In Barcelona Tailor Made tour you will find ideas to shape your experience in the city as you like!

The capital of Catalonia is one of the world’s great cities of culture. Art, history, archaeology and maritime museums accompany exhibition centres, theatres and the opera whilst magnificent music can be heard either on its streets or inside terrific venues. Perhaps above all stands its architectural heritage. Lucky for us many of these extraordinary creations can be entered and explored.

Feel as though you’ve hit the highlights of Barcelona before? If this is not your first time in the city, or whether you’re simply looking for something a little different, this is the occasion for you to feel Barcelona like a local.  We offer a locally infused experience away from the crowds, bringing an opportunity to discover hidden gems of the city.

Lose yourself in the Old Town Tour

Experience the charm of Barcelona’s oldest parts wandering the alleys, streets and charming plazas .

To discover the oldest part of Barcelona there’s no better way than ambling through its streets. The Old City consists of 3 districts: Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic), El Raval and La Ribera-El Born. Les Rambles is a long non-stop pavement boulevard that crosses the Old City from Plaça Catalunya to the Columbus Monument at the harbour. With a  guide to show you through the winding alleys, you’ll discover the beautiful hidden streets and favourite local plazas. You’ll visit the Cathedral and its surroundings, the oldest part of the city (which even features Roman ruins and walls!),  Les Rambles and Mercat de la Boqueria, The Plaça del Rei and the Jewish district.

The lesser-explored area of el Raval showcases an intriguing mix of modern and ancient architecture including the city’s oldest hospital and the very modern MaCBa gallery as well as the magnificent private residence Palau Güell (the only building designed by Gaudí in this section of the city).

We will also visit the charming el Born area, including the beautiful Santa Maria del Mar basilica and the Picasso Museum which I highly recommend visiting! This is an option for you to consider and it can always be decided on the day of the tour, with the fantastic benefit of being able to skip the queues! Palau de la Música Catalana will leave you speechless with its whimsical colours and original shapes.

Tour: Picasso’s love affair with Barcelona

Explore how the streets of Barcelona witnessed the experiences of a young and vibrant Pablo Picasso.

Picasso arrived in Barcelona when he was thirteen years old and here he discovered the world, art and women. He studied and made friends who accompanied him throughout his life. Others would bring him to important life changes, like Carles Casagemas whose suicide marks the beginning of Picasso’s Blue Period.

Enjoy the details of the streets, balconies and roofs that Picasso immortalized in his paintings. At that time Barcelona was going through the intensity of the Industrial Revolution, therefore a huge urban transformation. In this tour, we will showcase some of the main places of his youth, like the street where he shared his first studio with other young artists. Along the way, we’ll learn about his first exhibitions as an unknown young painter of portraits and landscapes. We will talk about the classes he took at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the meetings at the emblematic modernist café Els 4 Gats . Without forgetting the long sordid nights in Barcelona.

Finally, we will tour through the winding streets of the old Born district, ending inside five medieval palaces, home of the Picasso Museum. The museum, designed by Picasso himself, is a homage to his beloved Barcelona.  The collection holds more than 4,000 works, including his student years, the Blue Period, the beginnings of Cubism and the Las Meninas series. Undoubtedly, an essential visit to understand his artistic evolution until he became a reference of universal art.    

Off the beaten track experiences

Discover Barcelona at your own pace, and get a feel for city life as a local!

This is an entirely tailor-made tour, so to help you choose between the many options the following is a list of some of our favourite destinations and recommendations for museums and galleries! There are many others but we had to choose so please help us find the best one for you based on your own interests!

We can say this tour offers a deep experience of the city. Where you’ll get a sense of how the city moves, its natural rhythm away from the throngs. Discovering the less well-known museums and monuments and those little streets and neighbourhoods you may never have found otherwise. We recommend public transport to move around, therefore you’ll learn how it works: it is an efficient and affordable way to travel the city. Depending on the location of your hotel or apartment perhaps the tour can even start exploring that immediate area. From there the choices are numerous!! Tell us where you are staying and we’ll make the tour for you.

Museums

Fundació Joan Miró (Contemporary art museum: Miró collection and temporary exhibitions); History Museum of Barcelona MuHBa  (Roman and pre-medieval remains underneath plaça del Rei); Museu de Les Drassanes (the maritime museum, outstanding XIVth century building and real size ships); Mercat del Born (former market, now old remains); MNAC, Nacional Art Museum of Catalonia (one of the best Romanesque art collection in Europe).

Markets

Mercat de Santa Caterina (Old Town); Mercat de la Llibertat (Gracia neighbourhood); Mercat de Sant Antoni (newly restored iron structure market from 19th century), Els Encants (a brand new location and mirror-ceiling structure for one of the oldest flea markets in Europe!).

Historical & religious buildings

Basilica Santa Maria del Mar (14th century gothic church with roof-top visit option); Santa Maria del Pi (14th century gothic church); Castell de Montjuïc (Military old fortress on top of a hill and by the sea)

More…

Barceloneta (harbour and seaside neighbourhood); Parc de la Ciutadella and Arc de Triomf (from 1888 World’s Fair); Biblioteca Arús (old library); Hospital de Sant Pau (Modernismo building by Domènech i Montaner and still active hospital); Gracia quarter and Casa Vicens (First house designed by Gaudí in Barcelona), Torre Bellesguard or Palau Güell (private residences designed by Gaudí); Casa Amatller (private home and museum designed by Puig i Cadafalch); the open-air theatre the Teatre Grec and gardens of Montjuïc.