Curator’s statement
In August of 2023, we took a seven-day Celebrity Cruise out of Barcelona and spent two amazing days enjoying the beautiful city. We stayed at the Casa Camper Barcelona and could not have been happier with the stay! The hotel is centrally located off La Rambla, within easy walking distance of luxury shopping, the La Boqueria Market and, of course, amazing restaurants. The rooms are spacious and clean, and many of them have a small lounge across the hall from the main bedroom. This was a neat feature when getting accustomed to the time change. Our room had a glass wall with a view of an interior garden. It was quite lovely. Breakfast is included in some rates and snacks/beverages throughout the day are complimentary. We would definitely stay here again!
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We hit the ground running after the overnight flight. Fortunately, the hotel had early check-in available and we grabbed a quick breakfast before embarking on a half-day private tour of Montserrat Monastery through In Out Tours Barcelona. Our guide, Javi, was amazing! He was super knowledgeable about the history of the Monastery and took us off the beaten path a little to personalize the tour.
On the way back to our hotel, we decided we couldn’t wait for some tapas, so Javi dropped us off at one of his favorite places: Bar Lobo. Much to our delight, we were early enough to walk in without a reservation and were walking distance back to Casa Camper because after that amazing food, we were ready to pass out!
Day two was even more perfect! We booked a full-day private tour through Explore Catalunya. Our guide was Sergio, and he was incredible. Because of Casa Camper’s great location, we could start our walking tour right from the hotel. We walked through the Gothic Quarter, grabbed a quick coffee and were on our way! We had skip-the-line tickets to both Sagrada Familia and Park Güell (which were sold out that day) and Sergio seemed to know everyone because I think we skipped the “skip-the-line” queues too. I cannot begin to describe the feeling that I got walking into Sagrada Familia. It was the most impressive place I have ever been. After a quick lunch break, we moved on to Park Güell for a guided tour and then finished at La Pedrera-Casa Milà.
That evening, we strolled the streets around our hotel and found Alegoria Restaurante (Carrer d'en Xuclà, 3), and had the best paella we’ve ever had! Make sure to save room for dessert — directly across from Alegoria is a small cafe called Granja Viader, where you can get fresh churros and hot chocolate. Check out their website for a neat history of the cafe, which dates back to 1870.
Embarkation day: Another benefit of Casa Camper’s location was that we could walk to the La Boqueria Market before we checked out and headed to the port without stressing about time or transportation.
Need to know
If you only have a couple of days pre-cruise in Barcelona, I highly recommend our itinerary and if you only have one day, find Sergio and spend the day with him! We were able to recover from our jet lag while still seeing a ton of Barcelona! Casa Camper was the perfect home base and the private tours allowed us to see the highlights of Barcelona at our pace.
This trip report is part of our ongoing series on travel to Barcelona. In need of further inspiration? Check out Michelle Thomasson’s guide, Barcelona Bliss: Your Vibrant Spanish Getaway Awaits.
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Scott Boymel
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