Barcelona has been on my bucket list for ages. The marvelous architecture, delicious food and wine, rich history, and some of the best European beaches. It feels like Barcelona really has it all.
So if you’re wondering how much money you will need for your future trip to Barcelona, you came to the right place. In this post, I will share how much my 5-day trip to Barcelona cost as I share my detailed expenses report and share my best money-saving tips that allowed me to travel to Barcelona on a small budget.
Why do I share my trip expenses?
After traveling for quite some time as a budget traveler, I kept getting a lot of question on how to travel on a budget, how do I find cheap deals and how the hell can I afford to travel as much as I do while still being a student.
I wrote a few posts on how I find good deals, and what resources I use to find cheap tickets and accommodation. But I quickly realized that people love seeing actual numbers instead of hearing ‘cheap’ and ‘affordable’. So what better way to show you my travel expenses than to track them down and make a detailed list of ALL my expenses while traveling?
This is a detailed budget breakdown highlighting how much I spent on a 5-day trip to Barcelona. It includes airfare tickets, accommodation, food, and everything else to every cent I spent on this trip.
Related: How much does it cost to travel Czech Republic: A budget breakdown
Table of Contents
My trip to Barcelona cost breakdown overview
Dates: January 2020
Total days spent travelling: 5 days / 4 nights
Total expenses: €188 / $223 (USD) / £161
Average daily spending: €47 / $56 / £40
Inbound trip: London – Barcelona
Outbound trip: Barcelona – London
Flying to and from Barcelona cost
We took our trip to Barcelona as part of our trip to London, so all this budget breakdown will be based on airfare prices to Barcelona from London.
You can reach Barcelona in a lot of different ways from driving by car to taking a flight. If you’re more on a budget and live somewhere near Spain, it would be a good option to check out train or bus prices.
One of my frequently used bus providers within Europe is Flixbus as they cover the majority of destinations here for an affordable and budget-friendly price. You can reach Barcelona from Paris for as low as €30.
For my trip, we decided to fly to Barcelona because of the limited time we had and it was just a more cost-effective option for us.
So a flight from London Stansted Airport to Barcelona El Prat cost me €19.7 including Ryanair priority. The outbound trip back to London (LTN) was €16.
You can check out how much a flight from your location to Barcelona would cost for you using Skyscanner. This is how I always managed to find the cheapest flights. Just click ‘whole month’ to see which dates are the cheapest.
Accommodation prices in Barcelona
The accommodation prices in Barcelona are high in the high season (June-August) but since we went to Barcelona in January (low season), we had a nice selection of mid-range accommodation options as well as some budget gems.
In the end, we chose the Garden House Hostel that I found on HostelWorld. The hostel is located a bit further away from the city center but offers a nice and calm neighborhood for a good price and that’s all we have been looking for this trip.
We got a private room for three people with an ensuite bathroom for €48 per night (€16 per person). The total of 4 nights for three people was €192 or €64 per person. We also had access to the shared kitchen and a beautiful roof terrace to lounge on.
But you can get a bed in a dorm room there for €12 or in a more central location such as One Paralelo hostel.
For more mid-range options, you can get a double room for €55-€70 in hotels such as Paral·lel hotel. Or if you feel like splashing out, you can even get a nice apartment on Airbnb for €85.
I often tend to choose AirBnB but for a short stay like this one Garden House hostel seemed like a perfect option.
Check out the prices of accommodation in Barcelona!
Barcelona Public Transport Prices
Barcelona is one of those cities that you can easily get around on foot if you’re staying in a more central location. However, if you’re staying a bit further away or just prefer to take public transportation rather than walking, you are probably going to budget a bit more for transportation around Barcelona.
Good thing that Barcelona has a great public transportation system which means that you can get just about anywhere with the metro or a bus. A single fare ticket costs €2.4 but we found out that it might be a better deal to buy transport cards or multi-journey tickets instead if you plan on using public transportation more than once.
A short weekend trip or spending 1-2 days in Barcelona would definitely call for a T-10 pass which is a combination of 10 single-fare tickets that can be used for metro, bus, tram, and local train services.
You also get access to travel to/from the airport by train or specific airport buses which normally cost more and require a specific fare ticket. Plus, T-10 can be used by 2 people meaning that you can take 5 trips each, so it’s the perfect option for couples.
Other alternatives include Hola BCN Card or Barcelona Travel Pass. In our case, we opted for Hola BCN because it gave us unlimited journeys on public transport in Barcelona for 96 hours from the moment it was validated.
