Barcelona

The inside is the point — a stone forest with light pouring through like stained-glass weather. Book the first morning slot online days ahead; walking up rarely works anymore.

Gaudí's mosaic terrace with the whole city rolling down to the sea below. The ticketed zone is small — the surrounding free park and its viewpoints are half the pleasure.

Put the map away between the cathedral and the sea — Roman towers, silent squares like Sant Felip Neri, and a harp player echoing somewhere. Best before 10am or after 10pm.

The famous tree-lined boulevard down to the sea. Touristy, yes — but you walk it once, keep a hand on your bag, and duck into the Boqueria halfway.

Gaudí's dragon-scaled house and his wave of stone, one block apart. The insides are dazzling but pricey — seeing both lit up from the pavement at night costs nothing and loses little.

FC Barcelona's cathedral of football. The stadium tour and the museum's trophy room are a pilgrimage for any fan — and on a match night the whole city tilts toward it.

Push past the smoothie stalls at the entrance to the counters at the back, where cooks sear whatever the fishmongers had that morning. Stand, order, point, repeat.

The Gothic Quarter's giant — a cloister with thirteen resident geese, and a rooftop you can climb for a view straight over the old town.

The teenage Picasso — academic, astonishing — and then the fifty-eight riffs on Las Meninas that show exactly what he broke and why. In five medieval palaces; book ahead, Thursdays evenings are free.

A real city beach ten minutes' walk from a Gothic cathedral — swim, then walk the seafront north past the sail-shaped hotel as the volleyball games start. May to October the water's yours.

After dark at Plaça d'Espanya, the fountain below the Palau Nacional runs a free light-and-music show. Cheesy, and completely worth it — check the timetable, it doesn't run every night.

Old anti-aircraft platforms on a bare hilltop with the best 360° of Barcelona — Sagrada Família to the sea in one sweep. Bring something to drink; half of young Barcelona already has.

Ride up over the port to the castle, then wander down through gardens to the Miró museum and the Magic Fountain. A whole green afternoon hanging above the city.

A pedestrian street of bars where everything on the counter costs a euro or two — take a plate, spear what you like, they count the toothpicks at the end. Dinner for a tenner, done the fun way.

Plaça del Sol and its sisters fill every night with people on terraces and kerbs, drinks from the corner shop, guitars appearing. The unticketed, unmarketed real nightlife of the city.

A modernista concert hall so over-the-top it's almost funny — a stained-glass sun hanging from the ceiling, flowers climbing the walls. Do the tour, or better, catch a night of live guitar.

The old-fashioned funfair on the mountain-top, ferris wheel spinning above the whole city and sea. Ride the 1900s tram up at dusk — half the view is the point.

The serrated holy mountain an hour out, with a famous monastery, a black Madonna, and cable-car and hiking trails among the surreal rock pillars. Catalonia's spiritual heart and a grand day trip.

A dazzling Art Nouveau former hospital, a fantasyland of mosaic pavilions and tiled domes and a UNESCO site — Gaudí's less-famous rival, and far quieter than his work. A gorgeous surprise.

The city's central park — a monumental Arc de Triomf, a grand cascade fountain (with a young Gaudí's hand in it), rowing boats and shady lawns. Barcelona's green heart.