Pocket Barcelona

In Rick Steves Pocket Barcelona you'll find only the best of Barcelona — admittedly a tough call! The core of this book is six self-guided walks and tours that zero in on Barcelona's greatest sights and neighborhoods; the rest of the book is a traveler's tool kit:

• Practicalities
  • Advice on planning your time and avoiding lines
  • ​​Getting around Barcelona by Metro, bus, bike, and taxi
  • Basic tips on shopping, nightlife, managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints
• Self-guided walks
  • Ramblas Ramble
  • Barri Gòtic
  • Eixample
• Self-guided tours
  • Barcelona Cathedral
  • Picasso Museum
  • Sagrada Família
• More great sights: Descriptions, ratings, hours, and prices of Barcelona's other top attractions, from Park Güell to the Maritime Museum to Montjuïc to the beaches, and beyond
• Where to stay: Condensed listings for recommended hotels in easy-to-browse tables
• Where to eat: Condensed listings for recommended cafés and restaurants in easy-to-browse tables
• And more
  • Handy, full-color, 11" x 20" foldout map: Central Barcelona and its Old City on one side; on the other: Park Güell, Sagrada Família, transit lines, Montjuïc, and "near Barcelona," along with larger map of Spain and Portugal
  • More full-color maps of Barcelona's neighborhoods and floor plans of museums and churches
  • Brief descriptions of day-trip options
  • Handy Spanish and Catalan survival phrases​

What's the difference between this Pocket guide and the Rick's other Barcelona guidebook?

Rick Steves Pocket Barcelona works best for people taking a short trip, or perhaps a return trip, to Barcelona. Like our other Pocket guides, Pocket Barcelona is smaller than the complete guidebook (and in full color), but still offers our best sightseeing advice, a handful of self-guided city walks and museum tours, and a foldout map.

For travelers who want to delve deep into Barcelona, the full-size Rick Steves Barcelona guidebook is a better option. It offers more substantial (and more frequently updated) advice on every front: practicalities, sightseeing, self-guided tours, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, kids' activities, and the city's history and culture, plus complete chapters on the best day trips.​

Latest updates: When we learn of critical changes to the information in our guidebooks on Spain, we post them. (Of course, it's still smart to reconfirm critical transportation and sightseeing details locally.) Armed with a Rick Steves guidebook and these late-breaking updates, you're set for a great trip!

Submit feedback: Once you've used this book in Europe, we'd love to hear your feedback — good or bad — about our advice on sights, hotels, restaurants, and travel tips. We're also interested in any tips or discoveries you made while in Europe. Your comments help us improve our guidebooks for future travelers.