💰 Trip to Barcelona Cost: My Budget Breakdown (2024)

💰 Trip Cost	Very Expensive
💵 Typical Budget	$90-$200/day
🍀 My Budget	$155/day
✈️ Trip Total	$621
🗓️ Trip Length	4 days

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Is Barcelona Affordable To Travel To?

Barcelona is an expensive destination but on par with many other popular European cities. It’s generally cheaper than places like London, Paris, and Venice.

Comparing Spain’s top destinations, Barcelona is generally more expensive than Seville, Valencia, and the capital city of Madrid. A mid-range budget traveler’s daily budget in Spain can look like this:

• Barcelona – $160 per day
• Madrid – $135 per day
• Seville – $130 per day
• Valencia – $120 per day

For comparison, here’s my daily budget for destinations in Europe:

Country	My Budget
🇮🇸 Iceland	$307
🇪🇸 Spain	$155
🇮🇹 Italy	$131
🇵🇹 Portugal	$116

See all my daily budgets.

About My Trip

To give context to the expenses below, here’s what you need to know about my trip:

• I spent four days in Barcelona, which gave me enough time to see some of the top attractions, do a day hike in Montserrat, and have some downtime.
• My trip was in May, during the start of the high season, when things are more expensive.
• Unlike most of my other trips, I traveled solo, so I didn’t split costs with anyone.
• I’m a mid-range budget traveler. I don’t aim to travel on a budget, but I’m intentional about my spending.
• I finance my trips and don’t receive sponsorship.
• All expenses are per person and in US dollars, converted from the euro.

The exchange rate was $1 USD = €0.92 at the time of writing.

Total Cost

• $851
• $621
• $155

A mid-range budget traveler can expect to spend about $200 per day in Barcelona. This budget generally means:

• Staying at accommodations that cost about $100 per night
• Eating at $ to $$ restaurants
• Taking advantage of the city’s metro
• Paying for popular Gaudí attractions

Budget Breakdown

Here’s a breakdown of my expenses by travel category:

Category	Cost	% of Total	Daily Budget
✈️ Flights	$230	27%	–
🏠 Accommodation	$215	25%	$54
🍛 Food	$261	31%	$65
🚗 Transportation	$60	7%	$15
⭐ Entertainment	$85	10%	$21
Total	$851	100%	$155

Flight Cost

• $230 (flying in from Italy and out to Portugal)

A round-trip flight between the US and Barcelona costing under $300 is considered cheap, as international flights typically cost over $350.

Accommodation Cost

• $215
• $54

My housing cost is on the lower end because I stayed in a private room in a hostel-style Airbnb with a shared bathroom. It’s not the cheapest option because I traveled during peak season and stayed in the popular Gothic Quarter area.

My accommodation budgeting tips:

• The cheapest options are $40 a night – A dorm-style hostel in Barcelona is roughly $40 a night. You can also find private rooms in hostel-style Airbnb for as low as $50 a night in the city center, which is what I did.
• The high season adds a premium to costs – On average, a mid-range hotel room costs around $80 per night. During peak season, it increases to about $140 per night.

Food Cost

• $261
• $65

My most affordable meals:

Meal	Location	Cost
Fruit tart and coffee	The Vegan Corner	$8
Two dishes of tapas	Agüelo013	$13
Ramen	Umaimon Ramen	$15

My most expensive meals:

Meal	Location	Cost
Seafood main dish	Capet	$65
Three tapas dishes	La Barceloneta	$63
Four tapas dishes	Vinitus	$33

My food budgeting tips:

• Get cheap eats for $10 or less – Eat and get groceries at the markets (e.g., Mercado de La Boqueria in the famous Las Ramblas). Compared to dining out, you can save more than $15 on food daily.
• Michelin-star restaurants are relatively worth it – Barcelona’s Michelin-star restaurants are much more affordable than the ones in the US. You can get a meal for under $50 in Barcelona that would have cost over $100 in the US.
• Try the “menu del dia” – Many local restaurants offer a fixed-price menu that can reduce your food budget without sacrificing eating at mid-range restaurants.
• Eat tapas – One of the city’s most popular things is tapas, a small-plate specialty. One tapas ranges from $2 to $7, depending on the restaurant and ingredients. You can sample a wide variety of tapas with an excellent food tour.

Transportation Cost

• $60
• $15

The transportation I used:

Transportation	Total Cost
Round-trip metro & cable car tickets to Montserrat	$35
Public transportation	$18
One-way airport bus ride	$7

My transportation budgeting tips:

• Take advantage of the extensive metro system – A single ride costs €2.55 (roughly $2.80) and a T-Casual Card, which covers ten rides, costs €12.15 (roughly $13.20). Getting the Hola Barcelona Card gives you unlimited public transport rides for two to five days.
• Uber can be very expensive – A metro ride to Barcelona’s airport costs $5, while an Uber ride costs around $30.

Entertainment Cost 

• $85
• $30

The activities/attractions I did:

Experience	Location	Cost
🏰 La Sagrada Familia	Barcelona	$28
🛍️ Las Ramblas	Barcelona	Free
🥾 Montserrat Day Trip Hike	Catalonia	Free
🚶 Gothic Quarter Walking Tour	Barcelona	$15
🏖️ La Barceloneta	Barcelona	Free
🍹 El Born	Barcelona	Free
🏠 Casa Batlló ticket	Barcelona	$31
📚 Museum of the History of Catalonia	Barcelona	Free
Shopping	Barcelona	Free

My entertainment budgeting tips:

• Book La Sagrada Familia tickets ahead – It’s Barcelona’s most popular attraction, so book them a week ahead if you visit during the high season (May to September). Expect long lines or pay for a guided tour to skip the line.
• There are ways to save on major attractions – For example, Park Güell tickets are only required for the popular zones with monuments. You can enter the park for free and see parts of the monuments from the outside. Picasso Museum has special times when it’s free of charge. La Pedrera-Casa Milà costs a few euros less if you buy tickets online instead of in person.

• Take advantage of Barcelona’s free or almost free activities – This includes tip-based walking tours, the Barceloneta beach, and the Barcelona Cathedral during its free hours.

See my ratings for Barcelona experiences.

Do You Need Cash?

• Like many European cities, Barcelona has a great credit card infrastructure, but a few places still rely on cash transactions, so make sure to bring some cash.

My tips on using cash:

• USD is not widely accepted, so withdraw cash in euros.
• Carry about $15 worth of cash. I spent about $45 ($11 per day) in cash during my trip.
• Tipping is not customary in Barcelona, but it’s appreciated and generally only done for exceptional service.

Avoid Euronet ATMs when withdrawing cash in Spain. Throughout Europe, Euronet ATMs consistently have high fees and use terrible exchange rates, so unless you’re in desperate need of cash, I would avoid them.

Barcelona Trip Planner 2024