A Long Weekend in Barcelona: Linda's Birthday Edition

(Linda, writing this one, because it's about my birthday.)

Barcelona is one of the great long-weekend cities. Fly from London at 7am Friday, be drinking vermouth on a sunny terrace by 1pm, home Monday lunchtime with a tan. We did exactly that for my birthday in September 2022. Four days, two of us, a vintage Vespa rented from a shop in El Born, three serious dinners, and one museum I would absolutely do again. £1,645 between us.

Day 1: Sagrada Familia and the first dinner

Arrival at El Prat at 11am, in our hotel in El Born by 12:30. We stayed at H10 Catalunya Plaza (£180/night, walking distance to everything).

Lunch at La Boqueria: ham croquettes at El Quim de la Boqueria (Stall 466, perch on a stool, watch the chef sweat through the rush). About €30 for two with cava.

Sagrada Familia at 3pm with a 3:30 entry slot booked online (€26 each, get the audio guide). Gaudi's cathedral has been under construction since 1882 and the interior is the entire reason to be here: light through stained glass that turns the columns into a forest. Stay 90 minutes.

Pre-dinner at Bar Salvatge in Gracia for natural wines (five or six glasses for €18, the staff are aggressively knowledgeable in the best way). Dinner at Lomo Alto, the steak temple in the Eixample (€120/person with wine, the rib-eye is the order).

Day 2: Parc Guell, Montjuic, and the birthday dinner

Parc Guell on rented Vespas (Cooltra in El Born, €40/day). Enter via the upper gate so you walk down through the park rather than up. Forty-five minutes inside, then ride through the Eixample past the Block of Discord (Casa Batllo, Casa Lleo Morera, Casa Amatller, all visible from the street).

Lunch at Morro Fi (vermouth and chips and hard cheese for €15). Afternoon at Montjuic: cable car up, castle at the top, views over the harbour. Birthday cocktail at the Hotel 1898's rooftop pool bar at 6pm.

The birthday dinner: Mesa Cuadrada in El Born. Twelve seats, 15 courses, €150/person, two and a half hours. The standout: a single sea-urchin tongue served on a horseshoe crab shell with a sauce of its own roe. I cried a little bit at course nine. Partly because it was my birthday and partly because the food was that good. Alex bought me a vintage Cartier ring. (He had not bought me one before. He has not bought me one since. I'm still wearing it.)

Day 3: Beach, Boqueria, Picasso Museum

Beach day at Barceloneta. Sunscreen, a paperback, two beers from a beachfront vendor. Long lunch at La Boqueria for fresh oysters and tinned tuna belly. Afternoon at the Picasso Museum in Born (€13, the formative years and the blue and rose periods, an hour and a half is enough).

Late afternoon at Rocambolesc, the Adria-brothers ice cream parlour off the Ramblas (the panettone soft-serve is the move). Dinner at 9:30pm at a casual Catalan place near the hotel (€40/person for tapas and a bottle of Priorat).

Day 4: Last lunch and home

Late checkout at noon. One last lunch at Restaurante Martinez on Montjuic (paella with a panoramic view, €60/person, book weeks in advance). Taxi to the airport, fly home, in our flat by 8pm.

How much does a birthday long weekend in Barcelona cost?

It was the trip that locked in for me what a birthday weekend should look like. One serious dinner, one extraordinary dinner, one museum, one bottle of natural wine in a bar where the staff care. Repeatable for a 31st, a 32nd, a 50th.