Extended family, local talented collaborators

With a magnitude of things to do, see and eat, Barcelona is very exciting but can be a little overwhelming if you don’t do your research. Guests that book with us always receive a personalised list of recommended places to eat and are welcome to ask us any questions, to ensure they have a good stay in Barcelona. We have extended this further by collaborating with local businesses in the city that dedicate themselves to helping visitors experience the real Catalonia and to find the special places. This entails customised trips for the family, an intimate tapas tour, a wine tasting, a bike tour and more – we like to think of them as our extended family.

Runnerbean Tours
Gorka and Ann-Marie, a Spanish-Irish couple started their Runnerbean walking tour project in 2010, inspired by their passion and love for everything with Barcelona’s name on it. They love Barcelona and they love their job!
As they became very popular over the years, they expanded their team with other like-minded guides, but you will still find themselves guiding and answering all your queries by email or phone to ensure that extra bit of personal attention. They also have an excellent top-40 list of things to do with children on their website!
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The Barcelona Taste
If you want to experience a tapas tour, Jo and Joe are the fun duo to break you in. The tour makes several stops at local little spots, where you get the chance to enjoy a selection of cheeses from Catalunya, patatas bravas, embutidos, alcahofas and wash it down with local wines. It’s a nice way to get to know the narrow streets of the Gotico neighbourhood and try some delicious homemade dishes. The team know everyone, so you are in very in good hands.
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Barcelona Design Tours
This is the only tour company in the city that I00% focused on contemporary design and architecture, and there’s a lot to see. Brian is a qualified architect while Suzanne is a widely published writer on design. Together they lead private walking tours around the city’s design showrooms, spectacular commercial interiors and celebrated modern buildings and urban landscapes. Tours of the city’s independent galleries and art spaces can also be arranged.View more

Cruising Barcelona
Discover Barcelona by bike with Dirk and Mahrou and their team at Cruising Barcelona. You can either join their original tour, choose for a customised tour with a private guide or just rent a bike and create your own adventure. They have a variety of cool bikes in different colors and sizes, safety seats for children and even e-bikes and their shop is located on a very short walk from our Universidad location.
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Clos Mogador, Priorat
René Barbier, descendant from a known family of French Winemakers, bought a small property of 20 hectares in Gratallops, Priorat, in 1979, where he planted Grenache, Carignan, Syrah and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. With that, the journey of Clos Mogador began. The Barbier family nowadays offers guided tours for small groups around their best vineyards and their winery, including a tasting of their precious wines: Clos Mogador, Manyetes, Nelin and a DO Montsant wine, accompanied by their organic olive oil and wine bread.
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Vivinos
Pairing food with wine is a real art. Learn the basics with a knowledgble sommelier with Vivinos’ small-group tasting experience in the heart of El Born. Savor Catalan cheeses alongside carefully selected local wine styles and learning about individual producers as you go. You can choose between an introductory option, featuring three wines and three cheeses or a more in-depth experience, with five wines and five cheeses.
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Brightside Tours
This fun, young company takes visitors on urban adventures In either a classic motorcycle with sidecar or vintage campervan. Rides range from foodie and night experiences to trips into Catalonia’s wine country.
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Context Travel
This highly recommended company offers small group, half-day walking tours for “the intellectually curious” led by highly knowledgeable guides (or ‘docents’) that are experts in their chosen field. Gaudi in Context, The Spanish Civil War and Picasso’s Barcelona are just some of the tours offered in Barcelona by Context.
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Hidden City Tours
An admirable social enterprise, started by British expat Lisa Grace, that trains up Barcelona’s homeless (or ex-homeless) to give insightful walking tours of the Barri Gòtic. Tours can be held in English, French and German, and take you to offbeat places not included in the regular itineraries.
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Main Sites

