We spent a long weekend in the wonderful city of Barcelona in September. We stayed at the recently refurbished Hotel Upper Diagonal which was lovely. The hotel was close to the metro line, bus stops and the Camp Nou so for us it was in the perfect location. Barcelona is a city for all with lots of heritage, tourist attractions, a wonderful beach and plenty of shops.

We was only there for 4 days so packed everything in that we wanted to do into a short period of however we could have easily spend a whole week. We would not hesitate to recommend Barcelona to anyone and would definitely return in a heart beat.

Positives
- Hotel only a 20 minute drive from airport
- Hotel was lovely and clean. All the staff were very friendly and the breakfast was delicious.
- Hotel close to good bus and metro links
- Short flight from the UK
- Beautiful City with plenty to see
- Food and service in restaurants was brilliant
- City with a beach so you get the best of sight seeing and a beach holiday

Drawbacks
- Pick pockets on the beach so couldn’t swim in the sea due to worrying about valuables
- Mosaics in Park Guell we’re under construction
- Sagrada had lots of scaffolding and was also extremely busy

Itinerary
Day 1 - We flew from early morning Stansted to Barcelona with Ryan Air - the flight took just over an hour and we did not have any delays. Our hotel was only 20 minute taxi from the airport so we had all afternoon to explore locally to our hotel. We visited the local parks and the Picasso museum.
Day 2 - We had a guided tour of the Camp Nou in the morning and then went site seeing. We visited the Olympic stadium, Montjuïc Castle and Sagrada Cathedral.
Day 3 - We went to the Barcelona Aquarium and then spent the afternoon on the Beach enjoying the sun. We had a romantic dinner overlooking the marina.
Day 4 - Before flying home in the evening we spent the morning shopping and seeing the Park Guell with its wonderful mosaics.

Cost Breakdown per person
- £365 - flights and hotel (package deal)
- £25 - Camp nou guided tour
- £12 - Picasso Museum Entrance fee
- £22 - Aquarium ticket
- £100 - Spending money