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Església de Sants Just i Pastor
This single-nave church was built in 1342 in Catalan Gothic style, with chapels on either side of the buttressing. It boasts some fine stained-glass windows. On Plaça de Sant Just, in front of the church, bubbles a water fountain dating from 1367. Gaudí was arrested here one day for not speaking Spanish to a copper.
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Fundació Antoni Tàpies
This Domènech i Montaner building - considered by many to be the prototype for Modernisme, and the first in the city to be built on an iron frame - houses the experimental work of Catalonia's greatest living artist, Antoni Tàpies, as well as exhibitions by other contemporary artists. The building is crowned with coiled wire, a curious Tàpies sculpture titled Núvol i Cadira (Cloud and Chair).
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Fundació Joan Miró
A wonderfully captivating gallery showcasing the delights of Miró. Miró's friend Josep Lluís Sert designed the gallery and its amazing use of white and light makes it an unforgettable experience. The gallery was Miró's gift to his beloved city. It also houses exhibitions by contemporary artists.
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Fundación Francisco Godia
An intriguing mix of medieval art and ceramics and modern paintings make up this eclectic private collection. Jaume Huguet is represented by Santa Maria Magdalena, a bright, Gothic representation of Mary Magdalene dressed in red ermine. Medieval works also include wooden sculptures of the Virgin Mary and Christ taken down from the Cross.
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Galería Olímpica
This museum is chock-full of photographs and memorabilia associated with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Favourite items are the scrumptious-looking models of the standard daily diet (baked beans, anyone?) of cyclists and gymnasts.
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Girona
Regular trains from Barcelona make a longish but rewarding day trip to Girona (91km, or 1½ hours, northeast) possible. Huddled in multicoloured confusion on the banks of the Onyar, this medieval town is delightful.
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Golondrina Excursion Boats
Kids will love the 1½ -hour jaunt around the harbour and along the beaches to the northeast tip of town aboard a golondrina (swallow). Shorter trips are also available (and tend to leave more often).
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Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau
A Domènech i Montaner masterpiece, begun in 1901 and finished by his son in 1930, this uniquely chirpy hospital is a gargantuan Modernista landmark comprising 48 lavishly decorated pavilions. Feign illness or just wander around the gardens. The hospital wards are being transferred to more modern facilities, and the site will eventually house a museum on medicine and Montaner.
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Jardí Botànic
Concentrating on a 'Mediterranean' flora theme, this botanic garden features thousands of species that thrive in similar climates all over the world, from Spain to Turkey, Australia to South Africa and California to Chile.
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Jardins de Joan Brossa
These varied gardens and play areas spread out over what was once a funfair.
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Jardins de Mossèn Cinto de Verdaguer
These beautiful, cool gardens are devoted to bulbs and aquatic plants, from tulips to water lilies.
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Jardins de Mossèn Costa i Llobera
A longish wander downhill from the Castell de Montjuïc, these gardens are of particular interest for the collection of tropical and desert plants - including a veritable forest of cacti.
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L'anella Olímpica & Estadi Olímpic
One for sports fans. L'Anella Olímpica (Olympic Ring) is the group of installations built for the main events of the 1992 Olympics. They include the Estadi Olímpic, which is open to the public when Espanyol (the 'other' football team) isn't getting whipped.
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L'Aquàrium
You won't come much closer to a set of shark choppers. The 80m-long shark tunnel is the high point in this, one of Europe's largest aquariums. Some 11,000 fish (including about a dozen sharks) have become permanent residents here in an area filled with 4.5 million litres of water. The restless sharks are accompanied by splendid flapping rays and huge sunfish. Other tanks are devoted to the delights of the Red Sea, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Australia and the South Seas.
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La Catedral
Approached from the broad Avinguda de la Catedral, Barcelona's central place of worship presents a magnificent image. The richly decorated main (northwest) facade, laced with gargoyles and the stone intricacies you would expect of northern European Gothic, sets it quite apart from other churches in Barcelona.
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La Font Màgica
Delightfully over the top, the biggest of Montjuïc's famous fountains splashes into life with an irresistible summer-evening extravaganza of music and light. Whether it's to the tune of Tchaikovsky or Abba, you'll be mesmerised by the waterworks.
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La Moreneta
Perched at Montserrat is a monastery and 12th-century chapel built to house La Moreneta, a statue found nearby and venerated by hundreds of thousands of people each year.
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La Pedrera
This hallucinatory, undulating beast is yet another madcap Gaudí masterpiece, built between 1905 and 1910 as a combined apartment and office block. Formerly called the Casa Milà, it's better known as La Pedrera (the quarry) because of its uneven grey stone facade that creates a wave effect, which is further emphasized by elaborate wrought-iron balconies.
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La Sagrada Família
La Sagrada Família is truly awe-inspiring. Even if you don't have much time, don't miss it. The most ambitious work of Barcelona's favourite son, Antoni Gaudí, the magnificent spires of the unfinished cathedral imprint themselves boldly against the sky with swelling outlines inspired by the holy Montserrat.
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Manzana de la Discordia
This is one of the most wonderful roads in Barcelona. The discord came about because various well-to-do families all wanted their houses done in the latest style and each hired a different architect. Here Gaudí, Enric Sagnier and others battle it out in bricks and mortar. Not to be missed.
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Mercat de Santa Caterina
The undulating, polychrome-tiled roof of this 21st-century produce market is a great place to shop for bananas and stop for lunch. Local architect Enric Miralles designed it on the site of its 19th-century predecessor, which itself replaced a medieval Dominican monastery.
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Mercat del Born
The long-silent 19th-century Mercat del Born is destined to become a museum-cum-cultural centre after the discovery in 2000 of a whole swath of late-medieval Barcelona that had been flattened to make way for the sinister Ciutadella fortress (see Parc de la Ciutadella) in the 18th century.
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Montserrat
Montserrat (Serrated Mountain) is the spiritual heart of Catalonia and your best opportunity to enjoy awesome scenery on a day trip from Barcelona. Comprising a massif of limestone pinnacles rising precipitously over gorges, this wondrous place has drawn hermits (er, independent travellers) since the 5th century.
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Monument a Colom
Centuries after he stumbled across the Americas, Columbus was honoured with this 60m monument, built for the Universal Exhibition in 1888. It looks like he's urging the tourists to go elsewhere, but you can catch a lift to the soles of his feet for a fine view.
