A Gay Couples Guide to a Long Weekend In Barcelona!

Dec 19

A Gay Couples Guide to a Long Weekend In Barcelona!

Hey Gang, today we are talking travel! Myself and my partner Olly had the most fantastic trip to Barcelona in early October 2023, and I’ve had a lot of people asking questions about what we got up to there. So I thought it might be really helpful to put together a post about our time in the fabulous city of Barcelona. When you book a city break its usually over a long week, and time is so precious, you always want to maximise the days you have, to see and do as much as possible. I’ve put together our 5-night itinerary with all of the key attractions, restaurants bars and points of interest to hit while you are there. I’ve detailed all our pros, cons, dos and don’ts in the hope it can save you time and energy planning for your trip. There is truly so much to see and do, I’d love to go back and continue exploring. I really hope this blog can help anyone who might be planning a trip there.

At the end of the blog there is a point-by-point itinerary for quick reference and there are more links on my Instagram. You should find that most points referenced throughout the blog are hyperlinked to take you to own websites or social media.

Enjoy!

So let’s begin...

Thursday

Our Trip began with an easy drive to City Airport, London – which is a 20 minute ride from our home(Perfect!). The airport is well managed, efficient and so user friendly. Our Provider was BA, and we booked the holiday as a package in one of their winter sales. We were very lucky to get a good deal on Business class flights, which is obviously a lovely luxury, not only for the experience but for the fact you get more luggage allowance and priority boarding.

Our flight left at midday, and it was quick and smooth – around 2 hours. Once we landed in Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, we hopped into our car (we prebooked transfer to and from the airport and hotel, but there are constant streams of taxis if you want to just play it by ear). Obviously Spain is an hour ahead of the UK, so by the time we got to our hotel it was around 3.30pm.

We stayed at the fabulous Wittmore Hotel, which is located in the deliciously beautiful Gothic Quarter. The hotel is stunning, the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. They have rich interiors with a glossy bar/lounge area, a courtyard garden where they serve breakfast and a glorious roof top terrace with a bathing pool, loungers and table service. The views at sunset over the Gothic Quarter are just lovely… even better over a glass of Spanish Cava!

We checked in, then given a guided tour of the facilities, and finally taken to our room where our luggage was waiting.

We were excited to get out and experience the city, so freshened up and hit the streets.

By this point we were very ready to eat, we’d had a small meal on the plane, but I needed Tapas! So on the recommendation of one of the hotel managers we stepped into GILDA by Belgious, which happened to be just round the corner from our hotel. The food was just exceptional – we started our Barcelona food tour on a real high! The owner of the restaurant was there and he came round to all the tables to introduce himself and tell us all stories about how he came up with all the recipes. The highlight of the night was him coming over at the end of the night with a Crema Catalana (one of Europe’s oldest desserts) and flambéing it with copious amounts of Grand Marnier, so much so I thought I was going to lose an eyebrow!

Following our first supper, we wanted to head to a bar I had spotted on tiktok, “Monk Bar”. It’s become quite the hotspot in Barcelona. As you approach the seemingly innocent looking building, it appears to be your average convenience store, selling your usual items – drinks, sweets, crisps etc.. Although the bouncers at the door do raise suspicions! As you ask to enter, you are lead through the shop to the back where a shelf opens and you are welcomed into an incredibly well decorated bar, an Aladdin’s cave kind of feel to the whole place. The music is great, the space feels fun and welcoming and the cocktails were superb. It was a wonderful way to end our first night in Barcelona.

Friday

I can’t lie, I was feeling a little worse for wear after our big opening night at Monk bar. Every drink was free poured and the measures (or there lack of) were unreal.. hence the hangover.

We started the day with a wander down La Rambla. This is possibly the busiest and most touristy street in Barcelona. Full of bars, restaurants, shops and street performers. Great to see, but it’s a little bit of a tourist trap for eating and drinking. You can find some wonderful places slightly off the beaten track. But If you do want to want to go somewhere more touristed orientated then just off Las Ramblas theres “Placa Reial”. A bustling beautiful square full of bars and restaurants, it still caters very much to us tourists, but in my opinion it has a much nicer atmosphere.

