Barcelona with Teenager July 2022

Other key modernista-architecture sights in Barcelona:

Casa Mila/La Pedrera (also by Gaudi)
Casa Batllo (also by Gaudi)
Parc Guell (also by Gaudi)
Palau de la Musica Catalana (can be toured; also has evening performances)
Sant Pau modernista site (multi-building complex, a former hospital)

Except for the Sant Pau site, all of the above (and La Sagrada Familia) require pre-purchased tickets to avoid extremely long ticket lines, and possibly not getting in at all on the day you have planned. Parc Guell doesn't even have tickets for sale at the park.

The Barri Gotic is a picturesque medieval district. There's a lot of shopping there.

I really liked the Barri Gotic walking tour run by the tourist office.

I hope others can give you suggestions more targeted to a male teenager's likely interests.

I'd recommend:
1. Tapas Crawl in El Born or El Poble Sec
2. MUHBA Plaza del Rey (underground Roman Ruins)
3. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
4. Castillo de Montjuïc (views)
5. Tibidabo (views + oldest amusement park in Spain)
6. Explore the quirky and hip Vila de Gracia neighbourhood

My recommended day trips:
1. Tarragona (for Roman Ruins)
2. Poblet Royal Monastery (UNESCO HS)
3. Girona
4. Vic (on market day)

Hope this helps :)

Teen, what age?

The original post says 15 years old.

Oopsy, yes, now I see that, thanks Anne.

One more question @M61, what else can you tell us about your grandson? Three days is not enough to visit the city so you'll have to "choose" your venues, knowing more about him, maybe recommendations can be more likely to hit the spot.

The chocolate museum should be a hit. And I think the Picasso museum should be on your list. It's small, and has a lot of Picasso's very early, representational stuff.

Also, check out the square in front of the cathedral (not Sagrada Familia) to see if there are any sardana dancers there. Stan (not a teen, Lol) was enchanted. And we lucked out when we were there; it was a religious holiday (Pentecost, I think) and there were the human tower climbers (castellers) and the giant puppets (gigantes) in the square, as well. It was magical!

I suspect most people skip the museum section of La Sagrada Familia (I saw few people there though the church itself was packed), but I thought it was quite interesting. Allow time at least to check it out. If it isn't appealing, you will have lost only a few minutes.

Note that once you enter the gift shop at La Sagrada Familia, you cannot go back into the church/museum.

All the Gaudi sights have audio guides. I found them quite good. Pre-pandemic they were all massively crowded (as was the Picasso Museum), though the visitor load at Parc Guell wasn't as annoying since it's outdoors. I give you this warning so you will be mentally prepared for what you will face. Even if they have reduced capacity at the time of your visit, you will still be surrounded by a lot of other folks. That's one of the great things about the Sant Pau site; it is very lightly visited--or was as of my most recent visit in 2019.

Day trip to Montserrat or Girona, Montjuic Castle. If he is a soccer fan, a tour of Camp Nou.

Second acraven's comment about the museum at Sagrada Familia. The displays explain the how and why of many of the design elements.

Not Barcelona specific, but my teenage boys love food tours. Eating Europe is a company we've used more than once and has been really good.

How about a bike tour of the city with Fat Tire Bikes? We really enjoyed ours. Besides seeing the fabulous Basilica, what else does he say he would like to do? My son (older than your grandson) really enjoyed Parc Guell and other amazing Gaudi sites. I also second the suggestion for a day trip to Monserrat.

Thank you all for your great recommendations. Loved the suggestions about a food and bike tours. He is more into tech than sports and currently want to study architecture at university.
I know three days is rarely long enough in a city like Barcelona. This is just a "tasting" and his first trip to Spain. Betting he'll be back!

I have traveled with my kids when they were young and recommend by the time they are 15, just treat them like adults.

M61,

So... architecture, techie, one museum per day... not really much to go with but...:))))

One big advantage is that Barcelona is one of the most "architectural" cities in the World and you'll find fine examples of many different styles, from medieval churches and palaces to bourgeoise villas to modern architecture at every corner, so to speak. And the best part is that you can either take a guided tour -recommended so you get on-the-spot background info on what you're seeing- or you can also DIY at your own pace. For the latter, one very good resource to explore the vast collection of intricate Catalan Modernist buildings is to get the official "Barcelona Modernisme Route" guide which allows you to DIY this magnificent route at your convenience while giving you enough info so you better understand what you're seeing.

