TAPAS & GAUDI SITES: Food and Architecture in one tour
Do you want to visit the Sagrada Familia church but also have some tapas? Do you like mixing up sightseeing with some great food? Fancy some tapas and some Gaudi sites?
There’s so much about the Sagrada Familia church, and so much that can be missed if you go on your own without anyone to explain. And same with tapas: ordering on your own is often tricky when you don’t know what you are going to like or not. And if you are as a control freak or a perfectionist as I am, how much time does it take to have everything perfectly planned and fail-proof? Really a lot!
We designed this tour for a client that wanted to surprise her friends once, and we had so much fun with it she suggested we should add it to our tour portfolio and call it “Saints & Sins”, because of the church and the gluttony sin. And while we have change the tour name to something easier to recognize since then, this is still a favorite! A skip-the-line private tour of the Sagrada Familia church, followed by a short tapas tour.
IN THIS PRIVATE SAGRADA FAMILIA & TAPAS TOUR YOU WILL VISIT:
SAGRADA FAMILIA
(inside)
2 TO 3 TAPAS BARS
(eat in)
1 DESSERT OR COCKTAIL BAR
(optional)
ADAPT YOUR TOUR TO YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS
This tour works great for someone looking for a fun afternoon that mixes up some sightseeing with some great food.
HINT: Add one or two extra hours to see more sites or eat in more bars.
If you are traveling with kids, this tour is kid friendly. Yes, we can find tapas that even picky eaters will enjoy. And if ending at 9.30PM sounds too late, you can also book this tour as a lunchtime tour.
If you have walking issues or use a wheelchair, the Sagrada Familia church is accessible EXCEPT FOR THE TOWERS (which are anyway optional), and most tapas bars are (although they might be narrow and maybe have one step at the entrance: we’ll do our best to serve you). The walk between bars varies from next door to a bit more than 5 minutes.
If you are expecting to find bars full of atmosphere, this probably isn’t the right choice for you because you’ll get there early and locals won’t have arrived yet. We recommend you go for a full Tapas Tour (and maybe add extra hours for Sagrada Familia if it’s still open, or visit it in some other tour), because it ends much later.
If you are more than one day in town, double the fun by booking one Gaudi Tour and one Tapas Tour instead. Or combine it with our Tour of the Old Town. Or consider going out of town one day.
SPECIAL DIETS
- Vegetarian (ovo-lacto) are welcome. It’s not difficult to improvise some veggie tapas in Barcelona, but it’s best you let us know in advance.
- Vegan are harder to cater. We definitely need to know in advance to plan accordingly. We also suggest you book a lunchtime tour so we can take you to the Boqueria Market bars where it’ll be easier to offer you a feast.
- Gluten-free can be accommodated if you can handle crossed-contamination and traces.
- Celiac is VERY hard to accommodate as in most restaurants they aren’t trained to keep your food safe. We might have to limit the tapas stops to one single bar in the area we know to be safe.
- Kosher food is hard to find in Barcelona: I’m afraid we can’t provide a tapas tour that thoroughly respects kosher rules. We can, though, organize a no-pork no-seafood tapas tour if that’s OK with you.
- Halal food is easier to find, but unfortunately it’s mostly Middle-Eastern cuisine. I’m afraid we can’t provide either a strictly halal tapas tour. We can, though, organize a no-pork no-seafood tapas tour if that’s OK with you.
- Other food allergies and diets, check with us before booking your tour so we can assess your options and risks.
Our tours only include the towers upon request. You need to know that:
It is not possible anymore to just climb the stairs: the way up is now only possible by elevator. However, the number of tickets available is restricted to just a few every hour, for an extra fee.
If there is availability, you are given a specific time to get in the line for the elevator (either the one in the Passion façade or the one in the Nativity façade, but not both), and after a 5 to 20 minute wait you finally get in the elevator that takes you to almost the top of the towers. From there you must walk down: it is not permitted to use the elevator to go down anymore. The whole process takes almost one hour, so unless you are OK shortening the rest of the tour itinerary, you should book one extra hour to be able to do the towers.
Do we recommend the towers, though? Only for the adventure of climbing spiral stairs, but not for the views as you’ll get better views from many other city sites. After all, those towers were designed to be bell towers, not vantage points. Also, the way down is narrow and occasionally claustrophobic, and it is definitely not for people scared of heights.
