Barcelona Weekend Break
Barcelona Weekend Break has been put together to help you plan and arrange a city break in the culturally rich coastal city of Barcelona.
The city of Barcelona offers something to attract every generation of visitor and vacationer's interest with great beaches, a wealth of culture,
Gaudi's modernist architecture and a mix of excellent restaurants, bars and nightlife. This makes a Barcelona the perfect year round getaway, whatever your interests or holiday aspirations.
Thinking about visiting Barcelona for a winter weekend break? Take a look at this page for information on the weather and more Barcelona for a winter break.
Barcelona Weekend Break has lots of information ranging from sightseeing attractions to travel and accommodation options and all can be accessed from the main menu to the left.
If you are considering a Barcelona weekend break, here are a few things for you to consider. As the second largest city in Spain, Barcelona (the capital of the Catalonia province) has a first class transportation system and an economy that is highly dependant upon tourism and that means that Barcelona's visitors are always well looked after – whatever their nationality.
Regular budget priced flights to Barcelona are available all year long. The city is serviced by a huge number of airlines and airports including several in the UK and Ireland. All of these factors add up to make a Barcelona weekend break a cost effective and hassle free mini holiday.
In fact, with a bit of planning and some advanced preparation, it is not difficult to locate return flights for well under 50 pounds sterling (70 euros). This means that a weekend break in Barcelona can be a very cheap "city getaway" option.
Booking flights, cars and hotels
Throughout this site you will find links to a number of resources that will help you arrange accommodation, flights and car hire in Barcelona. However, if you want to go to a single one-stop-resource page with all of these links and search boxes, click here Barcelona holiday links.
What to expect from a weekend break in Barcelona
A Barcelona weekend break can include just about any vacation activity that you can think of. You can spend time at the beach, explore the old town, or take an excursion out of the city itself.
Many parts of Barcelona are modern, but this belies the city's early history
as a Roman settlement and anyone interested in heritage and tradition will find Barcelona gaining a tick in every cultural box.
Despite this long history, Barcelona is not just a town of ancient monuments, and many who visit the city are intrigued and mesmerized by its modernist architecture, particularly the buildings by Antonio Gaudi.
A two or three day trip is never very long to explore any city and a Barcelona weekend break really will compel you to fill up every single minute. There is a near limitless number of things to see and with some of Barcelona's attractions being entire streets like "las Ramblas", hours have a tendency to disappear very quickly.
You can discover more about what to see, do and experience in Barcelona by taking a look at our "Things to see in Barcelona" page (there is a link in the left hand menu).
Away from the beaches
It goes without saying that the city's beaches are popular and very enticing during the summer, but many of Barcelona's peak season tourists miss out on the real city behind the sand and beach side promenades.
This is the Barcelona that the Spanish themselves enjoy and it is a part of the city that any weekend breaker will probably want to explore and immerse themselves in. It is also an aspect of Barcelona that has a year round appeal, both in and out of the main holiday season.
Barcelona's weekend break popularity has also been enhanced by significant improvements in security and particularly a massive reduction in the number of pick-pockets who were once a major slur on the tourist frequented parts of the city. Today a high, but intrusive police presence makes life very difficult for these opportunist thieves.
What to see and do
The old town of Barcelona is one of the city's many treats and it mixes up a concoction of history, ancient buildings and pretty plazas whilst offering
insights into a previous way of life. If you take a Barcelona weekend break you will discover that the city has a significant museum district with galleries dedicated to the likes of Picasso and there are also a number of beautiful city parks, one of which can be reached by cable car.
When walking through the original parts of the city, the old town merges in and out of the newer districts and this allows a tourist to see some of the city's more recent sights, not least of which are the stunning buildings designed by Gaudi around the turn of the last century.
Gaudi is possibly Barcelona's most famous (and favourite) son and his highly unusual designs help to make this city different to any other. His unusual and flamboyant buildings also set the scene and character of Barcelona, making it a city of surprises and humour.
If you are considering a Barcelona weekend break, Barcelona is one of the best places in Spain in which to shop with chic boutiques, plenty of designer labels and masses of great cafes for when you need to rest your credit card. You will find plenty of gift shops and most are of a higher quality than the norm with tasteful ornaments and keepsakes. The seafront and port areas also offer great tourist appeal with numerous restaurants and bars and Europe's biggest aquarium.
When it comes to eating, Barcelona is known throughout the rest of Spain for its amazing tapas bars, many offering dozens and sometimes in excess of one hundred different "taster" sized dishes. A weekend break to Barcelona should include the visiting of at least one of these tapas bars devoted to the Spanish "snack style" dish. Few are disappointed and many decide to go on a tapas "crawl".
The best time to visit Barcelona
Barcelona can genuinely claim to be an all season vacation city and, with poor weather being the exception rather than the rule, you can enjoy a weekend
break just as much in January as you can in July.
The winter months do see cooler temperatures, but they are still pleasantly mild and, for those wanting to see the city rather than the beach, an out of season trip sees Barcelona in a more relaxed mood.
Early Spring and late Autumn are good periods for a Barcelona weekend away, especially for those wishing to avoid families and see the city when the majority of tourists are absent. That said, Barcelona shines throughout the year.
If you want to find out more about the places to visit, things to see, styles of cuisine and ways of getting to and around Barcelona, explore this weekend guide to the city by using the menus at the top and left hand side of all of the pages.
We have put Barcelona Weekend Break together based on our own personal experiences of visiting this city and we hope that our tips and suggestions will help you in planning a short break to this beautiful and culturally rich Spanish municipality. Barcelona certainly does have its fair share of beaches along with lots of sun and some economic hotels, but this really is a city with much more to offer.