Spain · Self-guided walk
Barcelona in one walk 8 sights, 50 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Barcelona Old Town: 8 sights on one 3.4 km loop, about 50 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 3.4 km, a loop
- Time
- about 50 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia
- Steps
- no streets with steps on the route
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Barcelona walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Barcelona, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia
the start · inside open Mon–Fri 09:30–18:30, Sat 09:30–17:15, Sun 14:00–17:00
In 1417 they closed the front with a plain wall, just for the moment. The moment lasted until the end of the 19th century, when an industrialist, Manuel Girona, offered to pay for a façade. Provisional, for nearly five centuries. Finally, someone at my pace. Inside, some of it is alive. I am not telling you what.
Next: Palau Centelles, 320 m, about 5 min, along Carrer del Bisbe, Plaça de Sant Jaume.
2. Palau Centelles
about 5 minutes of walking from the start
A count's will left everything to one great-nephew and the county to another. The fight over who owned this palace went to law and was settled in 1628. It houses Catalan public institutions now, and I only want the street in front of it. Nobody has sued. The family name has its own tale. I am not telling you how it goes.
Next: La Rambla, 370 m, about 6 min, along Baixada de Sant Miquel, Carrer d'Avinyó, Carrer de la Boqueria.
3. La Rambla
about 10 minutes of walking from the start
The name comes from the Arabic ramla, sandy ground. I checked: it is paved now. An estimated 240,000 walkers go along it on an ordinary weekday. In the Pla de la Boqueria they cross Joan Miró's 1976 pavement, made to greet visitors arriving by sea. At the top end, stop. I am not telling you why.
Next: Palau Savassona, 450 m, about 7 min, along La Rambla, Plaça de la Vila de Madrid.
4. Palau Savassona
about 17 minutes of walking from the start
A baron's house on Carrer de la Canuda. In 1796 the painter Francesc Pla, El Vigatà, covered its dining room with murals, among them the gods Mars and Venus. A whole room for eating and no street in it. I do not see the point. The house is private, so I make no offer about the door. What moved in later is the good part, and I am not telling you what.
Next: Plaça de Catalunya, 280 m, about 4 min, along Carrer de la Canuda, Plaça de Catalunya.
5. Plaça de Catalunya
about 21 minutes of walking from the start
This was an open esplanade in front of one of the city's main gates, before cafés, theatres and fairground booths filled it. On the corner of Carrer de Pelai, the Cafè Zurich has been where this city meets and meets again since 1920. Everyone here is waiting for somebody. I am here for the paving. One thing in this square looks like a building mistake. It is not, and I am not telling you which.
Next: Palau de la Música Catalana, 640 m, about 10 min, along Plaça de Catalunya, Carrer de Fontanella, Carrer d'Amadeu Vives.
6. Palau de la Música Catalana
about 31 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 09:00–15:30
Inside, the skylight stands for the sun and Wagner's Valkyries break out of the ceiling. A bust of Anselm Clavé faces one of Beethoven and neither has blinked yet. I respect that. Something happens here every 26 December, and it has passed its hundredth year. I am not telling you what.
Next: Museu Picasso, 610 m, about 9 min, along Carrer de la Mare de Déu del Pilar, Carrer de les Freixures, Carrer de les Semoleres, Carrer d'en Boquer, Carrer de Montcada.
Lunch break
Bar Joan, Avinguda de Francesc Cambó 16, about 70 m off the route, open Mon–Sat 07:30–15:30, Sun closed.
A family bar in a corner of the Mercat de Santa Caterina since 1984, says the Catalan daily Ara. More on what to eat in Barcelona.
7. Museu Picasso
about 40 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Tue–Wed 09:00–20:00, Thu–Sat 09:00–21:00, Sun 09:00–20:00, Mon closed
It opened in 1963 under a name that was not his. A whole house of Picasso, with somebody else on the door. I am not telling you whose, or why. I eat the street outside, and the street has no opinion.
Next: Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar, 150 m, about 2 min, along Carrer de Montcada, Placeta de Montcada.
8. Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar
about 42 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 10:00–20:30
Foreigners counted three cathedrals in this city, and this church was one of them. The locals added nicknames: the Cathedral without a cloister, the Fishmongers' Seat, the Seat of the Sea. Keep your eyes on the door and on the glass. I am not telling you why.
Back to the start: Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia, 610 m, about 9 min, along Carrer dels Sombrerers, Carrer de l'Argenteria, Baixada de la Llibreteria, Carrer de Freneria, Carrer de la Pietat.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Barcelona.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 222 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Barcelona Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.