This is a city with a lot of appeal, but for starters, here is an itinerary of some of the best things to do in Barcelona. Including admiring the impressive works of Gaudí and La Boqueria on the famous ‘La Rambla’, which claims to be the largest market of its kind in Europe.

The best things to do in Barcelona Day 1:

Begin recovering from your trip with a day in leafy Montjuic. Hidden among all this exuberance is the Fundació Joan Miró, a whitewashed Mediterranean-style building that houses the bold works of the last great Catalan surrealist. Seeing Miró’s work is definitely one of the best things to do in Barcelona. To visit, take the cable car from outside the Funicular station; It’s a bit pricey, but the feeling of hanging in a glass bubble in the middle of a panoramic view is pretty hard to beat. In the evening, head to La Champagneria.

The best things to do in Barcelona Day 2:

“I suppose you want to see the Gaudí, one of the best things to do in Barcelona.” is a comment often made by members of the Barcelona expat community to visitors carrying a guidebook. The works of this innovative Catalan architect have drawn crowds and provided travel guides with elegant covers since his death (by tram) in 1926.

The Parc Güell full of sculptures and the Sagrada Familia are worth a visit. Despite his enormous fame, Gaudí’s work is very accessible. Admission to Parc Güell is free, and the Segrada Familia, staggering in scale and artistic detail even on the outside, is free to look at. On the same day, you could enjoy a little more alternative culture at MACBA, a vast collection of contemporary art housed in a painfully modern building.

Later check out Bar Marsella, an abs bar on Carrer de Sant Pau. For the uninitiated, the sugar cube is to catch fire and melt into your vicious green drink, and it helps if you dunk it first (not in your water). Other bars lurk on the nearby Rambla del Ravel, famous for its sculpture of a giant bronze cat. According to local legend, something wonderful will happen if you climb it without help. No one is sure what this might entail. Consume enough absinthe, though, and the cat might tell you.

The best things to do in Barcelona Day 3:

Take the metro out of the city to Mount Tibidabo. According to legend, this is where the Devil tempted Jesus by offering him the whole world in exchange for his worship. It’s an uphill scramble from the tube to the mountain, so save your legs by taking the tram, it’s so picturesque it would make Judy Garland blush. From there, hop on a cable car and drift up to the top of the mountain, bizarrely shared by a huge church and a slightly dated theme park. That’s one way to get the absinthe out of your system, at least. Barcelona nightlife is infamously good, and visiting it without going to at least one nightclub would be a huge waste of your darkest hours, and partying is one of the best things to do in Barcelona. For the best experience, stick to Catalan time: eat dinner late, hang out in a bar until 2am at the earliest, then head to a club just in time to see things as they start to get interesting.