9 Awesome Things To Do In Barcelona in October 2024

Barcelona was founded by the Romans, who set up a colony called Barcino in the first century BC. The remains of the wall which bounded the city during that time are still visible in the old city. The Gothic Quarter showcases the splendor of the city during the 13^th to 15^th centuries. The modern development started during the 20^th century and culminated during its hosting of the Olympic Games, which showcased and catapulted the city to world fame. Antoni Gaudi, the famous Catalonian architect, was instrumental in designing some of the most well-known tourist attractions in the city like Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, and the Sagrada Familia Church. Another reason for its fame, of course, is its football team and its home stadium.

You can rest assured that when you visit the city, there are several things to do in Barcelona and you will never for a moment be bored to tears

Castell de Montjuic is a historic fortress dating back to 1640 on top of the Montjuic hills. It is now serving as a municipal office. At 173 meters above the port, you can get awesome 390 deg aerial views of the city from this lovely place. It is in our list of things to do in Barcelona for its beauty and historicity. It had a very important role in defense of the city during the Spanish succession war, and it is also a symbol of all that Spain has endured during those difficult periods. It was used as a military garrison, a prison at various points of time till it was handed over to the city council in 2007. Now you can also find a weapons museum on the premises.

It will open to the public from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM from November to February and open up to 8:00 PM during the rest of the year.

This is a Spanish village built for the international exhibition in 1929 to represent the essential theme of the country’s cultural heritage in one space. The constructed scaled reproductions of buildings, streets of different regions of Spain remain intact even now. As you stroll through the area, you can even watch artisans at work, works of contemporary art, and also enjoy an audio Video virtual tour of Spanish art and culture. The Poble Espanyol sees a footfall of around 1.3 million a year, has 117 buildings, 25 artisans, 15 latest cutting-edge technology spots, and over 300 artworks by some of the famous artists from Spain and outside. Its creators are supposed to have visited 1,600 places to select buildings to reproduce here in this one village. Its success was so enormous that its demolition was stopped after the exhibition, and the village is still in place, attracting even Walt Disney productions to base some of its theme parks on this village during the late 20^th century. It is for all these reasons that Poble Espanyol is in our list of things to do in Barcelona.

It also conducts activities like children's' entertainment programs, cultural programs like music concerts, fairs, festivals, the cuisine of various hues, and some multidisciplinary shows regularly which you can plan to attend for fun while you are here.

The tickets to this village cost Euro 12.60, and a combined ticket with the National Arts museum is priced at Euro 20. The prices vary for children and some other categories. An audio guide costs an extra Euro 3. The Poble Espanyol is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 AM to 3:00 AM, while on other days, it closes at midnight.

The Palau de la Música Catalana is located near the Barcelona Cathedral and Boquerón Market. It can be reached by bus lines V15, V17 and 47, Barcelona tourist bus, City tours, Metro lines L1, L4, and even rail. The entry ticket to the venue is priced at Euro 8. It has different discounted rates for group visitors. It offers guided tours to individual music lovers or groups for about an hour, starting at Euro 20.

The Palau de la Musica Catalina building, listed as a World Heritage Building by UNESCO, was built between1905 and 1908 in Sant Peer District. The building is designed around the central metal structure covered in glass, which allows in natural light to illuminate the interiors and masterpieces. The museum, in our list of things to do in Barcelona, was founded to ensure social unity by promoting music, especially choir singing, knowledge, and spreading of cultural heritage by conducting musical activities, choirs, and concerts. It promotes music to attract audiences from across the world to enhance their lives through the medium of music, to encourage new art forms. The Cor de Cambra choir of the Palau de la Música Catalana, which has won the National Music award is striving to promote international unity through music. It is in great demand to perform in orchestras in different parts of the world. Apart from this group, there are three other major exceptionally good choirs associated with Palau de la Musica for a long time.

The lovely Camp Nou structure was completed in 1957, and it is the home stadium of FC Barcelona since then. You would love to visit this magnificent stadium on our list of things to do in Barcelona, even if you are not a football enthusiast. It has a mammoth seating capacity of almost 100,000, the biggest in Europe and the third-largest in the world. You can imagine the electrifying atmosphere in the stadium during a championship match in front of such a huge gathering of football crazy fans. You can go in for guided tours of the awesome stadium where you can experience in person the life of a football player, enjoy the interactive exhibits in the museum. The tours can be chosen from the basic tour costing Euro 26, an audio-video guided tour 55, match day tour 99, and the ultimate of them all, players experience tour costing Euro 149.

L’Eixample District is one of the things to do in Barcelona and would be in any list of places of interest to visit in the city. Eixample, meaning extension in Catalan language, supposed to be one of the earliest examples in urban planning in modern times. It was developed during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Iidfons Cerda developed this district meant to a fully self-sustaining community on the outskirts of the city that has everything the residents need, a mini-city itself. It is characterized by long straight streets, in the pattern of a grid, with wide avenues. Even as his designs were extremely visionary, containing minute details concerning even broadening traffic intersections to avoid grid-locks, actual execution by architects ignored some of his ideas like garden spaces and downscaled on some of the plans, what you can still see in the district is still breathtaking in itself. The place is full of beautiful modern architectural constructions that an ardent architect can learn from, and everyone would be awe-struck. There is nothing like taking a walking tour of the area. You should not miss the Passeig de Gracia, which is probably the most architecturally important street here. Here you can see some of Gaudi's architectural masterpieces like Casa Mila, resembling honeycombs or African caves, Sagrada Familia, probably the most famous building in Barcelona, and Casa Batllo, a building in the UNESCO Heritage list, all beauties worth traveling a long way to behold.

