48 Hours In Barcelona
I'm not gonna lie, as much as I'm excited to be sat here telling you all about our 48 hours in Barcelona, I'm pretty damn sad that we're not still there. I'm having an intense tapas and cava comedown, and the miserable grey British weather hasn't got a patch on the Spanish sunshine we were treated to this weekend. Anyway, I need to stop whinging and get cracking with telling you about what we got up to, don't I? When the lovely team at Jet2 asked us if we wanted to give one of their city breaks a whirl, the lure of double digit temperatures in February made Barcelona too difficult to resist. It's a city we've both visited before, but not for years, and never in the winter, so we were very excited to arrive and get exploring.
48 hours in barcelona
Our trip started at Leeds Bradford airport on Friday morning. After a ten minute taxi ride (side note: we never, ever fly from Leeds Bradford and I really don't know why because the convenience of having an airport so close is amazing!), and a super speedy check in by the lovely Jet2 team, we were soon sat gate side with a yummy bacon butty and the obligatory glass of Prosecco.
The flight was quick, comfortable and pretty uneventful. I stocked up on my fave Benefit Rollerlash mascara (2 tubes for £25, what a bargain), had a little nap and before I knew it, we'd landed. When you book a city break with Jet2 you have the option to book a transfer to your hotel, which we did, so once we'd collected our bags all we had to do was toddle on over to the rep and hop on the bus. It felt like quite a treat as we're so used to trying to figure out the best route and arguing about which direction the metro is in whenever we land somewhere new...
h10 urquinaona barcelona
We stayed at the dreamy H10 Urquinaona and I honestly couldn't rave about this place more. Not only is the building absolutely beautiful, but the staff there couldn't have been more lovely. They were serving everyone cava on check in (which I genuinely think all hotels should do, tbh), they greeted us warmly every time we came back to the hotel and they were really helpful with everything we needed, from arranging taxis to pointing us in the right direction.
The room was gorgeous and had everything you could need for a city break - a super comfy bed, a Nespresso machine for that first coffee of the day and a humongous shower. There were also lots of little luxurious touches, like robes, slippers and Rituals toiletries, which made all the difference. The hotel also boasts a rooftop pool (we didn't get to use it, because February, but it would be gorge in the summer!) and a lovely garden terrace, complete with a very blogger-esque plant wall.
48 hours in barcelona
Once we'd dumped our bags and freshened up, we headed out to explore. Our tummies were rumbling by this point, so a tapas crawl was in order! We started at La Boqueria, a food market just of La Rambla that is always bustling, before heading to Placa Reial. This square in the Gothic quarter was one of our faves when we visited Barcelona in 2013, and it was so lovely to return. We sat outside a little bar, drinking cold beers, eating tapas and generally soaking up the sunshine and palm tree views - bliss.
48 hours in barcelona
We spent the rest of the evening doing much of the same - getting lost wandering down tiny winding streets, hopping from bar to bar and eating some very delicious food. I love the buzz of stumbling across a little place that's filled with locals and feeling like you're getting a little insight into the culture and "real life" of the city, and it was a perfect way to start our trip.
After a dreamy night's sleep in our comfy cloud bed, we were up and at 'em for our only full day in the city. We started with brunch of course (full foodie blog post coming your way soon...), before heading to explore some areas that were new to us. We strolled around El Born, which was full of gorgeous shops and pretty squares, checked out the cathedral and visited the Picasso museum which was super interesting.
48 hours in barcelona
48 hours in barcelona
Next up was a visit to Parc de la Ciutadella, which was totally gorgeous - all of the orange trees had me wanting to move to sunnier climes pronto. We then ate lunch at the Santa Catarina market, before heading down to the harbour for a stroll. Sadly the weather wasn't on our side and it was cloudy and cool, but taking in the pretty views was lovely all the same. We wandered back to the hotel along La Rambla, soaking up the bustling vibe and pretty buildings, before enjoying a much needed nap pre-dinner nap.
48 hours in barcelona
We got up early the next day to fully make the most of our last morning. We jumped in a taxi to Park Güell and spent an hour or so admiring it's beauty and the views over the city. The sun was shining again and the park was pretty quiet, and it was honestly such a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning. I think this park might be one of my favourite in the whole world, and it's well worth a visit if you're in Barcelona.
Once we'd had our Gaudí fill, we wandered back down to the city centre, weaving our way through pretty streets and neighbourhoods and stopping every 2.5 seconds to take photos of pastel houses. Blogger cliche, me? Never. We headed for one last delicious brunch and then it was time to head back to the hotel and catch our transfer back to the airport.
We honestly had the loveliest 48 hours in Barcelona, and the weekend away was exactly what we needed. It's such a brilliant destination that offers everything you could possibly want from a city break - delicious food, culture, world renowned architecture, sunshine... You name it, Barcelona's got it.
We headed home feeling relaxed, refreshed, and above all else happy. Thank you so much Jet2 for sending us away and giving us the opportunity to explore this city again - I'm sure it won't be our last trip.
Pin for later:
48 Hours In Barcelona