Sabbatical Budget for 2 Weeks in Barcelona

Barcelona famously struggles with overtourism, but one of the best ways to still experience a destination like this is with a longer stay. Spending 2 weeks in Barcelona instead of 3 days means there’s less turnover of tourists and it gives you time to experience the city more deeply or venture off the beaten path a bit. Here’s what I spent from my budget for 2 weeks in Barcelona.

Note: These numbers are from 2016. I’ve made notes on known price differences for 2025.

Transportation: $122.32

Flight on British Airways $58
Aerobus to city center $6.52
5 day metro card $35.34
2 T10 metro cards $22.46

Note: The T10 card is now the T-Casual card and costs about $15. The three cards necessary for a 2 week stay in Barcelona total $45, which is still less than I spent in mistakenly buying a tourist pass.

Accommodations: $633.15

14 nights in a private room at Sant Jordi Sagrada Familia $633.15

Note: In summer 2025, this is the cost for 14 nights in an 8-bed mixed dorm at Sant Jordi Sagrada Familia, not a private room. Generator Barcelona has 6-bed female dorms available at $55 per night, totaling $766 for 2 weeks. A private room or hotel for 2 weeks in Barcelona will run at least $2,000.

Dining: $101.40

1 breakfast at Macxi Pa $0.94
2 lunches at Mercat do Boqueria $9.29
1 lunch at Cafe Caracas $3.33
1 lunch at Cafe Bar El Cims $4.98
1 dinner at Aladdin $14.64
1 dinner at Blue $15.44
2 week’s worth groceries at Mercat do Boqueria and Sorli Discau $30.71
6 ice cream cones at Jijonenca and Chocolat Box $17.13
1 candy souvenir at Happy Pills $4.94

Entertainment: $118

Casa Batllo audio tour $24.95
Sagrada Familia discount entry $8.07
Devour Barcelona tour $84.98

Note: In summer 2025, Casa Batllo tickets are now $35. Sagrada Familia no longer offers this entry discount and tickets run about $30. It’s not clear whether Devour Barcelona still offers the exact food tour of Gracia I enjoyed, but they still have a fantastic slate of tapas tours and more, each running $110-140.

Miscellaneous: $30.40

replace lost cardigan $11.08
tip for Devour Barcelona tour guide $5.51
sunscreen $13.81

Total: $1,005.27

Average Spent Per Day: $71.80

How I Saved

• Using frequent flier miles
  • By cashing in a fairly small portion of my American Airlines frequent flier miles, I only had to pay for the taxes and fees on my flight from Reykjavik into Barcelona. Otherwise, this could have set me back a couple hundred dollars easily.  Because British Airways doesn’t skimp on in-flight meals, I also got to tuck away a few things for later and bring my dining costs down too.
• Staying in a less central neighborhood
  • If I ever go back to Barcelona, I’m definitely staying in El Born – an artsy district with great energy and a prime location for visiting other popular neighborhoods like the Barri Gotic and Barceloneta. For this trip, I knew I wanted a private room, so to keep that cost down, I stayed in a less exciting area, about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the Sagrada Familia.
• Being flexible with my plans
  • I got lucky with a last minute discount at Sagrada Familia for an entry time near the end of the day. They no longer have this particular deal, but staying flexible with your plans and looking for discounted entry times is always a good strategy.
• Skipping the nightlife
  • Barcelona has great nightlife and when I arrived at my hostel, I was excited to learn their staff organized cover-free outings every night. Then I met the actual organizer and I just knew I wouldn’t enjoy myself in his group. By staying in after dinner, I saved a lot of headaches and a lot of money that would have been otherwise wasted on alcohol.
• Wising up on public transport
  • When I was researching this portion of my sabbatical, I made a note to only purchase T10 metro cards in Barcelona (now T-Casual cards). Too bad I didn’t read those notes before my flight landed! At the end of a long travel day, I fell for the easy and more expensive multi-day metro pass. If you pack your days full and ride the metro a ton, that cost might be worthwhile. As is, I saved at least $40 by wising up and switching to the T10 card. I could have saved $20 more if I’d been more vigilant at the start of my stay.