48 hours in Barcelona

Barcelona is a thriving, sophisticated, culturally rich city, and, thanks to some smart urban planning before the 1992 Olympics, it's fringed by 5km of sandy beaches, too. This is a rare combination, which makes it an ideal summer destination, and with a bit of careful planning, you can avoid the inevitable herds of tourists.

BEAM DOWN

There are scores of flights every week from all over the UK, starting at about £70 return: easyJet (0870 600 0000; www.easyJet.com) flies from Stansted, Gatwick, Luton, East Midlands, Bristol, Newcastle and Liverpool. Other airlines include British Airways (0845 77 333 77; www.ba.com) from Heathrow and Gatwick, and its partner Iberia (0845 6012854; www.iberia.com) from Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester. Trains run twice an hour, and buses four times an hour from the airport to the city centre, and take approximately 25 minutes to reach Placa de Catalunya . The bus ticket is €3.30/£2.20; the train €1.10 (80p). A taxi will set you back around €18 (£12). Ryanair (0871 246 0000; www.ryanair.com) has recently started flights from Stansted and Prestwick to Girona airport, about 100km north. A €15.80 (£11) connecting bus, taking about an hour and 10 minutes, drops you at Placa Tetuan in the centre of town.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

The city is crammed into a narrow space between the sea and the mountains, which makes it high-rise, highly populated, and easy to get around. Placa Catalunya, , which houses the main tourist office (00 34 93 368 9730; www.barcelonaturisme.com), is the hub of the city. To the north, there is the Eixample, the traffic-heavy "Enlargement" built in the second half of the 19th century. Running down to the sea to the south is the Ramblas, a kilometre-long pedestrianised strip lined with human statues, birdcages and restaurant terraces, which divides the old part of the city in two. To the east, the medieval streets of the Barri Gotic; to the west, the Raval,a trendy hotchpotch of bars, shops and museums.

CHECK IN

In the summer, it is difficult to get a hotel room, whatever your budget. If money is no object, the ultra-modern Hotel Arts , Carrer Marina 19-21 (00 34 93 221 1000; www.ritzcarlton.com, doubles from €320/£228), is a skyscraper with luxurious rooms and fine views over the sea and the city. A good mid-range option is the Raval's Hotel España , Carrer Sant Pau 9-11 (00 34 93 318 1758; www.hotelespanya.com, doubles from €86/ £58), designed in the camp Modernista (Catalan Art Nouveau) style by Domenech i Montaner. Check out the ingenious mermaid murals by Ramon Casas in the restaurant. The best budget option is the spacious Hostal Malda , Carrer del Pi 5 (00 34 93 317 3002; singles €12/£8, doubles €26/£18) in the Barri Gotic. There is no pre-booking policy, so turn up at 10am, with fingers crossed. If all else fails, try going to Joven in Carrer Ferran; there is a noticeboard on which locals offer rooms in their flats.

TAKE A RIDE

Public transport in Barcelona is a dream. Under the city, there's an efficient, modern metro system. Its five lines shoot you to wherever you want to go between 5am (6am Sunday) and midnight (2am Friday and Saturday). Overground trains run from Placa Catalunya to the suburbs up and down the coast, and to the posh part of town in the hills. Buses run frequently enough not to cause riots at the stops. A T-10 ticket (€5.80/£3.90) gets you 10 rides on any of these services. More than one person can travel on a multiple-ride ticket.

TAKE A HIKE

A half-hour walk through central Barcelona gives you a good idea of how diverse the city is. Walk from Placa Catalunya down the Ramblas, built over what used to be a stream outside the old city wall. Turn left into Carrer Ferran, a shop-lined street that takes you to Placa Sant Jaume, where the traditionally liberal town hall (the Ajuntament) faces the traditionally conservative parliament (the Generalitat). Wander down to the port through the narrow streets of the medieval Barri Gotic, turn right at Liechtenstein's Pop Art statue, and stroll past the yachts in the marina into the seaside district of Barceloneta. Go down the Passeig Maritim promenade, looking over Barcelona's oldest beach, until 1966 a shanty slum. After 10 minutes, you reach the modern Olympic port, with its golden whale and twin skyscrapers. Go through the marina and down on to the white sand of Platja de Nova Icaria, one of the city's five new beaches.

TAKE A VIEW

Barcelona is a city full of views, but the best-earned is from the top of one of the towers in Gaudi's outrageous Sagrada Familia cathedral , Carrer Mallorca 401 (00 34 93 207 3031; www.sagradafamilia.org; 9am-8pm April-September, 9am-6pm October-March, €8/£5.40. Go in the morning to avoid the crowds. The walk is not for the faint-hearted - try not to look down the centre of the spiral stairs - but is punctuated by exciting views of the city from the strangely shaped windows.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

Join the many locals who pack daily into the Can Paixano , Carrer Reina Cristina 7 (00 34 93 310 0839) near the port, for a sausage sandwich (€1.80/£1.20) and a cheap glass of cava, Catalan champagne (44c/30p). This former warehouse has been a xampaneria (cava bar), for 35 years, but is also a shop - it's an excellent place to stock up on cava and fuet (local sausages-on-string) to take home.