IMHO I think DIYing is the best way to really know a city as it does not only allow you to visit the places you really want to visit, but also everything in between. For many North American visitors that haven't been much in Europe, this facet of the trip can be eye-opening because in the homeland one tends to go from A to B to C by car (in most places!) thus remaining in the dark about what's in between. In most European cities, due to the large history behind them, there's always "something" interesting to see around the corner. Also, most of the time is best to plan for walking and --when necessary-- taking public transportation --yes, safe, clean, cheap, everybody uses it :).

Catalan Modernism (or "Modernisme" in Catalan -the local language) is a cultural movement that appeared at the end of the 19th century, around the time of the Industrial Revolution. While it has a lot in common with other cultural movements of the period, such as Art Nouveau, it is also greatly tied to the specific context of Catalonia and its capital city Barcelona. From an architectural point of view, this is probably the period for which Barcelona is best known, but the city is over 2,000 years old and there are other examples of architecture equally worth exploring.

As per the guide mentioned above, note that many of the houses and buildings you'll see are private offices, and/or religious and residential premises so you won't be able to get in. But there are a few dozens you can, and from those the most "popular" probably are:

• Sagrada Família
• Casa Batlló
• Casa Milà (aka La Pedrera)
• Palau de la Música Catalana
• Park Güell
• Palau Güell
• Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau
• Casa de Les Punxes
• Casa Vicens
• Torre Bellesguard

Any combination of these will most surely cater for your craves for Modernism architecture and, to me, there aren't "better than the rest" as each one has its own personality and distinct features.

And this is only the Modernist ones, but then you have more fine examples from other periods: from the Roman origins of the city to the Medieval period of the Catalano-Aragonese Empire to modern 20th-century icons. There are literally dozens, probably not so "museized" and less spectacular but equally great to see -and far less busy, if anything at all.

-part 1-

=====
enric$architecture enric$barcelona enric$modernism

Some examples (of which some can visit inside (#), others only admire the façade):

• Ancient: MUHBA Plaça Reial(#), Temple d'August(#), prehistoric remains at the back of Mercat de Santa Caterina,
• Medieval: Monestir de Pedralbes(#), Santa Maria del Mar(#), Biblioteca de Catalunya(#), Call Jueu -Jewish quarter-(#), Les Drassanes (Portal de Santa Madrona and Museu Marítim)(#), Monestir de Sant Pere de les Puel·les(#), Santa Maria del Pí(#), Monestir de Sant Pau del Camp(#)...
• Early Modern: Basílica de la Mercè(#), Casa de Convalescència(#), Palau Dalmases(#), el Palau del Lloctinent...
• Modernist: besides those mentioned earlier also Güell Pavilions(#), Palau Macaya, Casa Lleó i Morera, Palau del Baró de Quadras, Casa Sayrach... and a zillion more (https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categoria:Edificis_modernistes_de_Barcelona)
• Modern: Pabelló Mies Van der Rohe(#), Mercat de Santa Caterina(#) by Miralles, Torre Agbar from architect Jean Nouvel, Edifici del Forum(#) from Herzog & de Meuron -the Natural History Museum is there-, the Golden Fish of Frank Gehry, telecomms tower from Norman Foster, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA)(#) by Richard Meier...

Some specific suggestions I believe might catch your interest, do google for more info:

• https://www.mhcat.cat/enmhc -The Museum of the History of Catalonia, to me it's an undervalued gem that it's well worth visiting, but again I am a History nerd :)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3gT8BFH_EQ -La Casa dels Entremesos (the video is in Catalan, but the museum contains explanations in other languages, including English). What's this about? https://www.barcelona.cat/culturapopular/en/festivals/festival-imagery/bestiari
• https://monestirpedralbes.barcelona/en -The Monastery of Pedralbes, dating from 1327, a great example of perfectly preserved religious architecture inside the city
• https://www.bsc.es/discover-bsc/visit-our-supercomputer -Visits to MareNostrum, the most powerful supercomputer in Spain and the 63rd in the World (2021)... since your boy is a techie, right?
• https://infocatalonia.eu/w/aGVve -a very interesting Science Museum

Again, with the limited info you gave about your grandson, it's rather complicated to open the range to other suggestions... as there are so many!

Enjoy!

PS. On another topic, should your grandson pursue a career in technology and should he'd like to explore living in Europe, this information might come handy: https://techbarcelona.com/en/ Barcelona is, these days, one of the poles in the South of Europe for anything technology-related with a great ecosystem of institutes, companies and startups.

=====
enric$architecture enric$barcelona enric$modernism enric$history enric$technology

If you have an extra day - he (& you) might enjoy a day trip out to Monserrat. DH & I still marvel at the incline of the cog railway and "how/why did they build it all, way up on that hill?"