The Ultimate Pre-Cruise Day in Barcelona

Start your day with a nutritious breakfast at your hotel—which will likely be complimentary if you book through a Fora Advisor, like me! For us, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Virens, the restaurant at our hotel, Almanac Barcelona. Not only was the food amazing, but the decor was chic and put us in the best mood for the busy day ahead.

After breakfast, get ready for your half-day sidecar tour! At 9:30 am, meet your private guide outside of your hotel, where you’ll embark on a three-and-a-half-hour tour across the city. The guide will drive the motorcycle and narrate while you take in the sights of Barcelona from the sidecar. This was such a fun way to see the city and its main attractions in a relatively short time. Each tour can be customized to your liking, and I have the perfect tour operator to make it happen, so reach out for more information!

Once you’ve had a chance to decompress, it’s time to head out for the afternoon! You’ll likely be hungry by this point, so let’s get you to a tapas restaurant for some fuel. We went to Bar del Pla, which is located in the narrow streets of Barcelona’s El Born neighborhood. All of their dishes are made with local, fresh, and seasonal ingredients. They also have an amazing selection of wines, which features a variety of natural, biodynamic, organic, and sulfite-free wines. We absolutely loved the “Pinky Panky,” a natural wine made just for the restaurant!

After lunch, take a short stroll to one of the nearby museums. We purchased tickets in advance for the Moco Museum, which features modern, contemporary, and street art—they also have locations in Amsterdam (the original) and London. Personally, I’m not a big museum lover, but I chose this one because of its boutique nature and the artists it features—Warhol, Haring, Banksy, Basquiat, Kusama, and KAWS.

After the museum, we walked over to Dr. Stravinsky, a craft cocktail bar that has been awarded many accolades, including reaching number 25 on The World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2019. It’s very close to the Moco Museum, which is why we went there; however, Barcelona has many highly-regarded cocktail bars, including Sips (which received the top spot on The World's 50 Best Bars list in 2023) and Paradiso (which received it in 2022).

Now, the only way to cap off this amazing day is to have a standout dinner at one of the city’s Michelin-starred restaurants. I selected Mont Bar due to its proximity to our hotel, gastro-bar vibe, and à la carte menu option. We ended up going with the tasting menu, which was 18 courses of pure bliss, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The service matched the quality of the food, and at the end of the meal, you receive a souvenir menu that’s perfect for your post-trip scrapbook.