shops and bars seem very easy going and chilled. The weather allows you to walk pretty much anywhere (mentioned in a point below), and everyone does it in a slow enough manner.

My point is – you can have a very calm and relaxing time when you visit Barcelona, even if you don’t spend a million days on the beach. I just love it!

Related: Traveling With Technology: Keep Your Gadgets Safe & Charged

The views will take your breath away (and make your heart pound like crazy)

This is an easy one. Very simply said, I can’t remember being someplace with so many amazing spots for an incredible view over the entire city. I pledge here that there will be a post focusing solely on the views! Have a look at some of the photos we made from these locations.

I hope you’re not afraid of heights, though. (If you are, close your eyes and scroll a bit.)

The climate in December is (nearly) better than Irish summers

Now, I’ve heard that we were a bit lucky with this part, because it seems that it can be quite colder than the weather we had in December and January.

That point aside, we had a quite consistent 16-18°C temperature and lots of sunshine. This allowed us to comfortably walk a lot – especially as we were located practically in the city center – and pretty much never worry about the outfits for the day. We only needed our (very light and spring-appropriate) jackets once the sun was gone for the day, or when we were in an area with lots of shade.

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You could pretty much never stop learning about the culture

Spanish culture is incredibly rich, and this comes to life so strongly in Barcelona. It is primarily influenced by Iberian, Celtic and the culture of Ancient Rome. This makes Spanish history, art and architecture the sources of an inexhaustible stream of stories you’ll always want to hear more of.

There are museums on pretty much anything you love, and you’ll find beautiful wonders all over the city. I found myself often having my mouth open in surprise and admiration. Doing that isn’t the nicest thing to see, but so worth it.

My biggest fascination, however, must be Barcelona’s architecture. Massively influenced by gothic, renaissance and baroque period and Antoni Gaudí’s work, Barcelona will constantly keep you looking upwards. Seriously, you may never get enough of it.

A separate point I want to make here is that one of my favorite places – Gaudí’s Sagrada Família – is more than a beautiful piece of architecture. It carries more stories than you could hear in a day. It represented his truly ahead-of-his-own-time thinking and he spent the majority of his life working on it.

He, however, hasn’t finished it, and it’s still under construction. It should be finalized in 2026. Guess when will I visit Barcelona again?

Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts!

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