After our wander we headed to “Can Culleretes” - If you are a foodie, its a must! It is the oldest restaurant in Barcelona. But you must book most if not all days of the week, as it gets so busy. They are only open for a limited period each day, we managed to get a reservation for an early lunch.

We shared a portion of their garlic prawns to start. Then I had to have their Paella, it was delicious! Olly had a slow braised beef stew – which was equally as good. Wash down with a carafe of their house red wine.

That evening, I was very excited as we had booked a sunset tour of the incredible “Casa Batlló” – this is one of Antoni Gaudi’s finest works. Gaudi

He was given full creative control of the design and build. There was also an extensive budget

For pre-dinner drinks after Casa Batllo, take a short walk into the Eixample district, which is Barcelona’s Gay Quarter. Locals call it “Gaixample” in honour of the areas inhabitants and visiting queer community. A couple of our favourites are Priscilla’s Café Bar & Elvira bar. Priscilla’s is a camp drag bar themed on the film “Priscilla Queen of the Dessert” with neon lights, bright colours and great atmosphere.. and obviously drag queens! Elvira’s is themed on the iconic gothic queen and gay icon “Elvira” – if you don’t know who that is.. look her up! Darkly lit, spooky décor – including a faux open fire painted to look like Elvira’s face.

After we were adequately tipsy we headed to Vigo Tapas for dinner which is also in Eixample – a delicacy there is their fries topped with a fried egg & pancetta – sounds odd and quite dirty, but it’s delicious. They also do a great variety of classic tapas dishes and sangria.

After dinner we headed for a night cap in Platas Cocktail Bar – some of the most visually exciting cocktails you’ll ever see! Their house cocktails are served in the most curious of drinking vessels, giant lollipops, a man on the moon, gold blocks.. the list continues! It’s a very Instagram/tiktok friendly bar – so much so they give you a ring light for your table to take selfies with your drinks. Say cheese!

Saturday

We took a stroll through the streets of the Gothic Quarter and headed north to take a look at the Cathedral of Barcelona & rummage through the lovely little Vintage Market in Placa Nova.

There is a really fun lunch spot called Bilbao Berria, Its high quality tapas in an almost fast food setting. It is on a first come first served basis, so you may have to queue – but its worth it! Once seated, you will see there are hot and cold bars filled with scrumptious tapas dishes(most, if not all are served on little slices of toast) which you go and help yourself to. Each dish has a coloured cocktail stick in, you collect these up in your designated stick holder and these are tallied at the end to work out your bill. Great food and brilliant atmosphere.

That afternoon we strolled over to the Picasso Museum - Picasso and his family moved to Barcelona in 1895, when he was almost fourteen years of age, and he continued to live until 1904. So Barcelona played a big part in forming Picasso’s vision & talent. So much so he donated a lot of his art to the city.

As we left, to our surprise the street was full of press photographers, TV cameras and police – we looked around to see that some of the Picasso pieces that had been loaned out by the museum were being returned. Several men were offloading the precious art, which was being transported in these rather robust metal cases. The lorry which they travelled there in was surrounded by police. This was quite fun to witness, as you can only begin to imagine how much those pieces are worth!

We followed our cultural afternoon with some shopping! Whizzing in and out of the vintage shops, local boutiques, and high-street stores - I know some people are going to say you can shop at home, but it’s always great to see what other countries have on offer.. PLUS, Zara stores in Spain just hit differently(plus its cheaper!)! I got myself some lovely pieces.

For dinner we had booked to go to “Carpe Diem” CDLC Club Restaurant, which is in the neighbourhood of “Barceloneta” – its around a 30 minute walk from the Gothic Quarter or a 15 minute drive. The beach front promenade is full of bars, restaurants, clubs and hotels. To me this area has a very different feel to it than the rest of Barcelona. The closer you get to the beach and the sea the more you feel like you are entering a more traditional Spanish beach resort, it’s hard to believe it’s all part of the same city.

