Allow resident eco-tour experts, Barcelona Discovery, to provide you with an ultimate guide to the unique experiences around Catalonia.
In this mini-series, we’d like to introduce to you some of the most popular tour & local experience providers around the globe and today we will have a quick stop in Spain with our friends from Barcelona Discovery. Whether you’d like to discover fabulous Spanish food with their popular food tours or bring back home some unique memories from your trip to Catalonia, they got your back. Here, we have a chat with Barcelona Discovery about their beginnings, how slow travel is approached in their company, and must-see local gems and places that you shouldn’t miss on your trip to the region of Catalonia.
Q1: Hi Melanie, how are you doing?
Fine thanks! Working hard, preparing new private tours with totally local experiences around Catalonia.
Q2: Tell us more about Barcelona Discovery. How did it all start?
Everything started when I launch my company idea with a group of friends during dinner. I wanted to offer tours to the tourists that were coming to Barcelona, and let them discover Catalonia. But for me, the most important thing was that I wanted them to discover our country like a local. That’s what I like when I travel to another country.
We started brainstorming with my friends and soon I launched Barcelona Discovery project. Above all, we are passionate about our country and we are constantly looking for new and unique places for travelers, seeing what others haven’t seen and feeling what others haven’t felt.
Q3: You’re called Barcelona Discovery. Does it mean that you only offer experiences in the city of Barcelona?
Our name is Barcelona Discovery, but this doesn’t mean that we only offer private tours in the city of Barcelona. But everyone knows Barcelona, right? For this reason, we thought that the best name for our company was Barcelona Discovery instead of Catalonia Discovery. But as you can see in our slogan, it says Nature & Eco Tours around Catalonia, and this is basically what we do.
Q4: Your business tackles one of the most important aspects of recent travel trends – ecology and sustainability. Is this something that makes you unique on the market?
Yes, of course, this is our principal objective. Our private tours mix slow travel and ecological tourism. They allow travelers to enjoy Barcelona and Catalonia in a relaxed way discovering hidden and unique places.
We support the active, ecological, and quality tourism and value sustainability of the environment and the respect for the local economy.
Q5: Let’s get practical. In what ways do you support ecological tourism and slow travel on your tours?
For the private Barcelona tours, we offer walking tours, bike tours, and sailing tours with sailing boats, where the clients feel the warm sea breeze as you sail along the Barcelona coast.
For the wine and gastronomic tours, we always visit cellars or workshops where travelers get to know the product, vineyards, olive produce of local organic producers. With Barcelona Discovery you will always discover little local places where you will feel like at home.
Q6: I know that private tours are just one of the experiences that travelers can book with you. What else do you do?
Apart from our private tours, we organize corporate events, incentive tours, Hen Parties, retreat company events and tours, and teambuilding events.
Q7: You’re known for your tailor-made Hen Parties in Barcelona and these events always call for funny stories. Can you think of any experience you’ll never forget?
All of them are funny because they are organizing a very special moment for the bride.
Bachelorette parties in Spain tend to be quite different than those in other countries. Here, costumes are a huge deal, especially for the bride-to-be who’s often the last to know! The bride’s friends will usually pick a costume for her, and she doesn’t know how they’re dressing her up until the night’s on. Costumes can be ironic (like a nun), silly (a cheerleader or schoolgirl), or anything in between. Some of the more eccentric groups even decide for every girl to dress up as something related to the theme!
For us, the funniest hen parties we organize are sailing and floating parties, on board of a sailboat or motor yacht, we welcome the girls with a glass of cava and ice-cold beers. Once we’re in open waters, we’ll throw our doughnut boat overboard for some adrenaline-fuelled fun, or whatever water toys you prefer. Here is where they have the most fun, laughing, taking pictures, and drinking.
After the aquatic adventure, we’ll sail around the Barcelona coast, enjoying some of the most incredible city’s spots from the sea. With the Barcelona skyline on the horizon, we’ll drop anchor, launch the inflatables into the water, turn up the music, and dance until the end.
Q8: Today many people travel and plan their itineraries on their own. Why would you recommend booking one of your experiences to our travelers?
Taking private tours with Barcelona Discovery will make you discover our country like a local. We will let you explore hidden places that you wouldn’t discover on your own. Accompanied by our licensed tour guides, you will discover all the secrets and mysteries of Barcelona and Catalonia with always no-queue tickets into museums and other indoor experiences.
Q9: Last but not least, what is your favorite spot in Barcelona that you’d take your friends to see or experience? Tips from a true local are always worth it 🙂
If it’s the first time they visit Barcelona, for sure the best spot is all the Gaudi emblematic buildings, Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, La Pedrera, and Park Güell, I would recommend people to make the Gaudi City Tour.
Also, we would recommend seeing Barcelona from a unique perspective, with our Private Sailing Tour. There’s no bigger magic than feeling the warm sea breeze as you sail along the Barcelona coast for 2 hours watching some of the most iconic Barcelona spots.
And last but not the least, if they want to have a break from the city I would recommend these two tours. Only 15 minutes from Barcelona, they can enjoy a unique experience – Picnic wine tasting tour. A totally different experience which we recommend during the summer sunset. It’s one of the most romantic experiences, but it’s also a great option for a group of friends and families with kids because you’re enjoying yourselves with no disctractions around alone between the vineyards.
Finally, we recommend you the private Oil tasting tour. Olive oil is a basic element of the Mediterranean diet, where the most of the meals are served with an olive oil bottle on the side. For this reason, having this experience is a way of immersing yourself in the Catalan culture.
Book some of the most popular tours by Barcelona Discovery here:
Barcelona Gaudi Private Tour
Apperitif Winery Experience
Private Sailing & Wine Tasting Tour
Legends of Barcelona – Private Walking Tour
Wine & Oil Tasting Tour near Barcelona