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

The Joan Miro Foundation , Parc de Montjuic (00 34 93 443 9470; www.bcn.fjmiro.es; 10am-7pm Tues-Sat, 10am-2.30pm Sun, €7.20/£4.80) was designed by the artist's friend, Josep Lluis Sert, on the slopes of the Montjuic mountain. It is a wonderfully relaxing, brightly lit building, a perfect setting for Miro's exuberantly colourful art. Standing in the sun on the gallery's white terrace, looking at Miro's glossy sculptures, with a view of Barcelona in the background, is the stuff of perfect moments.

WINDOW SHOPPING

There seems to be a new boutique opening every week in El Born, the seriously hip part of town flanking the Barri Gotic. Local young designers are given shelf-room for their stilettoed espadrilles (€69/£46) and hand-painted shirts (€65/£43.34) in shops such as Como Agua de Mayo and Desigual , both on Carrer Argenteria, and Candela , Carrer Santamaria 6.

AN APERITIF

Quimet & Quimet , Carrer Poeta Cabanyes 25 (00 34 93 442 3142; 12 noon-4pm Tue-Sun, 7pm-10.30pm Tue-Sat, closed August) is a little off the beaten track in the low-key district of Poble Sec - but one mouthful of their inventive tapas (€2/£1.40) and you'll be glad you made the trip. Mussels and caviar, anchovies and honey, whatever the combination, it hits your palate in several different places at the same time. A sip of home-made vermouth (€1.10/80p) readies your taste buds for the next onslaught.

DINING WITH THE LOCALS

Keep clear of the Ramblas, and you will find that Barcelona is full of restaurants that serve excellent food at reasonable prices (€50/£34 to €70/£47 per couple for wine and two courses). Els Pescadors , Placa Prim 1 (00 34 93 225 2018; 1pm-3.45pm, 8pm-midnight daily), in the quiet barrio of Poble Nou, is still something of a locals' secret, serving excellent fresh fish, oven-cooked in the unfussy Catalan style. It's difficult to get a table at the Cafe de l'Academia , Carrer Ledo 1 (00 34 93 319 8253; 9am-12am, 1.30pm-4pm, 8.45pm-11.30pm Mon-Fri, closed for two weeks in August), where you can enjoy succulent roast guinea fowl or duck, so book ahead. In the Raval, Dos Trece , Carrer Carme 40 (00 34 93 301 7306; 11am-2am daily), opened in 2002 but is already a culinary landmark. It serves international cuisine washed down with unusual spirits. Try the ginaatang hipon, Indonesian-style shrimps cooked with coconut milk, ginger and pumpkin, followed by a glass of rum infused with cinnamon.

SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH

Santa Maria del Pi at Carrer Cardenal Casañas 16 (Sunday services 11am and noon in Catalan, 1pm in Spanish) is, from the outside, the least spectacular of Barcelona's three great Gothic churches. But inside, in a massive single nave lit by an enormous stained-glass rose window, services are surprisingly intimate. Much of the church was restored after it was set alight during the Spanish Civil War; George Orwell describes being shot at from its tower in Homage to Catalonia.

OUT TO BRUNCH

The district of Gracia used to be a separate village before it was enveloped by Barcelona's 19th-century urban growth-spurt, and it has still got a chilled-out feel to it. The car-less Placa Virreina is about as relaxed as it gets in Barcelona - the silver-tabled terrace of the Virreina Bar , (10am-2.30am Mon-Sat, 10.30am to midnight Sun), is a good place for a ham and cheese bocadillo (sandwich) and a local beer (try Estrella).

A WALK IN THE PARK

Most of Barcelona's 36 parks are out of the city centre. The prettiest is the Parc de Laberint , Carrer Germans Desvalls (10am-sunset; €2/£1.40), an 18th-century formal garden featuring a slightly unkempt maze, which fools you at every turn.

WRITE A POSTCARD

Gaudi's exuberant Parc Guell , Carrer d'Olot (10am-sunset daily), with its Hansel and Gretel gatehouses, colourful dragon, palm-tree columns and broken-china mosaic terrace, is a great place to watch the sun set over Barcelona, an inspiring setting for homebound prose. Take a metro to Lesseps (Line 3) and follow the signs.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

Don't go home without making a trip to the Boqueria , Barcelona's biggest market, on the Raval side of the Ramblas (www.ac-boqueria.com; 00 34 93 318 2017; 8am-9pm, Mon-Sat). The 957 stalls are stacked high with a huge range of foodstuffs, from exotic mushrooms to sheets of tripe. It's a perfect place to purchase some edible souvenirs - a 6kg jamon Iberico will set you back about €160 (£107). But many find the vivid memories of the colours and smells here are the most precious thing they take back home from Barcelona.

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