I cannot claim to be a connoisseur of all things Spanish. I cannot tell a lie; I handed in my last essay ever on a Monday and got on a plane two days later. Credible, no? But hopefully you can relate! Sometimes there are occasions to be celebrated, friends to meet abroad, and travel bugs that cannot be resisted! Are you okay with a backpacking, student-like travel experience with good food, one-of-a-kind sights, solid nights out, and the enjoyment of quality company? Maybe one or two of the above? If so, you may have arrived at the Barca travel guide for you! Safe to say, as I sit and wait for the next plane to Lisbon, Portugal, we killed it. So it is only fair to share—vamos!

Stay: Be Hostels

European hostels are different in the best way possible. Be Hostels is a string of hostels that are clean and inexpensive, and they play with each other a lot with tours and crawls. Have a look at the website and decide where’d you’d like your home base to be with the comfort of knowing that this is an obviously successful, but local, brand of hostels. We stayed at Be Hostels: Dream in Barcelona, a bit out of the city centre but just a few minutes to walk to the beach. The transit system is amazing! Only closed for one hour in the middle of the night; we took advantage. The Spaniards don’t joke around so a night could easily only be wrapping up at 6am. But alas, that’s what siestas are for.

Eat: Xup Xup

Eating a foot away from the beach is a relaxing indulgence but expect to pay for it, especially around Barceloneta beach. We walked by swankiness after swankiness with gaping mouths until we stumbled upon Xup Xup, a beachside restaurant that had seafood paella for two, for 14 Euros. Not too shabby! You must eat paella. It was easily the most memorable meal of perhaps the entire Spanish leg of this tour. What more is there than the beach, olives (free!), a pitcher of sangria, seafood and a best friend? We died over and over again.

Drinks: Cosmo

Ah, Cosmo! Located in the city centre, steps from Las Ramblas, this place came recommended by a local for the cheap drinks specials and the absinthe. Don’t judge—it is totally legal on this continent! I believe the best deal was five Euros for six shots? Fancy shots, too. This just means it’s that much easier to buy a round for the new friends that you will surely acquire. Be a baller and take advantage.

Dance: Moog

If you want to get your dance on to some electronic dance music, MOOG! In the Raval, down an alleyway, you could easily miss it—but don’t. They have a bar, booths, and a black box of a dancey room. Expect to see a house DJ up top, smoking a cigarette as he spins. Fun crowd, and not too pretentious. Felt like a true Euro experience.

Tips, Sights, Tips

Antonio Gaudi

The famous Spanish Catalonian architect; see EVERYTHING of his that you can! He died in the 1920s after being struck by a tram, and then the city got rid of them all. Very telling in just how much the peeps love him and how damn eye-pleasing it all is! There is Sagrada Familia, Casa Vicens, Park Güell, Güell Pavilions, Palau Guell, Colegio Teresiano, Casa Calvet, Bellesguard, Casa Milà, Casa Batlló, Church of Colònia Güell. You’re simply not allowed to leave the city without seeing the enormous Segrada Familia Cathedral and Guell Park up close because both are the trippiest things in the world. Picnic time has never been so thrilling.

Parc de Montjuïc

Walk up to the castle around sunset! It’s a fun “hike,” and there’s also a gondola contraption. But no matter how you get there, just know you’re en route for the best city views ever. You also may run into the three people you partied with the night before, by complete coincidence, as that is what happened in our case. On the way back down, swing by the Magic Fountain, the Palau Nacional, and the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. You don’t have to go in anywhere because even the vista alone is pretty enough to make the trip worthwhile. The Magic Fountain will be flowing again come high season.

Las Ramblas

An avenue of shops and restaurants that is must for some walking around, even though it is quite touristy. A note: while it was super fun to have dinner on such a bustling street, we found the food to be nowhere near the quality of other places off the strip (quelle surprise). As a rule of thumb, if there are pictures of what each dish looks like on the outside or menu of a sit down restaurant, it’s for the people that aren’t from the country. Which is fine! But if you’re the type who doesn’t mind a trek for a good and local meal, there’s your first tip off to move on to the next one.

Rent Bikes

Please, please, please rent bikes. I can try to describe the glorious feeling of the wind in your hair as you whip through the tiny side streets of a beautiful, history-rich city, but I know I will not do it justice. We found a great place complete with a very good looking Spanish man to dole out bikes and locks. The bikes are not touristy looking and again, hello eye candy! It’s right around the Barcelona Zoo, Spanish Parliament, Parc de la Ciutadella, and everything else is at your fingertips. Go on one of their tours, or do it yourself but pretty please, rent a bike, for at least an afternoon!

Pickpockets

I’m just going to go ahead and say what everyone says when they hear you are going to Barcelona: look out for pickpockets! We encountered our own strange case when a good looking girl started getting flirty with one our male friends on the street. But soon as she bluntly said, “Let’s go fuck,” well, he got a little suspicious. He felt his pocket—phone was gone. He felt her pocket—phone was there, and she ran away screaming. He and our new 6’’6 Dutch friends chased after her. But when they found themselves in a blocked alleyway, a man came out and handed them the phone that she handed off somewhere along the way. What a magician! You probably won’t be so “lucky.” Watch your stuff.

Don’t Buy Street Drugs

Ok, gotta play mom for a second. It’s a little shocking when you’re having lunch on a sunny terrace or are walking down the street at night only for a stranger to walk up to you, offering and presenting you an assortment of drugs. No judgment at all on your personal preference—do yo thang—but don’t get it on the street. This is supremely sketchy and all I’ve heard are stories about how anything you pick up will be fake or otherwise harmful. Let’s think about what we’re going to put in our bodies!

Zara

So much cheaper in Spain! I got pleather shorts and gorgeous black flats with a gold metal trim for 42 Euros. There’s a better selection and even though you are visiting a chain, you can cut the guilt by knowing that you’re getting a deal and are still shopping local! Do check out the one-off markets and shops as well.

Learn Spanish

It’s not as touristy as you think! Maybe they just don’t feel like engaging our English, but there’s a lot of Spanish-only people in Spain, and why wouldn’t there be? Embrace the culture linguistically! Buy a phrasebook, listen to some Rosetta Stone; just learn a couple phrases just in case you find yourself in a trying situation.

Next in Spain, we hit up Malaga and Grenada, but those are stories for another time! Get at me if you’d like them. Barcelona is a city that confuses your eyes for where to look first and one that you could easily get lost in (not just in a tourist-with-a-map way but in a wow-I’m-in-love way). And so I will leave you with a Spanish saying, akin to our Canadian “Cheers,” that you should most certainly introduce to your future gatherings: no apoya, no folla! What a pleasure to explore. Get your butt over to Spain.

Follow Danielle on Twitter: @DaFinestone