ARTICKET
If you intend to see more than one museum, you can purchase the Articket, which will give you access to MNAC, Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Fundacio Joan Miro, MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art), CCCB and Picasso museum.
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LA SAGRADA FAMILÍA
The Sagrada Familia is a monumental Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, designed by the architect Antoni Gaudi. Construction work has been ongoing, intermittently, since 1882 and it is perhaps the most famous incomplete building in the world. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is an iconic symbol of Barcelona. There are several tours available (a guided experience, an audio tour or discover by yourself). It is strongly advised that you purchase tickets online in advance if you wish to go inside.
Mallorca 401
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LA PEDRERA / CASA MILA
Casa Mila, popularly known as La Pedrera, is a modernist building designed by architect Antoni Gaudí. It was built between 1906 and 1910. At the time, it was controversial because of its undulating stone facade, twisting wrought iron balconies and windows designed by Josep Maria Jujol. Several structural innovations include a self-supporting stone front, columns and floors free of load-bearing walls, an underground garage and sculptural elements on the roof. In 1984 La Pedrera was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is currently the headquarters of the Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera which manages exhibitions and other activities at La Pedrera. You can visit La Pedrera at day time or night time. It is recommended that you buy your tickets online in advance.
Provença 261-265
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CASA BATLLÓ
Casa Batllo is another one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces. Like everything Gaudí designed, it is only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor in particular, has unusual tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. There are few straight lines, and much of the façade is decorated with a colorful mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur.
There are several tours available and it is recommended that you buy your tickets online in advance.
Passeig de Gràcia 43
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PARC GÜELL
Park Güell originated in 1900, when Count Eusebi Güell bought a tree-covered
hillside and hired Antoni Gaudí to create a miniature city of houses for the wealthy in landscaped grounds. The project was a commercial flop and was abandoned in 1914, but not before Gaudí had created 3km of roads and walks, steps, a placa and two gatehouses in his inimitable manner. In 1922 the city bought the estate for use as a public park. The park contains amazing stone structures, stunning tiling and fascinating buildings. At the top of Parc Güell is a terraced area where you get a wonderful view of the park and of Barcelona City. Park Güell also has a small house in the park in which Gaudí lived at one stage. The house has now been converted into a museum and contains interesting furniture also designed by Gaudí.
Due to its popularity it is recommended that you buy tickets online in advance, since access to the park is limited to 400 people every half an hour.
Park Güell is off Carrer d’Olot in Barcelona and has three entrances: one on Carrer de Olot (main entrance), one at Carretera del Carmel 23 and on Passatge de Sant Josep de la Muntanya, which you get to by going up an escalator.
Olot 7
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PICASSO MUSEUM
The Picasso Museum Barcelona houses one of the most extensive collections of artworks by the 20th-century Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The museum is housed in five adjoining medieval palaces in Barcelona’s El Born area. It is recommended that you buy your tickets online in advance.
Montcada 15-23
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FUNDACIO ANTONI TAPIES
The Fundació Antoni Tàpies is a cultural center and museum dedicated mainly to the life and works of the painter Antoni Tàpies. The Fundació was created in 1984 by the artist Antoni Tàpies to promote the study and knowledge of modern and contemporary art. It combines the organisation of temporary exhibitions, symposia, lectures and film seasons with a range of publications to go with the activities and periodic shows of Antoni Tàpies’ work. The Fundació owns one of the most complete collections of Tàpies’ work, mostly made up of donations by Antoni and Teresa Tàpies. You can buy tickets at the entrance.
Aragó 255
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FUNDACIO JOAN MIRO
Internationally renowned museum, honoring artist Joan Miró located on the Montjuïc hill. Miró formed the Foundation in 1968 with his friend Joan Prats. Miró wanted to create a new building that would encourage particularly younger artists to experiment with contemporary art. The Building, the courtyards and the terraces were designed by Josep Lluís Sert. In line with Miró’s original idea, the foundation has a space named Espai 13, which is dedicated to promoting the work of young experimental artists. You can buy tickets at the entrance or online.
Parc de Montjuic
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MNAC – Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
MNAC is the national museum of Catalan visual art situated on the Montjuïc hill near Placa Espanya. The museum is especially notable for its outstanding collection of romanesque church paintings and for Catalan art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including modernisme and noucentisme. The Museum is housed in the Palau Nacional, a huge, Italian-style building dating back to 1929. From the roof- viewpoint you can enjoy 360º views of Barcelona.
Palau Nacional, Parc de Montjuïc
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MACBA
The Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) offers an enticing exhibition programme of outstanding contemporary art. Located in the Raval area, a two-minute walk from Plaça de Catalunya, its iconic main building designed by Richard Meier, features captivating exhibitions for art lovers and a permanent collection of more than 5800 works.
Plaça dels Àngels 1
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CCCB – Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona
The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona is an exhibition and event space focused on contemporary culture, cinema, music, performing arts and everything related to artistic experimentation.
Montalegre 5
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LACAIXA FORUM
LaiCaixa Forum has one of the most important collections of contemporary art in Europe with works of outstanding artists such as Beuys, Anish Kapoor, Tony Cragg or Juan Uslé amongst others. It is located in the restored clothing factory Casaramona. The construction at the foot of Montjuic was designed by Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch in the style of Catalan Art Nouveau, the Modernism. It was reopend in 2002 as LaCaixa Forum. The most important objectives of the reconstruction of the building were to maintain the original structure, colour and style, but also to set new trends. The exhibition space comprising 3000 sq meter is flooded with light. The entrance area was designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. A tree made of steel and glass welcomes the visitors at the entrance.
Av. de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia 6-8
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BARCELONA BUS TURISTIC
The Barcelona Bus Turistic allows you to get to know Barcelona by bus at your own pace. This hop on hop off tourist bus operates on three different routes in the centre
of Barcelona. All the tour buses are open double deckers, so on the top deck you can enjoy the sun while driving around the city. Especially in summer make sure to bring sun protection since the sun can get quite intense in Barcelona.
Tickets are valid for one or two days and in this time you can get on and off the Barcelona Bus Turistic as often as you like.
All the buses dispose of audio guides in ten different languages that will give you some background information on the sights passing by.
The blue and the red route take both about two hours whereas the green route takes about half the time.
The nearest hop on spot is Placa Catalunya, You can buy tickets online or on the bus.
Plaça Catalunya stop
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MONTSERRAT
Montserrat is a spectacularly beautiful Benedictine monk mountain retreat about
one hour North West from Barcelona by train. Not only is Montserrat Monastery of significant religious importance, the natural beauty surrounding the monastery is simply breathtaking.
If you enjoy walking, there are also some interesting walks through the mountains where you will experience magnificent views of some of the most unusual rock formations
in Catalonia. You can take a funicular to the top of the mountain and from there you
can choose a number of different walks, all with amazing views of the Catalonian countryside.
Another highlight of your visit to Montserrat monastery is to listen to the famous Basilica choir boy performances of Gregorian chants and other genres of religious choral music. The performances can be heard free of charge in the Basilica daily with the exception of Christmas holidays, July and some other festive periods during the year.
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Additional information