The Fundacio Joan Miro museum, in our things to do in Barcelona list. It has the most comprehensive collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and works on paper belonging to Joan Miro oeuvre all through his active life and career. Joan Miro was a famous sculptor, painter, and ceramicist of Spain. This museum to preserve and showcase his works of art was started in 1975 by Miro himself, also to encourage research on art, promote scholarships and put Barcelona on the world art map, about 8 years before his death in 1983, at the age of 90. His artworks had their flavor and uniqueness, which made it difficult to club them under any known movement. His rebellious art forms, which were influenced by social and political events during that period, made him one of the most influential artists of the 20^th century.

The museum is located at the Parc de Montjuic. It can be reached by bus lines 50 and 150 and also by the Montjuic funicular railway line. Since no private parking is available, you are advised to take public transport. The museum is open from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The ticket for adults is priced at Euro 13. There is a collection of around 45 of his major artworks done through 1917 and 1975 on display. These collections include the Morning Star, Woman Dreaming of Escape, stoneware, and enamel work Double-Sided Monolith, amongst others. The list of his work collections includes 217 paintings, 178 sculptures, 9 textiles, 4 ceramics, and a huge 8000 drawings. Initially, some of this was donated by his family and friends, but the artist himself gave most of them. Later on, the collections were built up with donations from other private collectors and museums. The museum library houses a huge collection of drawings, catalogs, journals, books, and correspondence of the artist. It also serves as a reference place for aspiring artists and students.

Group tours for adults and students, guided tour facilities for the museum and temporary exhibitions in English and other languages are also available in Fundacio Joan Miro. A 150 minutes interactive multimedia session, which includes around 30 of Miro’s works is also available. However, you need to book online and for groups of 15 or more, through an email. The rates are discounted for such tours.

The Parque del Labertino de Horta is a famous, lovely historical garden in the Horta Guinardo district, at the foot of the Collserola Ridge. Here people of all ages come to relax and have fun in the labyrinth. This is also one of Barcelona’s oldest gardens and is a combination of an 18^th century neoclassical and a 19th-century romantic garden. The beautiful labyrinth is made from domesticated cypress hedges, and you can enjoy it as you try to find your way through deep into the labyrinth. The sculpture of Eros stands right in the middle of the labyrinth. This beautiful garden offers you small temples with Tuscan columns fountains, mythological sculptures, topiary art, and neoclassical pavilion. It also offers on the other side a waterfall and water flowing in a stream, wilder and shadier garden, irregular tree layout, a fake cemetery. Both parts are together, showcasing the neoclassical style changing over gradually to the romantic style over the decades. This garden finds a place in our list of things to do in Barcelona as we feel this green jewel built-in 1792 is a classical artistic garden laid out in about 55 acres of area.

The city of Barcelona is famous for its beaches, on our list of things to do in Barcelona. It has about 28 blue flag beaches where you can relax, get some sun-tan, enjoy some adventure water sports like sea surfing, stroll around, swim, or even have gourmet food in the various cafes and restaurants spread out along the lovely coastline. The city has around 5 kilometers of beachfront, giving you plenty of choices. The beaches are spread out and easily accessible from any corner of the city.

Some of the most popular beaches in the city are listed out here.

Barceloneta Beach, in our list of things to do in Barcelona, is the most visited, most entertaining with fun-filled activities on always, where you can never get bored unless you are looking for a serene place for relaxation. However, this is also a bit dirty due to the crowd.

Nova Icaria beach near the Olympic marina is the beach for taking to water sports, with even instructors on hand. You can see groups playing basketball on the sand and people enjoying sports.

Bogatell Beach is for you if you are looking for a calmer beach as well as a safe one to relax, sunbathe, or take a stroll. It is about 15 minutes from Bogatell metro station.

Mar Bella Beach is more famous for its discreetly partitioned nudist stretch and also is an LGBT hangout. It is also known for its late-night parties.

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, MNAC, is located in the Palau Nacional Montjuic, which was constructed for the 1929 International Exposition. It opened to the public in the year 1934 with its medieval collection of artworks, which later on expanded over the decades to also include modern art in its collection later on. This is one of the largest museums in Spain. It is known for its Romanesque church paintings along with Catalan art and design works of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. It is included in our list of things to do in Barcelona for its amazing collection of artworks.

It is open between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM in winters and up to 8:00 PM in summers on weekdays. Sundays will see it open between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM. The general admission ticket is priced at Euro 12 and Euro 14 with an audio guide. Free entry is allowed for children under 16 and adults over 65 years belonging to the EU and for some other categories. A discount of 30% for students and lesser discounts for some other categories are also offered.

The museum houses vast collections of medieval art and modern art and attracts art connoisseurs from across the world. It also aspires artists and students for research, study, and workshops, which make the museum find an entry in our list of things to do in Barcelona. The medieval collections include Romanesque art from 11^th to 13^th centuries like mural and panel paintings, Gothic art from 13^th to the 15^th centuries, including altarpieces, Renaissance, and Baroque artworks from 16^th to 18^th centuries belonging to international and local artists. The modern artwork collections are from the artists from the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Apart from this, the museum has a big inventory of drawings, prints, posters, photography. It has a huge numismatic collection of coins of around 155,000 pieces from the 6^th century BC to the present day. It also has collections of insignia, medals, and decorations. The museum also conducts a variety of educational, learning programs for different categories of art patrons.

We have tried to pack in as much information as possible regarding the things to do in Barcelona, which interests you and can help plan your visit while in the city. However, there are so many other places of interest that are equally good, interesting, and worth visiting that it needs more of your time.