4 nights in Barcelona cost HOW much?

Here’s the lowdown on how much 4 nights in Barcelona cost 2 people, including transport, accommodation, spending money and everything else!

All ticketed activities are included in this cost, and we always have a bit of a buffer for each trip [around £50] for contingency. For transparency, I have a 12 month travel insurance policy with Puffin Insurance, and so I do not include this cost in any of my trip budgets as it was paid for separately. Some other things that can help bring the cost down can be found here.

We also found that travelling in October and so just out of peak season definitely brought the costs down.

“Most of my 'best time to visit' recommendations are not only based on the weather, but also cost, and so take a look at these in my city guides!”

Travel - £139

We actually got the train from Madrid to Barcelona, which took just under 3 hours! We then flew back to Birmingham, and so included in this cost is also the train from Birmingham to home. I find that people always overlook the cost of travelling to and from Airports, however it can be a hidden cost that can catch you out if you’re not prepared! For my full Spain and Portugal #itinerary, you can keep reading over HERE.

I always use Skyscanner to find the best flights for my trips, as they display flights with all airlines, so it makes it super easy to find the best deal.

That being said, when flying long haul I'd recommend either flying with the same airlines regularly to build up Air Miles & Frequent Flyer Points, or opening up multiple cards and accounts so you can always capitalise on the best deals! More on that can be found here.

Accommodation - £307

We stayed in an apartment in Barcelona, which was so lovely and very spacious. With Barcelona being so spread out it was a little far from the centre, but it had great transport links and so I would recommend staying here. However if you’re looking for something a bit more central and in the action, this might not be the place for you. Book it for yourself if you'd like.

It’s worth remembering that lots of European cities have a ‘city tax’ that is usually payable upon arrival, and this is typically €2 per person per night. To avoid getting charged this fee in a different currency on your card, we always use our WISE card.

our wise card has saved us heaps of fees in over the years.

Daily spend - £486

The daily spend includes food, drinks, miscellaneous items such as sun cream, plasters, souvenirs etc. For reference, we ate out for lunch and dinner everyday, and grabbed a pastry and coffee to-go each morning. The places we went to ranged from cheap ‘grab and go’ eateries to boujie restaurants. We also went on a tapas and wine tour one evening, however this came out of our ‘activities’ money. For the full rundown of everything we ate, check out my Barcelona Food Guide.

We usually allocate £108 per day for the 2 of us on average, and so far we have not gone over! We could absolutely manage on less, however this is the sweet spot for us with seeing, eating and experiencing whatever we want. This might be different for you depending on your priorities.

Activities - £268

I always like to book my activities in advance so I can relax during the trip knowing I don’t have to faff around booking things. This also usually means that I get the cheapest rate for all tickets and activities as things typically get more expensive closer to the time or when paying on the door. Most things are always flexible should I need to cancel or change them, and it just means I can really maximise my time in each place.

We actually had a lot of paid #activities in Barca - way more than Madrid and Lisbon! By booking the activities in advance, it made the whole trip so much more relaxed because we didn’t have to worry about organising things on the ground.

Paid activities in Barcelona were:

Total Cost - £1,200

Average cost per day: £240 // pp £120

You could definitely do Barcelona on the cheap in comparison to our budget, but we loaded our 5 days with loads of activities and ticketed items which threw the cost up. There are many factors that could increase or decrease the total cost, of which a few are:

- The time of year you visit

- What your priorities are for your trip [eating out, sightseeing etc]

- Your travel style [hostel, hotel, villa etc]

- How far in advance you book

- What sites you use to book

Here are some tools that I always use to ensure I'm getting the best value for my trips and that there are no hidden costs

We would NOT be able to plan a trip without our trusted budget spreadsheet. It helps us see what we can (and can't) afford, whilst also helping us see how much we need to save each week to be able to do everything we want!

All our trips are self funded and saved for whilst working full time! To see how we budget and save for our trips and to get a copy of our spreadsheets, head to our budgets page!