Hi!
I recently visited Barcelona with my wife and 2 other friends and we had an amazing visit! When the staff asked us to write a blog post about our experience so other tourists could learn about this new way of discovering the city I didn't hesitate!
We were doing a road trip around Spain, and Cataluña was a must stop. However, because we also wanted to see the Costa Brava and all its beaches and enchanted small towns, that only left us with one day to visit Barcelona... Luckily, thanks to the referral of a friend, we found a way to explore Barcelona in a fast and fun way with electric scooters!
In this post I will explain all the details you need to know if you only have one day in Barcelona, to get the most out of it, see as much as you can and have a ton of fun while doing it.
After this friend recommended me Lynx Sharing, I went to their website to explore it a little bit. As usual, I had many questions and through the chat button they were super helpful in answering all of them. I decided that I prefered to have the scooters delivered to our hotel, so we could start right on after breakfast. They arrived to the hotel reception, explained how the electric scooters work, and gave us the accesories that we ordered (lock and mobile holder).
Below is the itinerary we designed, so we could check the most iconic attractions. The Lynx Sharing guys were kind enough to give us some recommendations on which streets or spots were better to go with an electric scooter.
SAGRADA FAMILIA
From our hotel to Sagrada Familia was a really smooth drive along the beautiful Diagonal. There are very wide bicycle lanes there, so it was perfect to get used to riding the electric scooters. The first meters were a bit intense, but after less than a minute I was having fun like a kid!
We got to the Sagrada Familia and it is a cathedral like you have never seen before. Altough it was comissioned in 1883 to Antoni Gaudí, it is still under construction, who know for how long! You can clearly see his personal style embedded into all the walls, towers, doors and scenery that he created.
We parked the electric scooters with the locks nearby and went for our guided visit. This is very important: schedule and get the tickets in advance!! Although you don't absolutely need to go inside, I recommend that you do to fully appreciate the beauty and spirituality of one of the Europe's best cathedrals.
LA VILA OLÍMPICA DEL POBLENOU
After Sagrada Familia we headed down to the beach, following a straight route to La Vila Olímpica. It's very nice because in the way you can stop by La Monumental (a 1914 art nouveau bullring, now used for concerts & shows, with a bullfighting history museum inside), by the Palau del Parlament de Catalunya (Stately, 1700s seat of the Catalan Parliament, open on weekends, in the Parc de la Ciutadella), etc.
Once we arrived there we just explored around with the electric scooters. It was super fun and exiciting to ride them, playing with each other and racing with the beach and sea on our side. The weather was wonderful, so we rested a little bit to catch some ocean breeze before we headed to lunch.
There are many trendy restaurants at the end of the beach under the W Hotel. We stopped and ate really tasteful paella and patatas bravas at El Gallito, and I definitely recommend the Sangría to refresh a bit and rest from the heat. They were very nice and allowed us to lock the scooters there, so we had no problems in that sense.
CATHEDRAL OF BARCELONA & GOTHIC QUARTER
Once we had recovered some energy we started heading to the Gothic Quarter and the Cathedral of Barcelona. One of the things I liked about Barcelona is how diverse its architecture and vibes are. Coming from a contemporary neighborhood, to a modernist one and then immersing yourself into the Gothic times brings a kind of magic to the city.
Here sometimes we had to be a bit more careful with pedestrians, but overall it was fun and easy to discover hidden streets, roman walls and intriguing corners with the electric scooters.
We got to the Cathedral but didn't get in. Someone at the entrance required a dress code that we unfortunately didn't meet, so just be aware of that when you go (you need to have your shoulders and above the knees covered). However, we were lucky and we saw some acrobatic show in the plaza in front.
Thanks to the electric scooters we were able to discover other churches, Santa Caterina Market, La Boquería Market, Ramblas and many other places. It was a blast!
FONT MÀGICA DE MONTJUÏC
After the Gothic Quarter thanks God we had the electric scooters. We climbed the hills with ease. We started from behind, seeing first the castle and some other viewpoints that we found along the way. Unexpectedely we came accross the Joan Miró Foundation (showcase of Joan Miro's modern, colorful artworks in hilltop museum with courtyards and terraces), which was a lovely discovery, even if you are not that into art. The architecture and terraces are just amazing!
We continued with our electric scooters to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, a place that had been on my wish list for a long time! We stopped by the cafeteria at the top and I orderer a horchata, sat down on the stairs and we enjoyed a beautiful panoramic view of Barcelona. Here I recommend to take your time, enjoy without a hurry and unwind.
RAMBLAS & CLOSING...
As it was on our way, we stopped by Passeig de Gracia, a very transited street with many things to view. More concretely we looked at the Casa Batlló (fantastical, curving dragon-roofed apartment block, now a museum, created by architect Antoni Gaudi) and Casa Milá (Gaudi's Catalan art nouveau period building with quarrylike facade, hosting exhibitions & concerts).
Before returning the electric scooters at Lynx Sharing store, we took a last stop at Arc del Triumph, which was very close by. Sadly, we felt how our day was ending, but we were very grateful that we could have visited so many places in just a day!
The return was very fast and friendly. After that, we headed for dinner, where we had the chance to rest and look at all of the awesome pictures we have taken of such an amazing city that Barcelona is!!
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