Ingredients: one set of parents, yours truly and 2 kids. Mix in sunny Saturday and a desire to see as much of Barcelona as possible. Shake well (don’t stir) and what you’re left with is a Barcelona sightseeing trip by bus!

Queues at Plaza Catalunya for the bus

There are two companies providing double decker tours through the city (both claim to be “official” which of course is, eh, nonsense) but the one that has been going for the longest time is “Barcelona Bus Tourístic”. They operate three routes and you can hop on and off on many different stops.

Barcelona is a tourist city so be prepared to queue for a while to get started. On a sunny day, everyone wants to be on the top deck so the queues can be long. Our group chose the “blue route” that leads through the southern part of town including the Montjuïc Olympic installations and the beach front. One ticket covers all three routes and you can also buy multi-day passes.

The “red route” covers the Sagrada Familia and the west side of town on the Tibidabo hill side including Parc Guëll. The least attractive route is the very small “green” route which covers the sea front side up and including the Forum.  You can listen to the audiotour in six different languages and even after seven years in Barcelona, I learnt a thing or two about this beautiful city.

The main starting point is at Plaza Catalunya and tickets for adults cost € 21 and for children younger than 12 years € 13. You can find more information here.