Tour operators like us are only allowed to book tickets for the Passion Façade towers – should you be interested in the Nativity Façade towers you’ll have to go back to Sagrada Familia on your own some other day as those tickets are only available for individual visitors.
THE TOWERS ARE NOT ACCESSIBLE FOR WHEELCHAIRS, AND NOT SUITABLE FOR PEOPLE WITH HEART OR LUNG CONDITIONS, CLAUSTROPHOBIA OR FEAR OF HEIGHTS. CHILDREN UNDER 6 YEARS OF AGE ARE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE TOWERS.
TOUR SCHEDULE
TOUR AND BOOKING INFORMATION
TRANSPORTATION
Walking tour with 1 taxi ride, of around €10 (not included)
ENTRANCE FEES | Not included
CHARGED UPON BOOKING:
Sagrada Familia: €25/personFOOD FACTS
Food & Drinks are not included. Expect to pay as little as a couple of euros for a “pintxo” to €15 for a platter or the best Spanish ham. You’ll have control on how much you want to order and what.
Should I skip any meals that day? If you are booking a morning tour, have a light breakfast and don’t plan lunch: the tapas you’ll eat at the tour will be filling enough. Then you can have dinner normally. If you are booking an afternoon tour, have a light lunch and don’t plan dinner.
PRICING (2019 fees)
€299 – TOTAL PER TOUR (not per person)
EXTRA HOURS: €93/hourSAFE & RELIABLE BOOKING
- SSL connection to guarantee your safety.
- We take Visa and Mastercard.
BOOK NOW
Our team is small and we can only secure a guide for you after full payment has been received. Don’t wait until last-minute: we often book out.
* Site ticket costs are given as an orientation only, as they can change without notice. Discounts might apply for students and/or seniors.
More questions? Inclusions — Exclusions — FAQ — Contact
REVIEWS FROM TRAVELERS LIKE YOU
AnonymousB8206OE (Jerusalem, Israel)
Javier our guide and his insight on Gaudi and our Sagrada Familia tour was just magical. then he took us on a tapas tasting in an area where locals go so we felt like we were not tourists. We experienced foods we would not otherwise have experienced on our own.
Michael A (Roseland, New Jersey, USA)
My wife and I recently visited Barcelona for 4 glorious days. One of the highlights was our combined Gaudi/Tapas tour with Sandra who is a terrific guide.
03ang2015 (Kolding, Denmark)
Marga, Gaudi & tapas – 3 winners in Barcelona. Thank you Marga – for being you – and for spending 4 quality hours with us. We will book you again in 10 years – when the Gaudi church is finished.
Renee Albersheim
Our second tour with ForeverBarcelona included Sagrada Familia and a tapas tour. Again, Begoña took us where we wanted to go. We had visited a year and a half ago, and she was able to show us so many changes that were completed in such a short time. Our goal was to spend as much time as possible inside, and she accommodated us. She had so much terrific inside information. We loved it. We were supposed to go to a couple of restaurants for tapas, but we liked the first one so much, we stayed there, and Begoña was very accommodating. The food and the service were great and we felt very special. We had such a good time with Begoña that want to come back to Barcelona again.
Elizabeth Thompson (United States)
5 of us had this tour and it was outstanding. Marta is passionate about Barcelona history and culture and tailored our tour to exactly what we asked for… some history and good food. She shared with us a few of her favorite tapas bars and the best Sangria in Barcelona (She knows the “secret” ingredient!). Without a doubt the highlight of our two days there.
Moogle343 (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
We were a group of 4, two younger people and two older people. The tour of Sagrada Familia was private, about 90 minutes right at noon, and I felt we had the best experience of anyone possible. Right group size, explanations of all key features/windows/sculpture/history, and then a quick taxi to the El Born district where we leisurely sought out a couple of lovely Tapas places. Finished with a stop at a very nice dessert cafe/bar. I have nothing but lovely things to say – perhaps the best way to see the most visited monument in all of Spain.
Ianweatherbyblythe (Warwick)
We booked a private Sagrada Familia & Tapas tour with Marta which involved an in depth tour of the incredible Sagrada Familia and an introduction to the Barcelona Tapas scene. Both elements of the tour were hugely enjoyable and the balance spot on.
Theketchens (Toronto, Canada)
We had a great time with our tour guide Marga on the Sagrada Familia / Tapas tour. Marga is very knowledgeable, also has a great sense of humour. Her tapas restaurant picks were spot on – they’ll definitely be on our go-to list next time we visit Barcelona.