The first time I visited Barcelona was at the height of summer 2015, and despite the fact that it was chockablock with people, I still fell in love at first sight. The architecture is fantastical, the sun shines almost consistently, and the Catalan way of life is just as warm as that good old sunshine. Summer in the city is incredible, so I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to visit Barcelona in winter. But I’m telling you now- Barcelona in winter is spellbinding, and without a doubt my favourite time to visit. Allow me to illuminate you, pals, as to all the reasons why Barcelona in winter is so much more worth the trip.
(Updated 2024.)
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Before I hit you with my list of all the reasons Barcelona is so brilliant during winter, I have to be completely honest: having returned to the city several times since I first wrote this article, I would even go so far as to say that I no longer enjoy Barcelona in summer at all. I spend the warmer months attempting to get as far away from the city centre as possible. I still think it’s beautiful, and there’s still so much to see here that I haven’t seen yet, but this is a busy, busy location.
The majority of my time in Barcelona has come about because of my job, working as a singer on a cruise ship, and although I’m there for work not leisure, I’m the first to admit that I’m still part of the problem when it comes to the city’s overcrowded streets. I also have extremely complicated feelings when it comes to the cruise industry as a whole; working on a ship has been my life for a long time, and I love my job, but an environmentally-friendly industry it is not.
Still: ships dock in Barcelona throughout the entire year, come winter, summer or spring. Here are all the reasons why winter remains my number one season during which to visit this beautiful Mediterranean gem.
Crowd control. Barcelona in winter is SO MUCH QUIETER
The most obvious reason to visit Barcelona in winter is that the city is significantly quieter than during the high season.
I’ve met many a person who proudly declare that they travel solely for the benefit to their Instagram feed- which seems kind of an expensive task to be honest. And during summer Barcelona is swamped with ever-growing numbers of tourists, armed with selfie sticks and outfit changes and large backpacks.
Giant tourist-tortoises lumbering slightly-slower-than-acceptable in droves up the street.
In summer Barcelona can get so overcrowded with tourists that in the centre it gets rather tricky to navigate your way around, and personally I find locations like that stressful. I spent one day chatting to a lady in a T-shirt shop who did a downright superb impression of tourists stopping to gawk up at La Sagrada Família, getting all up in her pathway when she tries to get to work every morning. On the one hand, the tourism industry in Barcelona is huge, and therefore economically pretty beneficial. But on the other, Barcelona is a victim of its own success, and is struggling to cope with the sheer volume of visitors.
The best way to avoid the crowds? Visit Barcelona in winter. Visiting the Catalan capital in winter means it’ll be less annoying for you as one of the throngs of tourists, and also- more importantly- less annoying for the residents of this lovely location.
Comfort food and cozy restaurants
I know that Spain is traditionally (for us English folk at least), the place for summer holidays and sangria, and further along the coast cities like Málaga and Valencia attract plenty of holidaymakers looking for beach getaways. But there are so many cozy little restaurants and bars in Barcelona, lit with a mixture of candles and ultra-low, warm lighting. I’ve come to realise that it’s also the perfect place for comfort food on a chilly day.
When eating out in Barcelona, your best bet is to stay away from La Rambla and the surrounding areas with their laminated tourist menus. Instead head to somewhere like Gràcia, El Born or El Raval, which are packed full of nooks and crannies to tuck into a plate or two of Catalan treats. Make sure you try fideuà (similar to paella but made with pasta noodles), pan con tomate (literally bread with tomatoes but trust me on this one), mel i mató (a type of cheese served with honey and walnuts), and basically anything that’s on fire. True story.
Foods involving fire, particularly whilst being served, are awesome.
And naturally there are few things more warming in life than sitting in a tiny old bar in Barcelona eating churros con chocolate. I don’t care what people say. That dish is surely made to be eaten in the colder months of the year.
Read my full list of Barcelona restaurant recommendations.
The markets are full of seasonal produce
Just sticking to the sit-down restaurants and steering clear of the markets all over Barcelona would be an actual cardinal sin.
The most famous of them all is probably the Mercat de la Boqueria, sheltered under a roof with a stained-glass facade on La Rambla. The SMELLS IN THIS PLACE, YOU GUYS! Tuck into cornets of cured meats and hard cheeses, candied fruits and nuts. And a word of warning: be prepared to deal with a few in-your-face sights of traders, selling literally every single body part of animals that you can imagine. You will come face to face with sheeps’ heads.
So, just to mentally prepare you on that one.
