Must-see attractions in Catalonia

  • BARCELONA - AUGUST 9: View of the Sagrada Familia, iconic landmark in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on August 9, 2017. Designed by Gaudi and estimated to be completed by 2028. Cranes digitally removed
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    La Sagrada Família

    L'Eixample

    The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) is considered to be the symbol of Barcelona by many residents, and the…

  • Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain

    Park Güell

    Barcelona

    Visitors and locals alike love Park Güell. The waving balcony and the colorful Guard’s House, with the imposing Barcelona skyline and sea in the…

  • Barcelona, Casa Batlló is one of the two great buildings designed by Antoni Gaudí on Passeig de Gràcia From the outside the façade of Casa Batlló looks like it has been made from skulls and bones.

    Casa Batlló

    L'Eixample

    One of Europe's strangest residential buildings, Casa Batlló (built 1904–6) is Gaudí at his fantastical best. From its playful facade and marine-world…

  • Barcelona, Spain - June 12, 2017 : Casa Mila  popularly known as La Pedrera or open quarry, a reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, i

    La Pedrera

    L'Eixample

    In the top tier of Gaudí's achievements, this madcap Unesco-listed masterpiece, with 33 balconies, was built in 1905–10 as a combined apartment and office…

  • Mercat de la Boqueria

    Mercat de la Boqueria

    La Rambla & Barri Gòtic

    Barcelona's most central fresh-produce market is one of the greatest sound, smell and colour sensations in Europe. It's housed in a packed-out Modernista…

  • Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, Spain

    Fundació Joan Miró

    Barcelona

    Joan Miró was a Catalan painter and sculptor born in Barcelona who combined abstract art with surrealism. He is considered one of the most influential…

  • OCTOBER 26, 2014: People walking past market stalls on the La Rambla street in Barcelona.

    La Rambla

    La Rambla & Barri Gòtic

    La Rambla is a tree-lined boulevard featuring a wide array of architectural delights, beautifully decorated flower stalls and particularly talented (and…

  • Salvador Dali museum

    Teatre-Museu Dalí

    Figueres

    The first name that pops into your head when you lay eyes on this red castle-like building, topped with giant eggs and stylised Oscar-like statues and…

  • Casa Museu Dalí

    Cadaqués

    Overlooking a peaceful cove in Port Lligat, a tiny fishing settlement 1km northeast of Cadaqués, this magnificent seaside complex was the residence and…

  • Image taken on Montjuïc

    Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

    Barcelona

    The spectacular neobaroque silhouette of the Palau Nacional can be seen on Montjuïc's slopes from across the city. Built for the 1929 World Exhibition and…

  • Outside of the Cathedral

    La Catedral

    La Rambla & Barri Gòtic

    Barcelona’s central place of worship presents a magnificent image. The richly decorated main facade, dotted with gargoyles and the kinds of stone…

  • Barcelona, Spain: 18 07 10: Columns of Temple of Augustus in Barcelona : The Temple of Augustus is one of the Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA) heritage sites.; Shutterstock ID 1866177223; GL: 65050; netsuite: digital; full: POI; name: Riley Arthur
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Columns of Temple of Augustus in Barcelona : The Temple of Augustus is one of the Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA) heritage sites

    Museu d’Història de Barcelona

    La Rambla & Barri Gòtic

    One of Barcelona's most fascinating museums travels back through the centuries to the very foundations of Roman Barcino. You'll stroll over ruins of the…

  • The interior of the Palau Guell, a mansion in Barcelona, December 20, 2011.
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    Palau Güell

    El Raval

    Built off La Rambla in the late 1880s for Gaudí's wealthy patron the industrialist Eusebi Güell, the Palau Güell is a magnificent example of the early…

  • Greco-Roman archaeological sites of Ampurias (Empuries) in the Gulf of Roses, Catalonia, Spain.

    Empúries

    Costa Brava

    The evocative seaside archaeological site of Empúries, 1.5km northwest of central L'Escala, immerses you in a strategic Greek, and later Roman, trading…

  • Castell de Pubol.

    Castell de Púbol

    Palafrugell & Around

    If you’re intrigued by artist Salvador Dalí, the Castell de Púbol is an essential piece of the puzzle. Between Girona and Palafrugell (22km northwest of…

  • Barcelona, Spain – February 03, 2023: The beautiful Camp Nou stadium exterior on a sunny day in Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona, Spain – February 03, 2023: The beautiful Camp Nou stadium exterior on a sunny day in Barcelona, Spain
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The beautiful Camp Nou stadium exterior on a sunny day in Barcelona, Spain

    Barça Stadium Tour & Museum

    Barcelona

    A pilgrimage site for football fans around the world, Camp Nou is a must for FC Barcelona fans. On this tour, which can be guided or self-guided, you'll…

  • The exterior of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art or Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

    MACBA

    El Raval

    An extraordinary all-white, glass-fronted creation by American architect Richard Meier, opened in 1995, the MACBA has become the city's foremost…

  • Museum of Frederic Mares in Barcelona. Sculpture collection - gothic, middle ages

    Museu Frederic Marès

    La Rambla & Barri Gòtic

    The wealthy Catalan sculptor, traveller and obsessive collector Frederic Marès i Deulovol (1893–1991) amassed one of the wildest collections of historical…

  • Barcelona, Spain - September 20, 2021: Casa Vicens is a modernist building located in Barcelona, in the district of Gracia. The work of Antoni Gaudí, it was the first important project of the architect.

