Barcelona architecture walking tours, Catalan building guides, City architectural walks Catalonia, Spain architects visits
Barcelona Architecture Tours
Spanish City Walks – Exclusive City Walks tailor made for groups visiting north east Spain by e-architect
post updated 3 May 2024
Book your city guide on isabelle(at)e-architect.com
Barcelona Architecture Tour: Exclusive Guided Walks
e-architect have architectural tour guides in most of the key cities across Europe. We offer city walks in four Spanish destinations.
Our Barcelona guided tours are bespoke for each guide booking. e-architect guided tours in Barcelona are exclusive to each client.
photograph © Adrian Welch
Barcelona Tours
Should you be planning an architectural trip to Barcelona please contact us to arrange an itinerary. We have almost two decades experience of organising architectural guides.
Barcelona Architecture – Introduction
The city is the capital of Catalonia and most famous for the innovative architect Antoni Gaudi. His key buildings are Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila and Casa Batlo.
It is also home to the respected Barcelona Pavilion by celebrated architect Mies van der Rohe. But more recently Barcelona staged the Olympics and the city gained many strong new buildings. Buildings by Miralles, Herzog & De Meuron, Gehry, Ito, Foster and Rogers to name a few adorn the city. Other well known structures include the world-famous football stadium, Nou Camp, home of FC Barcelona.
Barcelona Architectural Tours : Catalan Architecture Walks – photos + info
Barcelona Pavilion building designed by the famous 20th Century architect Mies van der Rohe:
photograph © Adrian Welch
A recent building by a major architect in the area:
Public Auditorium in Llinars del Vallès design by Álvaro Siza Vieira, Arquitectos
photo © Joao Morgado Architecture Photography
This new building is part of a public investment in cultural facilities.
Feedback from a recent Barcelona architecture walking tour:
1 Mar 2013
“We can honestly say that our guide made our trip totally worth while, we would recommend it to anyone who wanted to know about the fabulous diversity of buildings in Barcelona and see parts of the city that they might otherwise miss.”
Barcelona Walking Tours referrals from some of our visitors
Casa Milà building by Gaudi:
photo © Adrian Welch
Barcelona Architecture Walks
Barcelona Architecture Tour – Detail from our Guide
I believe that every visit of Barcelona should start with Ciutat Vella (Old City). It is one of the oldest and biggest historical cities of Spain, having more than 2000 years of history and more than 2 km2 in area. It is a dynamic and vibrant district, consisting of several smaller districts (Gotico, Raval, Born, Ribera, etc), each one having character of its own, particular atmosphere, history and lifestyle. With its important monuments, impressive squares, churches, small narrow streets and centuries of history, it conceals many secrets.
Media-ICT – World Building of the Year 2011:
image from architect
Your Barcelona Walking Tour should be comprehensive, allowing different things to be seen – from highlights and landmarks up to undiscovered streets, squares or buildings, which are not on usual touristic tours. The labyrinth of winding streets presents a real urban micro-cosmos, always revealing something new.
Special focus is on the oldest parts, Gothic Quarter (Barrio Gotico) and Jewish Quarter (Call), located where once Roman city stood, allowing ancient remainders to be perceived through middle-age urban heritage. Particularly interesting are elegant Catalan Art Nouvo buildings and cafes, including some of the early works of Antoni Gaudi. Apart from that, the zone has buildings from all periods, up to 19th Century markets (like the famous Boqueria, which must be seen by all food lovers) or contemporary architecture and attractive renovations of old buildings (santa Caterina for example).
Barcelona Pavilion building:
The social component is not to be forgotten!
Festivals, carnivals, traditional dances (like Sardana or Castells), open markets or political protests are often taking place in the streets and squares of Ciutat Vella, reflecting Catalan society and its customs. The zone has plenty of bars, art galleries or specialized traditional old shops (ceramics, candles, hats, sausages, chocolate, cheese, etc). It is also interesting to observe different faces of Barcelona – from traditional, elegant or even glamorous zones to alternative urban culture.
Joan Miro Foundation building:
photo © Adrian Welch
Barcelona Walking Tours should have enough time for several breaks, depending on your appetite and taste, to sample food or drinks (tapas, traditional bakeries, famous candies, ice-cream, fresh glass of horchata, etc). Visiting some of the old local markets gives different perspective of society and allows chats about Spanish and Catalan traditional food or diversity of international cuisines offered in Barcelona’s restaurants.
The Old city is exciting, always different, it provokes all senses and discovers true spirit of Barcelona!
We carry a list of major architect firms in the city, but Gaudi is the only one that could be considered world-famous: Barcelona Architects
A recent major new piece of architecture in the city:
Barcelona Design Museum Building design by MBM Arquitectes:
photo © Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre
Barcelona Walking Tours
Barcelona Architecture Tours can be by foot or by bicycle. They can focus on old buildings or new ones, or a mix of the two. We are happy to provide basic advice for your programme preparations ahead of your visit to Catalonia. Our Barcelona Architecture Tours can provide an overview of the city’s architecture or can be focused on certain building types such as building renovations or contemporary interiors. Typically they involved visiting the exteriors of the most significant Catalan buildings of the last few centuries.
Visitors are normally met by the guide at their preferred starting point of the Catalan walking tour rather than a standard location. Check out these linsk for more information: Barcelona architecture and the best contemporary Barcelona buildings.
Barcelona Walking Tours
Barcelona Forum building by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron:
picture © AW
Contact us to arrange your Catalan architecture tour: mob. / isabelle(at)e-architect.com
Payments to be made in full prior to your tour.
Architecture in Barcelona
photograph © Adrian Welch
Architecture Tours
e-architect also organise architecture walking tours in other Spanish cities such as Madrid, Bilbao, Granada / Cordoba / Seville and Tenerife, the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands.
Barcelona Architectural Photos
Barcelona Architectural Designs – chronological list
Location: Barcelona, Catalonia, northeast Spain, southwestern Europe.
European Building Tours
Spanish Architectural Tours – a selection from e-architect:
Madrid Architecture Walking Tours
Granada Building Tour, Spain
European Architectural Tours – selection:
Lisbon Architectural Walking Tours
London Architecture Walking Tours
Milan Architecture Walking Tours
New Barcelona Buildings
Porta Fira Hotel
Design: Toyo Ito & Associates with b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos
photo from FCC
Porta Fira Hotel
Torre Diagonal Zero Zero
Architects: EMBA
photo : EMBA
Torre Diagonal Zero Zero
Spanish Architecture
Spanish Architects : key architectural studios
Photos for the Barcelona Building Tours – Catalan Architectural Walks : Catalonian capital city guides offered by e-architect for groups by prior booking page welcome.