Private Guided Tours of Barcelona and Girona with Dolça!
Born and raised in a small town in the Catalunya countryside, Dolça is a licensed local guide who lived in Barcelona for many years and is now based out of Girona, a lovely city at the start of the Costa Brava.
With a Bachelors’ degree in Art History and a Master’s in Theater Studies, Dolça is our go-to for anything and everything having to do with art, architecture, history, and culture in Barcelona and throughout the wider region.
As a guide, she’s done a bit of everything, but nowadays she mostly leads walking tours of Barcelona and Girona, focused on showing off the highlights of her cities balanced out with a nice mix of local, lesser-known areas and attractions.
A note from Dolça
“Hola and welcome to Catalunya, dear travelers! It would be my pleasure to show you around my region and my cities, and to help you understand what makes this part of Spain so special.
But first, let me tell you a bit about myself! It’s always hard to describe oneself, but for me the first word that comes to my mind is the Mediterranean. The color, the cultures, the food. Everything around the Mediterranean feels like home to me!
I grew up in a small town in the Empordà area, well known for its seaside area: Costa Brava, near the town of Figueres, the hometown of Salvador Dalí. I have lived between Barcelona and Costa Brava for the last fifteen years and I’m proud to feel like a true ambassador of Catalonia. The region boasts some of life’s best pleasures: good weather, excellent food, theaters, compelling museums, memorable festivals, and, of course, the sparkling expanse of the Mediterranean Sea.
Since 2012 I have been a certified tour guide in English, Italian, Spanish and Catalan, with a bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of Barcelona and lately, I have finished a Master’s degree in Theater studies. I am fascinated by art, theatre, history and architecture.
I am open-minded, responsible and creative by nature. I love being a tour guide because I am passionate about sharing experiences with new people, and always do my very best to make sure that every traveler’s experience is totally unique. I invite curious, like-minded visitors to join me on immersive, locally-minded and truly memorable adventures!”
Barcelona City Center Walking Tour
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $425 USD
Price includes: Your guide
Max participants: 8
Note: All tours are private (only you and your group)
Barcelona’s historic center is still today the heart of the city, and it’s a place where thousands of years of history mix with modern, everyday life.
The Gothic Quarter, El Born, Las Ramblas, La Barceloneta… these are some of the city’s most storied neighborhoods, and they’re the perfect place to get an introduction to this fabulous place! And there’s no better way to discover them than on foot, weaving from one neighborhood to the next.
We’ll typically start in Plaça Catalunya, one of Barcelona’s central squares, and will then make our way to the famous Las Ramblas street, passing by La Boqueria market, and continuing until we reach the Gothic Quarter.
Here, we’ll see the Roman walls, the Cathedral, City Hall, the little Jewish Quarter, and the maze of narrow medieval streets that connect them all.
Continuing on to the El Born neighborhood, we’ll stop by the UNESCO Palau de la Musica Catalana music hall, the Mercat de Santa Caterina, and the Mercat del Born which is actually not a market, but rather a set of medieval ruins. We’ll also see many churches here (too many to name!), including Santa Maria del Mar.
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Finally, we’ll reach the old fisherman’s quarter of La Barceloneta, which sits beside the Mediterranean sea - the perfect place to finish our walk.
During the tour, we’ll make a few stops to refuel whenever you get hungry or thirsty, visiting an ice cream shop, a little hole in the wall serving churros, and a bar for a cold beer.
We’re going to cover a lot of ground together and will see a good portion of the historic center, so make sure you wear some comfortable walking shoes. Ready to see the city? Let’s explore!
Sagrada Familia and Park Güell - Gaudí’s Must-See Monuments
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $425 USD + $50 per person for entrance tickets (tickets free for children under 7)
Price includes: Your guide, entrance tickets to Sagrada Familia and Park Güell
Max participants: 7
Note: All tours are private (only you and your group)
No visit to Barcelona would be complete without touring the Sagrada Familia, the symbol of the city, and the fairytale-esque Park Güell.
Designed by the brilliant architect Antoni Gaudí, these are the two absolute "can't-miss" Gaudí monuments in Barcelona, and they are often the highlights of a visitor's time here. So if you want to get a deeper understanding of these sites as well as the man behind them, this is the perfect tour.
