01/ Sitges Carnival
Sitges Carnival offers its attendees an incredible time and is one of the best carnivals the world has to offer, albeit it may be one of the lesser-known ones.
Taking place in the beautiful little town of Sites, which sits around 35 miles southwest of Barcelona between the nature reserve of Parc National del Garraf and Vilanova i la Geltru. The carnival usually attracts more than 250,000 people over its 7 days and includes parades, shows and parties to keep all entertained.
The dates for the 2023 Sitges Carnival cover 15th February 2023 to 22nd February 2023. With the main parades taking place on Sunday 19th February and Tuesday 21st February.
02/ Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) welcomes visitors all year round. It offers incredible art with both its permanent and temporary collections. The permanent collection at MACBA offers around 3000 works from the mid-20th century onward including the 1940’s through to the 1970’s by artists such as Basquiat, Keith Haring amongst others.
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) opening hours are:
Sunday: 10:00 – 15:00 | Monday: 11:00 – 19:30 | Tuesday: Closed | Wednesday: 11:00 – 19:30 | Thursday: 11:00 – 19:30 | Friday: 11:00 – 19:30 | Saturday: 10:00 – 20:00
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) Address:
Placa dels Angels, 1, 08001, Barcelona.
How to get there:
- Metro: L1 or L2 to Universitat and L3 to Catalunya or Liceu
- Bus: All lines to Catalunya or Liceu
- Bike: Urban cycling service in Barcelona: Station 059, Placa dels Angels
- FGC: All lines (Catalunya)
- RENFE Train: Placa Catalunya
Tel: +34 934 12 08 10
03/ Museu de la Xocolata
Museu de la Xocolata offers all things chocolate and a great place to visit all year round! You even get a free chocolate bar with the tour!!! What more can you ask for!
The museum gives you the history of chocolate and the role it played in the economic and social fabric of Barcelona since the 15th century which is when the city and port were used for the sale and distribution of chocolate.
The museum also shows the process of how chocolate is made from when it starts as a cocoa bean through to how it is transformed into one of the world’s favourites treats. Your free bar of chocolate awaits you!
Chocolate Museum Barcelona
Address: C/del Comerc , 36, 08003, Barcelona, Spain
Opening Hours: Sunday: 10:00 – 5:00 | Monday: CLOSED | Tuesday: 10:00 – 19:00 | Wednesday: 10:00 – 19:00 | Thursday: 10:00 – 19:00 | Friday: 10:00 – 19:00 | Saturday: 10:00 – 19:00
See ticket options for Museu de la Xocolata
04/ Antoni Gaudi Attractions (Sagrada Familia & Park Guell)
Antoni Gaudi Attractions (Sagrada Familia & Park Guell) Antoni Gaudi, one of Barcelona’s children and architect of multiple major attractions that draw millions of people to Barcelona each year, all year around.
Gaudi is the inspirational mind behind the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila/La Pedrera. Just the Sagrada Familia alone attracts in excess of 10,000,000 visitors each year and it isn’t even complete yet! It is truly one of the famous landmarks and cityscape outlines you can see in Barcelona.
Gaudi’s designs are famous world over and people flock from all over the world to visit his masterpieces. Park Guell is a wonderful park in Barcelona where you can enjoy a quiet walk and take in Gaudi’s inspiration. Gaudi himself lived there in one of the properties that still stands as he was designing it.
See tickets for Gaudi Attractions
05/ Sampling local delights
One thing that Barcelona does incredibly well is food, in general! Be it tapas, a full meal, or sweet treats. You can find food in most places, be it a small tapas bar on most streets, a restaurant serving local cuisine of shops selling incredible sweet treats such as Turron or even churros served with hot chocolate to keep you warn during the cooler winter months.
Barcelona (in fact most of Spain in reality!) does food very well indeed! You can’t go wrong walking the local streets on a clear crispy cold day and wandering in and out of the tapas bars and shops and stopping for a treat at each and washing it down with a glass of wine. Now that is a Saturday well spent!
06/ Christmas Markets in Barcelona
Christmas Markets is something that Barcelona does very well indeed! The largest one is called Fira de Santa Llucia and it’s held every year near the Gothic Cathedral in AV. de la Catedral, 08002, Barcelona.
The market is home to dozens of little stalls for you to wander past and enjoy and each selling a variety of bits and pieces be it gifts, trees, decorations, little instruments, locally produced food and other artisan products by those passionate about their craft.
There is something quite wonderful about Christmas markets that just puts a smile on most people’s faces!
07/ Sagrada Familia Christmas Market
Fira de Nadal de la Sagrada Familia to give it the full title! The Christmas market takes places annually and normally held from 29/11 – 23/12 and is an open-air market with hundreds of stalls where you can buy gifts galore!
From Christmas trees to figurines, to local artisan foods and crafts and other wonderful gifts. Father Christmas also pops by on 21/12 and 22/12 to surprise the kids!