The restaurant was fun, both the décor and menu are Asian themed. There is a DJ playing Ibiza style beats, dancers and performers working the room – you can even get a massage at your table by one of the inhouse therapists! Our table was booked for 8.30 (which we thought was quite late) But it was still fairly quiet. We were told because it’s known as more of a “night spot”, things don’t really get particularly busy until 9-10pm and go into the early hours. This was very much the case – by 10.30 the place was full. The food was as expected, excellent. We shared an enormous appetizer board with a variety of things on, including giant tempura prawns & satay chicken. We had a side of Tempura battered vegetables followed by a board of mixed sushi.

Our last stop of the night was the W Hotel – to go and have drinks and a little dance in their Sky Bar which is on the 26th floor! The Views are fantastic, the whole place has a very chic atmosphere. The music was excellent and the bar staff put on quite the show as they whipped up their signature cocktails.

They have quite a strict dress code and it gets very popular at the weekend. If they reach capacity, you may have to queue.

But it’s very glamourous as you step into the private lift, which whips you up 26 floors to be greeted by this sleek modern corridor & smizing hosts at the doors ready to welcome you in. It’s a fun and opulent way to finish an evening in the city.

Sunday

Brunch at Milk Bar and Bistro, there is also the Benedict Brunch next door.

Milk is such a cool restaurant, we loved it. Amazing service and excellent food. You can’t book, so there can be a bit of a queue, but it moves fairly swiftly. I had this fantastic Spanish sausage egg & spinach Bowl. Olly had the Eggs Benedict – which looked sensational. If you haven’t already guessed, we are proud foodies!

After fuelling up we jumped on the metro to go to Park Güell - Park Güell is a privatised park system Designed by Antoni Gaudi in the early 1900. It’s composed of beautiful gardens and architectural elements located on Carmel Hill. Trust me when I say, this is no ordinary park! The views are sensational, the buildings and designs are like something out of a fantasy movie. But it’s quite a long way out of Central Barcelona, and it really is on a hill. So, it’s quite the climb to get there. If you aren’t up for the walk, a cab might be the better choice of transportation.

Do book tickets, it’s very popular, they only let in a certain amount of people a day. We booked a tour, and I would say it was well worth it, as you learn so much, and the tour guides know the best routes to see all the hidden details. After your tour, you are free to explore on your own. There is only one café in there, and as you can imagine it gets really busy and its overpriced. So, eat before you go and take water.

As I said, it’s a little way out from Central Barcelona, the Park was meant t o be a new residential area for the rich, but after it was built in 1914 no one wanted to move that far out. All the upper-class families wanted to be closer to the centre where life was happening. So, this masterpiece of a park (and it really is a masterpiece) never really became the residential paradise it was meant to be. One family brought a summer home there (they still own it now) and Gaudi had a house there with his father. Other than that, the other properties were turned into schools and galleries. The Park was opened to the public.

While in the park, it’s worth visiting Gaudi House Museum. This is in Parc Guell, but its owned and operated by a different company. So, it’s a separate ticket, but we managed to book this on the day standing in the park.

If you make the most of your visit, it’s a pretty full-on day. Once we had finished we hopped onto the metro and headed to our Hotel to rest, refresh and have a pre-dinner drink on the rooftop.

That evening we went out to a Mexican inspired tapas style restaurant called “The Box’ for Dinner & Tequila – they are famous in the gothic quarter for having an extensive range of exciting tequilas and tequila-based cocktails. The staff there are lovely and so friendly. The food and cocktails were excellent! We shared a chilli hotdog, chicken Quesada’s and their signature nachos… along with several cocktails! Then it was most definitely time for bed.

Monday

Now you cannot, I repeat you cannot visit Barcelona without going to La Sagrada Família. It is utterly breath-taking. It’s very popular, so you have to book well in advance of your trip. There are two types of tickets. General tour or the general access plus an elevator ride up into the cathedrals towers to see the views. La Sagrada Familia was designed by Antoni Gaudi, it was in final project.

They have a pretty good app which you can download and then have as an audio guide as you walk through the spectacular building. So bring your headphones.