MUSEU DEL DISSENY
Located at the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona’s Design Museum glorifies Catalan and, more in general, Spanish decorative and applied arts. The museum displays a marvel of handicraft from past centuries, and product, fashion and graphic design of more recent times.
The first floor displays 240 objects of mostly Spanish product design. Objects range from the obvious chairs, lamps and other furniture to a tree pit by Salavador Fábregas that adapts to the growth of the tree, and a wringer bucket Ecofrego by Carlos Rivadulla and Josep Añols that separates the wastewater. The second floor houses incredible pieces of Catalan artisanry from the 3rd to the 20th Century in ceramics, textiles, furniture, glassware, miniatures, clocks, wallpaper and more. The third floor presents a beautiful display of the development of fashion from 1550 to the present. Finally the top floor gives an overview of the evolution of Spanish graphic design between 1940 and 1980 from a side occupation for artists to a profession.
The building by Barcelona architecture firm MBM arquitectes at first impresses by its size. The public atrium of the building, called Design Hub, is enormous.
Placa de les Glòries Catalanes 37-38
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CAMP NOU
Camp Nou is the home stadium of FC Barcelona since its completion in 1957.
With a seating capacity of 99.354, it is the largest stadium in Spain, also the largest
in Europe and the third largest association football stadium in the world in terms of capacity. It has hosted two European Cup/Champions League finals in 1989 and 1999, five matches including the opening game of the 1982 FIFA World Cup and the football competition final at the 1992 Summer Olympics. It is recommended to book tickets for the Camp Nou Experience online in advance to avoid queues and handing costs.
Aristides Maillol 12
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