    Casa Vicens

    Barcelona

    A Unesco-listed masterpiece, this angular, turreted 1885-completed private house was Gaudí’s inaugural commission, when the architect was aged just 30,…

  • Girona cathedral facade with statues in a beautiful summer day, Catalonia, Spain.

    Catedral de Girona

    Girona

    Towering over a flight of 86 steps rising from Plaça de la Catedral, Girona's imposing cathedral is far more ancient than its billowing baroque facade…

  • The old castle of Cardona built on a mountain in Catalonia, Spain.

    Castell de Cardona

    Catalonia

    Visible long before entering Cardona, this hilltop fortress broods above the modern town. From this strategic position, centuries of noblemen have kept a…

  • Natural Reserve of Illes Medes near L'Estartit, Spain.

    Illes Medes

    Costa Brava

    The allure of the Illes Medes, seven islets off L'Estartit beach, lies in their range of depths (down to 50m), kaleidoscopic marine life, and underwater…

  • Entrance to Museu Marítim

    Museu Marítim

    Barcelona

    The city's maritime museum occupies the mighty Gothic Reials Drassanes (Royal Shipyards) – a remarkable relic from Barcelona's days as the seat of a…

  • Monserrat Monastery in the mountains of Catalonia.

    Monestir de Montserrat

    Montserrat

    Catalonia's most renowned monastery was established in 1025 to commemorate local shepherds' visions of the Virgin Mary, accompanied by celestial light and…

  • The Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes.

    Monestir de Sant Pere de Rodes

    Costa Brava

    Views of distant Pyrenean peaks and the deep-blue Mediterranean combine with a spectacular piece of Romanesque architecture at this hillside monastery,…

  • Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll.

    Monestir de Santa Maria

    The Catalan Pyrenees

    Consecrated in CE 888, Ripoll's monastery was Catalonia’s spiritual and cultural heart from the mid-10th to mid-11th century. The five-naved basilica was…

  • Madrid, Spain - October 05, 2019: Plenty of tourists walk in front of the statue of King Philips III at the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain.

    Catedral de Tarragona

    Tarragona

    Crowning the town, Tarragona’s cathedral incorporates both Romanesque and Gothic features, as typified by the main facade. The flower-filled cloister has…

  • Cau Ferrat Museum in Sitges, Spain.

    Museu del Cau Ferrat

    Sitges

    Built in the 1890s as a house-studio by Catalan artist Santiago Rusiñol, a pioneer of the Modernisme movement, this seaside mansion is crammed with his…

  • Reial Monestir de Santes Creus

    Catalonia

    On approaching this majestic monastery, an atmosphere of awe descends in broad Plaça de Sant Bernat Calbó: its mix of architectural styles spans seven…

  • La Seu Vella

    Catalonia

    Lleida’s ‘old cathedral’, enclosed within a later fortress complex, towers above the city from its commanding hilltop location. Work began on the…

  • Museu d’Història dels Jueus

    Girona

    Until 1492, Girona was home to Catalonia’s second-most important medieval Jewish community, after Barcelona, and one of the country's finest Jewish…

  • Catedral de Santa Maria & Museu Diocesà

    The Catalan Pyrenees

    Dominating La Seu d'Urgell's old town is the 12th-century, pale sandstone Santa Maria cathedral – one of Catalonia’s outstanding Romanesque buildings. Its…

  • Sant Climent de Taüll

    The Catalan Pyrenees

    On Taüll's fringes, this 12th-century Romanesque church is a gem not only for its elegant, simple lines and slender six-storey bell tower (which you can…

  • Cosmo Caixa, a science museum located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    CosmoCaixa

    Barcelona

    One of the city’s most popular family-friendly attractions, this science museum is a favourite with kids (and kids at heart). The single greatest…

  • Barcelona beach, Torre Mapfre

    El Poblenou Platges

    Barcelona

    A series of beautiful, broad, sandy golden beaches dotted with xiringuitos (seasonal beach bars) stretches northeast from the Port Olímpic marina. They're…

  • Barcelona, Spain - January 21, 2024: Palau de Mar, a former port warehouse that houses the Museum of the History of Catalonia (Museu d’Història de Catalunya in Catalan). Port Vell, Barcelona, Spain

    Museu d’Història de Catalunya

    Barcelona

    Within the revitalised 1880s Palau de Mar, this excellent museum travels from the Stone Age through to the arrival of Modernisme in Catalonia and the…

  • Monestir de Sant Joan de les Abadesses

    The Catalan Pyrenees

    Who gallops through the hills around Sant Joan de les Abadesses on stormy nights, on a horse engulfed in flames and accompanied by ravenous black dogs? If…

  • Catedral de Sant Pere

    Catalonia

    Centuries of styles clash in Vic’s exquisite cathedral. Most of the neoclassical exterior dates to the 18th century, but the seven-storey Romanesque bell…

  • Cap de Sant Sebastià

    Palafrugell & Around

    The magical promontory framing the eastern end of Llafranc offers fabulous views in both directions and out to sea. It hosts an 1857 lighthouse, home to…

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