Autumn and winter are also the seasons for wild mushrooms in all their glory, and panellets- tiny cakes made from marzipan and pine nuts. In the markets of Barcelona as well as on street corners, roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes are cooked up and dished out to all the hungry passers-by. Even if you’re not the slightest bit hungry, the beaut smell from these chestnut-and-potato sellers is guaranteed to make your mouth water.
There are fewer queues during winter in Barcelona
One of the things that Barcelona is most famous for is its incredible architecture. The modernist movement took off in a big way around here, with Gaudí being the most famous of Barcelona’s red carpet roll call of architectural masterminds. The quirky old soul.
Mansions designed to look like dragons, skeletons and forests, sit side-by-side with rainbow-tiled and turreted creations, like a parade of beauty contestants all striking their own weird and wonderful poses. A huge number of these buildings are open to visitors, however, queues to get inside can go on for a long old time. In Summer you’d be better off booking your slot weeks in advance so that you’re not MELTING in the heat forever. Unfortunately it makes the whole experience pretty similar to that of getting to a theme park and realising that you’ll only have time to go on three rides as you accidentally came on the busiest day of the year.
If you go to Barcelona in winter however, chances are that you’ll be able to just breeze on in with little to no queue at all. The only building I ever booked in advance was La Sagrada Família, but I realised that even if I’d have turned up in the morning there would’ve been space for me to enter with a very minimal wait.
There are winter celebrations galore
They do love a good old fashioned knees-up in Spain, although obviously they give these the considerably more glamorous name of a ‘fiesta.’
In late September, La Merce is an important event in Barcelona’s jam-packed calendar. The festival commemorates the time in the 1600s when the city was plagued with locusts; the people of Barcelona prayed to that lovely lass Our Lady the Virgin of Mercy. The locusts disappeared and the citizens declared that a festival should take place to honour her. There are fireworks galore, Barcelona’s giants get taken for a glorious parade around the streets (yes, you read it correctly, Barcelona has a large collection of papier-mâché giants who are hugely important), and people build human towers called castellers.
And it goes without saying that Christmas is downright beautiful here. Lights go up across the city and Christmas markets appear in every square. Now, German Christmas markets are great and everything, but Catalan Christmas markets are totally worth a poke around as well, folks.
In Spain it’s not Father Christmas who leaves presents for children at night, but the Three Wise Men traipsing about on their camels; and they arrive a bit later than Father C, on the night of the 5th January. To celebrate, there is a gigantic parade through the streets of Barcelona.
And I do love a parade.
The gothic atmosphere is, well, even more gothic
Barcelona is a city BUILT FOR WINTER.
Barcelona’s gothic quarter is a seriously atmospheric place. But it was during my first winter in Barcelona that it really came to life for me. The early morning or late afternoon shafts of light that crack through the narrow streets turning all the people to silhouettes, are just breathtaking, even when there’s a bit of a chill in the air. In fact, the chill almost makes it more magical. If you’ve ever read The Shadow of the Wind, a book set in these gothic back streets of Barcelona, you will fully appreciate the city at this time of year.
And if you haven’t read it, then go find a copy on the double because it’s an absolute beaut of a book.
The most beautiful building I ever did see…Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana
The sun still shines in winter!
Yep, you read it correctly folks. If you’re looking for a city break in Europe during winter, but can’t quite face the freezing temperatures of more northern locations, Barcelona is a great alternative thanks to its comparatively warm temperatures.
Even during winter in Barcelona, that sun keeps its face in full view. Although there are chillier days, and the leaves still turn orange and gold before they tumble off of their branches, it really doesn’t matter because the sun keeps on shining. During my entire time from November to February of visiting Barcelona once a week, 90% of the days were super sunny and beautiful. And although it was maybe a little too chilly to go gallivanting down at the beach (it’s definitely not warm enough to swim on one of Barcelona’s beaches), it was at least warm enough to sometimes not need a coat.
And I am all about that no coat lifestyle.
Before you visit Barcelona in winter
- If you want to visit everything in Barcelona, the cost of attractions can add up super-fast. Museums have free entry once a month, and some of the buildings (I’ll be honest) are kind of a rip-off unless you’re crazily interested in architecture. Do your research beforehand and figure out which places would actually be interesting to you.
- The city’s metro network is AWESOME and frequent. A single journey is €2.20.
- If a waiter puts bread on your table and you eat it, you will be charged for it!
- If arriving by cruise ship, it’s fully possible to walk from the port to the city centre.
- In fact, if you have the time, it’s fully possible to walk everywhere, and this is definitely the best way to get to know the city.
- Catalan is a different language to Spanish, although there are lots of similarities.
- December to February are typically the coldest months, with highs of around 15°C.
A winter day trip to Florence, Italy
Autumn in Lucca, Tuscany’s Secret City