We’ll start off at the Sagrada Familia, and will first view the church from the charming little squares surrounding it, the perfect places from which to gain an appreciation for the scale of this structure, its complexity, and just how unique it is from the surrounding architecture.
Upon entering the church's grounds, we'll first view the oldest sections of the church, starting with the nativity scenes and their thousands of extensive and genuinely weird details.
We’ll then go inside the church, and will spend about a half hour touring the central nave and observing the intricate interior. After, we’ll exit from the opposite entrance, the Passion of Christ facade.
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Optional visit to the church museum and/or the former school are also possible after the church visit. Expect to spend about 1.5-2 hours here in total.
From here, we'll head on to Park Güell, hopping in a taxi to make our way over there. As we walk through this fantastic park taking in the great views of the city and the whimsical, fantasy-land features, we'll talk about the history of its development and will expand on the life of its famous designer, Antoni Gaudí. We'll spend about 1 to 1.5 hours in the park.
If time permits, we can also make our way down from the park into the lovely upscale Gracia neighborhood for a quick walk.
Girona’s Medieval Streets Walking Tour
Duration: 2.5-3 hours
Cost: $425 USD + $15 per person for entrance tickets (tickets free for children under 7)
Price includes: Your guide, entrance tickets to the Arab Baths and Cathedral
Max participants: 8
Note: All tours are private (only you and your group)
Girona, the main/capital city in the Costa Brava area, is a quaint medieval town founded by the Romans. A city built along hills, it’s filled with atmospheric winding streets that lead from the lovely riverside district up to the imposing hilltop cathedral.
On our tour, we’ll see the La Rambla street (rather small compared to Barcelona’s), The Eiffel bridge, designed by the same Gustav Eiffel who made the famous tower in Paris, and we’ll weave our way through the narrow alleys of the charming, medieval Jewish Quarter.
We’ll make a special stop at the Arab Baths (which are not actually Arab at all) and will head inside to see the magnificent entrance hall.
From here, it’s time to head uphill until we reach the Cathedral, which looks out over the city and surrounding area. Built in a mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles, the cathedral has the widest Gothic nave in the world, so we’ll step inside to tour this masterpiece.
Next up on our walk is the remaining portion of the city’s medieval walls, right behind the cathedral, which we’ll climb up and stroll along to enjoy the view.
Girona is also known for a few special sweets that are unique to the city, so while we explore you’ll have the option to stop in at various little shops to try some of the local delicacies.
Discover Salvador Dalí in Figueres
Duration: 3 hours
Cost: $425 USD + $60 per person for entrance tickets’s (tickets free for children under 7)
Price includes: Your guide, entrance tickets to Teatro-Museo Dalí and Dalí’s childhood home
Max participants: 8
Note: All tours are private (only you and your group)
Salvador Dalí is Catalunya’s most famous artist, and his surrealist works are among the strangest and most delightful that you’ll find anywhere in Europe.
Although he lived in Barcelona, Madrid, France, and the United States, he was born and raised in the little town of Figueres, just inland from the Costa Brava.
The town itself doesn’t have the charm of many Spanish towns, as it was largely destroyed during intensive bombings by the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), but it has two fantastic sights: the Theater-Museum Dalí, designed by Dalí himself, and his childhood home, which is now a museum.
So, for anyone interested in Dalí, a trip to Figueres, his hometown, is an absolute must. We’ll start our visit with the artists’ largest surrealistic artwork, the Theater-Museum, which Dalí designed in his later years after he’d returned to Spain. Here, be ready for one very unusual art museum, with surprises like a rainy taxi, a portrait of Mae West that is a living room, and his very strange jewelry.
Expect to spend about 2 hours in the museum.
Afterwards, we’ll continue on to the Salvador Dalí House, the artist’s childhood home, which has recently been turned into a very nice museum.
To end the tour, we’ll go for a short stroll around the town.
Custom Tours
Looking for something a bit different?
All of Dolça’s tours can be fully customized to you, your interests, and travel style. If you’d like something totally unique, you can work one-on-one with Dolça a to co-create a one of a kind tour.
To get started, request a custom tour below and provide us some initial ideas about what you’re looking for. Dolça will then reach out to you directly to start planning your tour together.