Reasons to Visit Barcelona in Spring
I’ve recently returned from a 5 day trip to one of my favourite cities, Barcelona.
We visited this Catalan city before two years ago and fell in love, so decided to return this Spring for a break from our (increasingly) hectic lives.
We stayed in a compact yet cosy AirBnB near the Sagrada Familia – the same area we stayed in our last visit! It’s generally a reasonably quiet area, but being a 5 minute walk from one of Barcelona’s most prolific landmarks and a tube station that can get you to the center within 10 minutes is the real selling point!
It also means your walk home at night looks something like this ^ … so there’s that!
We had a great time exploring some new places and revisiting our faves from our previous trip (including La Boqueria/the infamous food market… man I love that place!). Here’s why I think Spring might be the best season to go:
1) Markets and Celebrations
Somehow in the short time we were there we managed to stumble across half a dozen markets and three street festivals. Spring is obviously a fun time here in Barcelona, and if there’s one thing I love, it’s markets and street food, so that’s cool with me!
2) It’s reasonably quiet & untourist-y
As untouristy as any large European city can be, of course! But I remember it being a lot busier and full of British tourists when we went in July… whereas this time it seemed as though 80% of people were Spanish (holiday makers from the rest of Spain perhaps?) and the rest were Chinese students on what I can imagine was their long Spring break?
3) It’s sunny and warm…
The past few months in Cornwall have actually treated us pretty well weather-wise, but damn was it good to get some consistently warm vitamin D on my skin! (And yes, the ghost/vampire look is why there’s only one photo of me here…)
4)… But not too warm!
The main benefit of Spring is that, while it is warm enough to be amazing for us Brits, it’s still cool enough to get out and do stuff. Because Barcelona is on the coast, it benefits from a nice cool breeze too, which is another reason why it’s such a great city to visit!
The weather was warm enough to be out in a tshirt and shorts/skirt, but cool enough to climb a mountain, and spend the afternoon at the zoo (rather than sheltering from unbearable heat)!
*Disclaimer: I realise some people don’t approve of zoos, and at first I was hesitant to go. However, I was actually really impressed with the general cleanliness and care for animal welfare there. They do a lot of charity work and provide sanctuary for some animals who aren’t able to live in the wild, and the staff all seemed like they did truly care about the animals. It’s an enormous zoo and, in my opinion, 10 X better than London!
5) You can get a seat in the best restaurants without booking
We spent a lot of time researching restaurants on Tripadvisor before heading out in the evenings, as we wanted to make the most of our 4 nights there. We only booked a table at one (because Tripadvisor gave us a discount off the meal for doing so!) and it didn’t look like you would need to otherwise!
Obviously, I managed to consume what my body felt was too much Sangria, and ended up with stomach cramps for half our trip… but other than that we had a wonderful trip, and I’d highly recommend visiting Barcelona during Spring for the best experience!
And now I will leave you with this image…
(^ Don’t ask what the girl on the right is doing…)
I’m going to Barcelona for the next May bank holiday in a few weeks! 5 days too, and we’re staying somewhere really close to where you stayed! Any restaurant and market recommendations?? Alice xx
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Amazing!! I was going to write a ’72 hours in Barcelona’ post next week… if I get it done in time that might be handy for you! :) Things off the top of my head:
– You have to go to Tibidabo; the theme park on top of a mountain. The rides are okay but the views are the absolute best you’ve ever seen in your life!
– Go to La Paradeta; it’s a seafood restaurant near the Sagrada (10 mins walk from where we stayed) & it’s rated very high on Tripadvisor. They’ve got a huge counter full of fresh fish and you say what you want and they give you a number and call it out when they’ve cooked it; quite confusing but it’s the best seafood I’ve ever had. THE PRAWNS man, the prawns!!
– I have no idea how regular the markets are, but there was an enormous one at the Sagrada on the Saturday we were there, so I dunno if that is a regular thing, but it was good!
xx
Amazing, thank you so much, really looking forward to your post, I’m getting excited to go! xxx
I’ve heard brilliant things about Spain and Barcelona. I simply love outdoor cafes and open air markets.
A lovely post, I’ve been to Barcelona and it is a really beautiful city, you have captured the essence of the city so well! This makes me want to go back again.
Oh my goodness so jealous it looks amazing! I’d love to go, I’ve heard its very romantic. I love the fact you did it in such a short space of time, I think its so much fun just hopping on a plane for the weekend!
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