It really is a breath-taking experience visiting La Sagrada Familia. As you can imagine it’s a big hitter with the tourists, so its always busy. But that really does not take away from how spectacular it is to see. You can just go and walk round the perimeter of the building, but I would say whole heartly its worth buying ticket to go inside. Gaudi started designing La Sagrada Familia in 1882 and it is still yet to be completed. Current estimations are that the whole cathedral will be completed by around 2030 to 2032.

Continuing the Gaudi tour, that afternoon we booked to visit Casa Vicens, which is the first property Antoni Gaudi got to design and it really does not disappoint. Full of charm and mystery. The home to me is this perfect blend of a Wes Anderson film mixed with a Moroccan Riad. When Gaudi first went to look at the plot it was filled with dandelions and so he took these as a huge part to the inspiration of the design. Including have hundreds of hand painted tiles made all adorned with a repeating Dandelion print. (You can buy multiple things with this print on in the gift shop, including a replica of these tiles – and I did! It’s currently sat on our coffee table with a vase of flowers upon it).

I can’t lie, that night we were tired! But we wanted to go out and enjoy our final evening in Barcelona. So it was back to the hotel, shower, change, spritz of aftershave and we were out the door. We decided to keep things quite simple though and stayed in the Gothic Quarter and had classic Spanish Tapas at “Venus Delicatessen”. Really cute deli style restaurant with plenty to choose from. Lovely staff and friendly atmosphere. After dinner we both had a second wind, the patatas bravas clearly had given us a boost. I had read about a pretty cool hidden bar which happened to be in “Placa Reial” (I mentioned this square earlier) called The “Pipa Club”. It’s a “members” bar (obviously we are not members and got in without a hitch – I think it’s probably very dependent on how busy they are). It claims to be a non-profit entity for the arts. It is on the upper levels of number 3 Placa Reial. There’s literally no signage for the club – as you approach its location, there is an open door with a rather unfriendly looking bouncer waiting there. But you simply state you are looking to go up for a drink and he radio’s the staff to check availability – Once confirmed, you are then signalled to make your way up! There is a large black door on the 2nd floor with a small sign saying “Pipa Club”. The door is opened and a server is waiting to greet you, then take you to your table. The club is plushily decorated and well-lit, with neon and lamp light. Its spread over three rooms with sectioned seating that overlooks the stunning square. Its table service, the cocktails are exciting and well thought out. The atmosphere feels warm and buzzy, but yet quite private – like you’ve stumbled upon a secret! It really was the perfect closing night to the trip.

Tuesday

We woke up early to get packed and organised. Our checkout wasn’t till 12.30, so rather than opting for breakfast at the hotel, we decided to go out. Depending on the time of your checkout and flight, you can take a walk down to La Boqueria – the oldest food market in Barcelona. Full of every variety of food stall you can imagine. It’s a great brunch/lunch spot, well it’s a great spot any time of the day really.

After we ate, we grabbed our last couple of souvenirs, whizzed back to our hotel, checked out, hopped in our car and waved goodbye to the gothic quarter and Barcelona.

We had such an amazing trip, and I hope our experience helps inspire you to plan your Barcelona vacation! We can’t wait to head back again and explore more of the city & it’s culture.

Something we’d love to do next time is fly into Barcelona, spend a couple of days there and the head down to Sitges on the train. Supposedly it’s a beautiful coastal journey which only takes around 35-40 minutes and is less than £10 for a return ticket! But that’s something for us to look forward to next time!

It’s been so lovely putting this blog together, reliving our time in this magical city. I truly can’t recommend Barcelona enough. Travelling and experiencing new cultures are so good for the soul.

Finally, below is a shortlist itinerary for the long weekend we did for quick reference. Any questions give me a shout on Instagram. @patrickjack
adios Chums!

THE ITINERARY

Thursday

- Arrive in Barcelona

- Check into Hotel – The Wittmore - Gothic Quarter

- Explore Gothic Quarter

- Dinner at GILDA by Belgious

- Drinks at Monk Bar ( Gorgeous bar hidden in a supermarket)

Friday

- Get a Coffee

- Take a wander down La Ramblas

- Lunch at Can Culleretes – Oldest Restaurant in Barcelona

- Sunset Tour of Casa Batllo - ‘The Gaudi House”