The Magic Fountain

Day 1: seeing Barcelona for free

Barcelona is a wonderful city to visit "from the outside."  In other words, without having to pay an entrance or access fee to any of the monuments.  A possible itinerary for the first day starts out from the Plaza Universitat in which you will be rapidly welcomed by the effervescent atmosphere generated by the students who are moving in an out of the University under the watchful eye of its large clock.  From here, you can easily reach the Carrer de Tallers, one of the most interesting streets in Barcelona that feels really vibrant and youthful.  Here you will come across a variety of punk-rock venues and plenty of record shops where you can enter for free and sometimes, can listen to CDs with headphones that are supplied for testing the recordings.  If you are a music lover, you should also read the itinerary in Barcelona for 1 day: a musical tour.

Free Monuments

The street which leads directly to la Rambla and, by crossing over it, will take you into the neighborhood of El Born. From here, you can easily walk to the Palau de la Musica, which you can access for free, except in the bar area, which is just before the stairs which lead to the concert hall itself. From the moment you arrive, you will be entranced by the building's magical atmosphere and this modern theater is equally splendid from the outside, particularly in daylight when the sun illuminates its fabulously decorated exterior. If you arrive around lunch time, you can pop in to one of the city's covered markets, such as Santa Caterina or La Boquería: here you can try a range of different types of food at one stall or another but obviously, this would not be free, however, it isn't expensive so you would still be saving money whilst enjoying a fun environment at the same time.  

Entering the churches for free 

After you've had lunch, you can take a short walk to the city's main shops and without realizing it, you will find that 5 pm has arrived: from this hour onward, the two most famous Gothic churches in the city, the Cathedral and the church of Santa María del Mar do not charge an entry fee for a visit and you can roam freely within their walls until 8 pm at night.  You might also have enough time to stop off at the delightful Plaza de Sant Felipe Neri which is hidden just behind the Cathedral (accessed via Carrer del Bisbe) and is definitely worth a visit, which would also be without charge.  When it comes to somewhere to stay in Barcelona without having to spend your family's inheritance, our recommendation would be to book at a hostel or at a b&b.

Day 2: relaxing and having fun in Barcelona is free of charge

On your second day in Barcelona, we would recommend a short stroll along the Passeig de Gracia so that you can catch sight of the famous houses that were designed and built by Gaudí and are located on this beautiful shopping street: these are La Pedrera and the Casa Batlló. Your relaxing day could continue by hopping on the Metro (on the Yellow Line) down to the coast where those who love the seaside can have plenty of fun at the beach.  The beaches along the coast are open to all and sun-bathing on a towel doesn't cost you anything!  You could also move around a bit and try a couple of the different beaches in Barcelona depending on whether you prefer to be with lots of other people or further away from the city where the beaches are less crowded.  To round off your day, we would suggest an incredible spectacle which, from 19:00 to 20:30 hours in winter and from 21:00 to 23:00 hours in summer (spring and autumn timings are 21:00 to 22:30 hours) takes place every Friday and Saturday evening (and in summer, from Thursday to Sunday) in the Plaza Espanya and is completely free: The Magic Fountain. This is an event that is immensely popular and because of that, we would recommend arriving quite early at the steps which lead to MNAC, (the Catalan National Art Museum) so that you can get as close as possible to the fountain, albeit the spectacle is still very impressive even from a distance. it is effectively a "dance" show with lights in time to music with colored lights that change in accordance with the rhythms of the music and also in accordance with the mood that is evoked by the music.  You really shouldn't miss it!