Street art: free guided tours of Barcelona’s graffiti
If Barcelona is a big open air gallery, it’s not just because of its architectural masterpieces…There is more than just Gaudí in this city!
If you’re interested in street art, then you will love taking a very visual walk through the streets of Barcelona, shining a spotlight on the Catalan capital’s graffiti!
Barcelona’s renowned street artists
Since 2012, the organisation Barcelona Street Style Tour has been raising awareness and due appreciation of street artists and their works.
On the three different tours that the organisation offers, the guides will show you graffiti by such famous artists as C215, Invader, Miss Van, Alice Pasquini, BToy, Tom 14, PEZ and Sam 3: yes, there are a few!
Barcelona Street Style Tour and their guided street art routes
Digging out and uncovering interesting graffiti can be difficult without a competent guide, and you don’t want to end up missing some of Barcelona’s street art gems!
To avoid that, Barcelona Street Style Tour offers two free walking routes in the old town. They are generally done in English by an informed and passionate guide.
Quality tours not to be missed
The Barcelona Street Style Tour team do incredible work day after day gathering heaps of information on the city’s graffiti. Which provides a mine of new information on this constantly evolving art.
You’re off on a tour of some of Barcelona’s most hidden corners!
- The tour involves heading down minuscule streets and looking carefully at the backs on buildings, stopping before brightly coloured doorways and shutters, and admiring electrical meters completely disguised by graffiti! Quite different to your usual guided tours!
Born and Gothic Street Art route
We went on the guided tour of the Born and Gothic districts on a Sunday.
Meet-up was set for 2pm at the foot of the Arc de Triomf, where Mike, a very nice Californian and street art fan was waiting for us with a little sign. We spent two hours enjoying his enciclopedic knowledge of the city’s graffiti (and I do mean enciclopedic. Mike is unbeatable!)
- Little extra: He also managed to point out to us lots of boutiques featuring Barcelona designers, cheap bars and a gallery specialising in street art.
- Conclusion: we did not notice the two hours going by!
Raval Street Art Tour
On the second of our two-hour tours, our guide offered a very quirky walk around this unusual Barcelona district. This graffitistic (yes, that’s right) tour was just as exciting.
Two little tips
- Wear comfortable shoes as you’re going to walk a lot!
- Keep an eye on your belongings, and follow our anti-pickpocket tips.
Give the graffiti pros a donation
To sum up the Street Style Tour in a few words: a unique walk, a nice atmosphere, graffiti by renowned artists, meeting passionate people, answers to all your street art questions, and nothing asked of you in return. It’s definitely a top tip.
- We encourage you to make a donation to this organisation that’s doing a great job for Barcelona street art. At the end of every visit anything you can give is very much appreciated!
Barcelona Street Style Tour’s guided bicycle tour
The sportier among you will no doubt prefer to try at 10am the bike route offered by Barcelona Street Style Tour. It takes around 3 hours and it’s a great way to see the industrial area of Poble Nou, a much less touristic area of Barcelona that is nonetheless full of street art.
- For more info on these three visits and their exact departure points, see Barcelona Street Style Tour.
So are you dying to take all three tours?