It included metro, bus (TMB), urban railway (FGC, Zone 1), Montjuïc funicular, tram (TRAM), regional railway (Rodalies de Catalunya, Zone 1), and metro to El Prat airport which sounded like the best deal for us. We planned on going to Montserrat (Zone 1) and after a bit of calculation, we decided that this was the best option for us in terms of cost.
You can check out Hola BCN Card prices for 48, 72, 96, or 120 hours on the official Hola Barcelona website. You also get a 10% discount if you buy online (that’s what we did).
In total, I spent €46.12 on public transportation including Hola Barcelona card and a day trip to Montserrat.
Food and drink prices in Barcelona
As I like to say, you can spend very little or a lot on food at any destination, it depends on your personal food and drink preferences. Since we were on a quite tight budget, we didn’t dine out in restaurants and opted for local food stalls, fast food spots, or home-cooked meals at our hostel.
In total, I spend €42.18 on food and drinks.
We treated ourselves to Churros in Las Ramblas on our last day in Barcelona and had a celebratory wine bottle from the grocery store that we enjoyed on Carmel bunkers while watching the sunset.
Other than that, we stuck to cooking dinners in our hostel such as good old pasta, pancakes, or a simple salad. For breakfast, we also got some food from the grocery store that we prepared and had every morning.
Of course, if you can budget more for your trip to Barcelona or just prefer to eat out, you can expect to budget around €20-€30 per day for food and drinks.
But as I already mentioned, we had a tight budget and wanted to spend more on attractions. If I were to return to Barcelona, I would definitely have a proper food tour to enjoy all the Spanish cuisine.
Some of the food price examples:
- Churros in Las Ramblas – €5.
- A bottle of wine in the grocery shop – €5.
Barcelona Attractions and Museums prices
While a lot of sights are free to see and visit, the majority of popular landmarks and sightseeing objects will require a fee and that can add up fast.
Barcelona is famous for Gaudi and his architecture, so naturally, all attractions including monumental part of Park Güell, Gaudí’s House Museum, and Sagrada Familia will cost you quite a bit.
For example, entrance to Sagrada Familia fees vary from €17 to €32 depending on the type of visit. A visit to Monumental Zone in Park Güell (the one you can see all over Instagram) will cost you €10.
It’s safe to say that we skipped entrance to the majority of these attractions or only visited the free parts of them (you can visit 95% of Park Güell for free!).
One of the most fun experiences we had was Paint & Sip evening in a local art studio during which we tasted Spanish tapas, drank wine, and painted with locals. The experience was kindly gifted to us but I would have gladly paid for it myself because it was so much fun.
Another attraction that we visited was Montserrat which is around an hour away from Barcelona. The only expenses we had relating to this day trip were transportation tickets. We hiked up the mountain and took a train down.
Here is a breakdown of all my expenses related to attractions:
- Sip & Paint class – Free (normal price €32)
- Mountain train down from Montserrat – €6.90
Is Barcelona expensive?
The question that probably first comes to your head when you start thinking about a trip to Barcelona is whether it is an expensive destination and whether is it going to break your wallet or not.
As with every major European city, the closer to the city center and touristy areas – the higher the prices are. The consensus advice of all travelers who have been to Barcelona is to keep away from Las Ramblas and you will be alright.
I found it quite a good advice money vice (and in terms of not wanting to get mugged or pick-pocketed) and, to be 100% honest, Barcelona isn’t the cheapest of destinations.
The accommodation and transportation prices are quite high but not as high as London or Paris which makes it a fairly affordable destination, especially if you’re willing to make a few sacrifices such as staying a bit further away from the city center or choosing a hostel over a hotel.
That being said, I managed to spend 4 days in Barcelona spending less than €200 and still had an incredible time. So who says that you have to spend big money to have a good time?
How much to budget per day in Barcelona?
To help you plan your trip better, here is an average of what you should expect to spend in Barcelona per person per day if you’re traveling on a budget.
Accommodation: €20 / day in a private room in a hostel split between two people
Transportation: €4 / day if using a T-10 ticket for two and you’re prepared to walk
Food: €10-€30 / day for one sit-down meal and two cheaper meals per day
Activities: €20 / day for a couple of sites or museums per day paying for basic tickets
All in all, you should expect to budget an average daily spend per person of €50-€70.
Are you planning on going to Barcelona soon? What’s your average daily budget for trips? Let me know in the comments below.
