Traveling in Europe can be expensive but luckily I’m here with a few helpful tips! Want to save euros in Barcelona? Here is my advice on ways to avoid making my money wasting mistakes. No need to buy the unlimited metro day pass or pay to enter things you could have visited for free.
- Check out the free times for museums. Most of the museums and many of the churches have specific days and times where entrance is free. For example, the Picasso Museum is free on Thursday nights from 6:00-9:30. (Looking for a good meal near the museum? Check out this list.)
- Ask for the student ticket if you’re under 25. They didn’t ask or check for my student card at all! For most places it was a significant discount too, such an easy way to save euros in Barcelona and around Europe in general.
- Want to check out the beautiful Palau theater? (which you should) Find cheap tickets to one of their flamenco shows! Many times they have 15 euro tickets which is cheaper than a plain old tour of the theater without a show! Here’s a link to find tickets.
- Take one of the many free walking tours! We went on the “Old Town” your through Donkey Tours and it was amazing. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable and hilarious. It was my favorite thing we did. Here’s the link- ask when Eric is leading.
On freetours.com you can find tons of free tours ranging from night tours about bandits to Jewish history tours. - Want to visit Park Güell but don’t want to spend 10 euros? Go before 8 am, if the guards haven’t set up, you can enter for free!
- Hike up MontJuic- it’s a quick hike and its free. Once at the top you can walk around the botanical gardens, down the beautiful trails which circle around the castle, and for only a couple euros you can go inside the castle grounds.
- Not sure what metro pass to buy? Unless you’re planning on using it all the time the unlimited pass is a waste. We got the 10 rides pass and had rides to spare! The city is fairly small so we walked most of the time. The 8 euro 10 rides pass was perfect.
- For 27 euros a piece, we decided to skip the Sagrada Familia (gasp!!) Instead, we spent 4 euros to go into churches like Santa Maria del Pi, which were each more beautiful than the last. For 8 euros you could also get a guided tour and visit to the bell tower.
- Don’t want to pay for the Cathedral? Go after 8:30 and before 12, or you can go in the evenings between 6:30-7:30! After you enter for free and walk around, instead of paying for the bell tower, just head to the rooftop of the hotel across the street for a drink and the same view.
Extra:
One thing I do suggest, don’t skimp out on Montserrat. Spend the 35 euros for round trip tickets, the audio visual exhibit (do this first) and use of the funiculars. Take the cable car up to the top and make sure to sit in the last train car so you can sprint and be first in line for the cablecar up, otherwise you might be waiting an hour ++ to get up the mountain.
There can be long lines for tickets at the Espanya station to get tickets to Montserrat. If you want/ it is convenient for you, you can buy tickets and pick them up the day before at Placa Catalonya. That way, you walk straight to the train and don’t have to chance missing the train and being stuck for an hour because of lines. We got our tickets here.
Plan to spend the whole day there- it is amazing. I would skip the hike up and instead hike the many beautiful trails to different parts of the summit.
xxx Adios!
