A day – and perhaps a night – in bursting- with- life Barcelona can add a dash of urban excitement to your villa holiday on Spain's Costa Brava. Robin Gauldie knows what to see and do.

Bubbling Barcelona

 

Espai d'Imatge ©Turisme de Barcelona

Since 1992, when it bootstrapped itself to tourism success on the back of its successful Olympics bid, Catalunya’s capital has been one of Europe’s most popular destinations – and deservedly so, because it combines great food, top shopping and unique architecture with colourful streetlife and family attractions. So to inject a spot of city buzz into your next villa break, plan in a day in Spain’s liveliest city.

Barcelona is made for city rambling, with good public transport (from trams to cable-cars) – and the best tapas bars in Spain mean you can stop to recharge your batteries with a swift snack, a beer or a glass of wine whenever you want, without wasting ages on a big sit-down meal. To make the most of Barcelona, plan to stay out late – very late. If you dine much before 10 pm you’ll be sure of finding a restaurant table – but it may well be in an empty restaurant, as the city’s nightlife doesn’t kick off much earlier than that.

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia Espai d'Imatge ©Turisme de Barcelona

Sagrada Familia

First stop has to be Antonio Gaudi's mosaic-covered Cathedral of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia) with its melting-candle profile and brilliant colours. Still unfinished, the cathedral is Gaudi’s most famous memorial, but you can see other examples of his strange work around the city’s ‘Modern Quarter’, including the architect's own townhouse, Casa Batllo and the bizarre but wonderful Pedrera apartment building – great to look at, but you can’t help wondering what it must be like to live there.

Barri Gotic

Around the cathedral, the Gothic Quarter is Barcelona’s mediaeval heart, a maze of sometimes malodorous lanes and alleys full of old-fashioned bars, delicatessens, and a scattering of antique shops and stores selling old carnival masks and conjurors’ paraphernalia, like the Museu del Rei de la Magia (Museum of the King of Magic) at 11, Calle de la Princesa.

Parc Guell

Parc Guell  Jordi Trullàs ©Turisme de Barcelona

Parc Guell Jordi Trull's

There’s more Gaudi at Parc Guell (no admission charge), which looks a bit like the archaeological remains of some weird and long-gone civilisation with a taste for psychedelic colours and avant-garde design. There are brightly-coloured, strangely-shaped little houses and rows of odd-sized, leaning columns lining pathways of coloured tiles – and there’s a great view of the city.

Museu Picasso

Barcelona’s other famous (adopted) son is memorialised at the Museu Picasso on Carrer Montcada (tel 93 31 96 310; 10.00-20.00 Tues-Sat, 10.00-15.00 Sun) which houses the best of his early work, including the famous Harlequin – one of Picasso's most immediately recognisable and likeable paintings. Other avant-garde painters are also represented.

Placa del Rei

Pl.del Rei is the site of the original Roman city of Barcino and is the jewel of mediaeval Barcelona. It is dominated by the magnificent Palau Reial Major (Royal Palace) and the Salo del Tinell (Great Hall), and beneath it lie the remains of the Roman settlement. You can see archaeological finds unearthed beneath the city streets in the Museu d’Historia de la Ciutat, also on Pl. del Rei.

Barri Gotic   Espai d'Imatge ©Turisme de Barcelona

Barri Gotic