Barcelona, Spain from a Cruise Ship – the city that has it all!

Our European Cruise ended in Barcelona, Spain. Being a Spanish teacher, I couldn’t just fly home from there without touring Barcelona, so we added 2 days after the end of our cruise to stay there. We are so glad we did! Barcelona has it ALL- history, architecture, museums, restaurants, shopping, and beaches!

We bought a 2 day Hop on Hop off bus tour, and it was perfect! We learned about the city, and were able to get off anywhere we wanted to explore. With 2 full days (we were at the hotel by 9 am on the day or cruise disembarked), we could take our time at the stops.

We stayed at Hilton’s Moxy Hotel which was chic, fun, centrally located, and reasonably priced for the city at $220 Euros a night. The advertised rooftop pool was under construction, so that was definitely a disappointment, but it served as a nice home base for touring.

The view from our balcony—

There are a few different tour bus options. We chose the Barcelona Bus Turistic because the hotel recommended it, and the different choices seemed very similar.

We paid about $100 US for both of us for a 2 day pass.

The tickets are 10% cheaper if you buy them online (prices in photo above). If you buy online, you can show them your barcode on your phone to get on at any stop, BUT —be careful- —they print you a paper ticket and the online ones no longer work. You have to keep your paper ticket (it doesn’t seem to make sense…). We watched some people get refused entrance on the bus because of this, it turned into a huge argument, but they weren’t allowed on!

If you take the bus loop without stopping, the narrated tour with headphones is about 2 hours long. There are 2 different loops to take – a red and a blue-, so we focused on one loop each day. Some of the stops are shared on both loops, so you can switch routes when you want. Busses run from 9 am to 7 pm and pass by each stop about every 15 minutes.

There is SO much to see along the routes!

Our favorite stop was the famous Sagrada Familia Basilica. It is SO much more incredible than the pictures show. The construction of this church began in 1882, and they are still working on it! It is the largest unfinished Catholic Church in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has the most incredible details. We made sure to see it once during the day and once after dark. The bus stops right in front of it. If you want to tour inside the church, book early. They were all sold out when we were there.

Our 2nd favorite stop was the cable car that takes you up to the Montjuic castle. The views from the top were incredible!

You can even see Sagrada Familia from the cable car!

The cable car tickets can be bought online or when you get there for $17 euros a person round trip. Online offers a 10% discount. There is also a coupon for $2 off at the ticket booth on the bus map.

Barcelona was full of amazing architecture, sculptures, and scenery!