Hi Michelle,

Thanks a lot for your kind words; proud and happy that we helped you out!

You will LOVE Casa Gracia! It is one of my favorite hostels in Barcelona; love to send my friends there, too. Massive kitchen, too, and the balconies have great views over a part of Passeig de Gracia.
Oh and remember: You HAVE to pre-book your tickets for Park Güell! You can’t just show up and enter. =)

As for Madrid (I think you will love THE HAT Hostel) and Lisbon, obviously we have epic hostels there, too. For Lisbon, I recommend Sunset Destination. Check them out 🙂

Safe travels,
Matt

Hey Marc,

so glad you will be backpacking Europe and for sure you will love Barcelona. Make sure you read our guide on fun things to do in Barcelona. There is a lot of epic bars and cheap tapas places you and your hostel mates will love!

If I were you, I would do the “Tapas Hopping”, as I like to call it. I always do this when my friends are visiting. The street “Carrer Blai” is known as the Tapas Street in Poble Sec. It is dotted with many great tapas and pintxo places; on a budget!

How does it work?
Start at the bottom of Carrer Blai (here is the address). You simply jump into the bar you like, get a drink and one tapa or pintxo. And then you move on.

It is fun and you will try plenty of different tapas!

Hope that helps! Enjoy Barna and Europe, Matt

Your itinerary for Barcelona sounds fantastic, good plan! Picasso Museum is free on Sunday. Nearby there is the La Luna Restaurant, affordable prices and great great tapas! Love that place, very stylish for Tapas and Cocktails!

Also, if you love quirky, rural bars, then check out Can Paixano La Xampanyeria near La Barceloneta and near El Born.

Should I book my train/bus/plane tickets from each European country I’ll be visiting now or is it okay to wait?

You can prebook them, sure! Prices can go up, but not necessarily. At the moment you might score a discount since you are buying early. Especially in Germany and Italy this is common. I would use the official website for the trains in each country. From Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice you could just book the train on the spot, did this, always works.

And btw, if you can, make a 2-3 hour stop in Bologna for lunch – the food? AMAZING!!! The famous Bolognese comes from here. here’s my guide to download for Bologna with my favorite restaurant.

Paris > Barcelona would be better to buy before!
How to you get from Barcelona to Rome?

Your overall itinerary sounds super cool!
As for Rome, please make sure you book the Vatican and Colosseum ahead of time too, limited entrances!!!!
In Rome I joined the Colosseum tour by Take Walks, the tour I mentioned before. LOVED their tour, includes the Palatine Hill!

Last but not least, I hope you prebooked your hostels in each city; with using our hostel guides here 🙂

Ohhhhh, you are kicking off such an awesome time, ENJOOOOOY!!! Safe travels, Matt

Omgosh that makes so much sense !! Okay so on the Saturday my suggested itinerary would be:

LaSagrada, Recinte Modernista Sant Pau, Gaudi Experience, Park Guell, lunch at the gracia neighbourhood, Mt Tibidabo and Sagrat cor then dinner.

Sunday:
Picasso museum, casa batlo, casa amatller, casa mila, lunch, stroll down ramblas, mercado de la Boqueria, Columbus monument and a boat tour if I can fit it in.

Monday:
Barcelona Aquarium,Chocolate museum, palau de la musica, montjuic hill and the magic fountain !!

Ofcourse I’ll purchase the T10 that you suggested as it makes more sense ! Also, should I book my train/bus/plane tickets from each European country I’ll be visiting now or is it okay to wait – I’m not sure if the prices go up.

I’m traveling Dec 14th from USA to London then to Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Germany and returning on the 2nd of Jan from Germany…I know it’s a lot of questions but I’d appreciate as much help as possible !!

Excellent question!!!! Glad you brought that up!

I would not pre-book everything (unless you go in August!)! Book Park Güell and Sagrada Familia and you are good to go. At this time of year nothing should be sold out really. Plus, I think you should stay flexible! You may meet super cool people in the hostel you want to join a tour with. If you have your plans so tight and fix, there is no wiggle room for the travel life we all love.

Which other museums and sights are you interested in? Maybe if you tell me, I have more details.

Safe travels, Matt

I suggest buying your Sagrada Familia ticket with Get Your Guide, same with you Park Güell ticket.

Park Güell: Buying offline for Park Güell is “impossible”. Entrances are limited and when you show up to buy a ticket, they may have an entrance available for in 8 hours…really annoying! Therefore, the Park Güell Ticket you have to prebook! That being said, it is only the main part of the park you need a ticket to. 95% of the park is free, but the main attraction, the salamander and the famous, colorful Gaudi Terrace has the entrance fee.

Sagrada Familia: You could buy them “offline” and queue up. First time I entered, I did this…I waited 2 hours! Back then the online ticket was 0.50$ more expensive. It is really worth it to buy it online for a fix time.

I always use Get Your Guide (and for Tours I love Take Walks). Not sure if interesting for you, but they offer comprehensive Gaudi Tours. It sounds to me you are more an independent traveler, not a group tour kind of girl. Anyways, for tours I love them!

Tickets for Sights: I would buy them individually, yes! You can check everything online. The Picassso Museum is free on Sundays. Again, make a list of which sights you want to enter and maybe the Barcelona Card makes sense then. In my case, it never made sense. Barcelona itself is gorgeous and a museum with all the buildings and such. Unless you are a huge history, architect or museums nerd, you probably want to soak in the life of Barcelona by wandering around (and enter the main sights you are curious about!)

T10 Ticket: Nope! You use them as you go! If you only use 8 rides, then you can give the ticket to someone in your hostel in exchange for a silly joke, a hug or a drink. I love to give these kind of tickets away to hostel mates or at the airport to people just arriving.

Also as I said I will be in Barcelona Dec 21st – is it too early to book the hostel and the attractions I will be going to? Regarding the attractions with exceptions of the 2 you mentioned as a must see I am scared I’ll buy the tickets and might not feel like going there or something else turns up?