Barcelona, the home of Flamenco dancing, Salvador Dali, and the La Sagrada Familia. With all these gems found in this spectacular city, Barcelona is somewhere you can go with friends and family. I spent five days in BCN mid February, and it was jammed pack full of history, beaches, and great Spanish food.

On Tuesday, I arrived in BCN, and checked into the hotel we stayed at which was HCC Hotel Montblanc. I would recommend this hotel because it is smack dab in the central of Barcelona, with a subway station right around the corner. It is a few minute walk from good shopping, and it has many restaurants and a convenient store on the same street. It’s about a 15 minute taxi ride from the beach and W Hotel, which was only about 6 euros (taxiing in Barcelona is super cheap, so if you aren’t feeling the metro, don’t worry, it’s not expensive!).

Our first activity was to take a bus tour of BCN. We walked through Antonio Gaudi’s Parque Guell, which is one of the most famous sights in Barcelona. It itself is a gorgeous park, with a lot of architecture and palm trees to add to it. They told us good places to eat along the way and the city tour was really helpful to help us learn where to go to see the certain things we wanted to. That night we ate at Restaurante Navarra and had one of Spain’s most famous dish, Paella. The food here was really good, but I’m one to love seafood, so it just depends on your food taste!

The second day in BCN, we took a walking tour of the city and visited Barri Gótic, and Casa Milá which was designed by Gaudi. The Casa Milá is personally one of the most interesting buildings in BCN. The architecture looks like Dr. Seuss designed it and that it should be something from Whoville. It stands out from any other building you’ve ever seen, and you can even go to the very top and have a rooftop view of the city.  Over the next few days we visited so many cathedrals, museums, and buildings, that I’ll only list the ones that stood out the most to me.

I’m a sucker for Cathedrals so you can’t go wrong with Girona Cathedral and La Sagrada Familia. The Girona Cathedral has so many displays that are breathtaking along with so much history that accompanies it. La Sagrada Familia has the best stain-glass windows I have ever seen (and that says something because I have been to multiple cathedrals and museums and have seen a plethora of stain-glass). It started to be built over 100 years ago, and has not been finished yet, but is planning on being completed in 9 years. The stained glass goes from red, orange, yellow, on one side, and on the other side it is green, blue, and purple. This building is a work of art and you actually wonder if humans could have even built it.

The most interesting museum I visited on this trip was the Salvador Dali museum. If you are one for modern art and art with optical illusions and a lot of meaning, I highly suggest going here. His thought process on some of his paintings are incredible; one could never get bored looking at his art and wondering what he meant at certain times. I really can’t put this museum into words because every display was so different while it also meant something different. If you go here, I suggest taking a guided tour, because the tour guide will tell you things about his art that one wouldn’t know on their own.

Last but not least, the nightlife in BCN. There are so many bars and clubs you could go to and never get bored for the rest of your life. I went to the W Hotel that was located right on the beach and went to their club at the very top one night. That was super cool because there was a view where you could see the waves crashing onto the beach. If you’re more in the mood for getting rowdy, I would suggest the club Opium, but really only on a Saturday night. I went on a Thursday as well and there was only one floor open, but on Saturday night, they open all four floors. There are endless bars to choose from, but I would highly recommend a rooftop bar by the beach because nothing really beats that.

Barcelona overall is an amazing city full of history, architecture, and people who come from all over the world to enjoy what the city has to offer. There is anything one could ever want for a vacation, and there is so much to do that you really can’t see it all in just a few days! I wish I would have stayed longer but I guess that just means I’ll have to visit BCN again!