What is the Barcelona scavenger hunt?
The Barcelona scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from landmark to landmark, solve a riddle at each one by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories behind it. It takes about 3 hours at a relaxed pace, with around 51 minutes of actual walking over 4.1 km with 10 stops, and you start whenever you like.
Highlights include the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona Cathedral, the Liceu opera house and Gaudí's Palau Güell, then the Columbus Monument, the Rambla de Mar and Roy Lichtenstein's El Cap de Barcelona on the waterfront, and the Gothic basilica of Santa Maria del Mar. The old town is compact and mostly flat, so the walk moves easily from medieval streets down to the sea and back.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 51 min · 4.1 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese
How the game runs from Plaça de Catalunya to La Ribera
A riddle at each stop
One riddle stands at each of the 10 stops, and its answer is on the building, the pavement or the monument in front of you. Nothing has to be known in advance, only noticed.
What the stop was hiding
The solution releases the background: why thirteen geese live in the cathedral cloister, what Miquel Blay's figures on the corner of the Palau de la Música stand for, how the bastaixos are said to have carried the stones of Santa Maria del Mar on their backs from Montjuïc. If reading on the move is a nuisance, the audio narration takes the text over.
Downhill to the sea and back
Google Maps keeps you on course over 4.1 km and 51 minutes of walking, from the Eixample edge of Plaça de Catalunya down La Rambla to the harbour and back up into La Ribera. The old town is flat, and the only open stretch is the quayside.
Your own clock
The game waits while you do something else. Sit down for a vermouth, carry on in the evening or on the next day, and use the app to put the stops in an order that fits your hotel.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the Barcelona hunt suits best
One day in the old town
Ten stops string the Palau de la Música, the cathedral, Gaudí's Palau Güell, the harbour and the Picasso Museum onto a single 4.1 km line. It is a way of seeing the Gothic Quarter without spending the afternoon deciding where to turn next.
Playing with children
Children are the ones who find the thirteen geese in the cathedral cloister, the comic-strip dots on Lichtenstein's Barcelona Head and the chimneys on the roof of Palau Güell. An adult has to be in the team, and nobody needs to know any Catalan history to win a round.
An office outing
A team holds five players and all of them read the same riddle on their own screens, so a department can race in parallel and settle the result on Carrer de Montcada. Apart from the tickets there is nothing to reserve, because every riddle stands in a public street, square or quayside.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The route: Plaça de Catalunya, La Rambla, the waterfront and La Ribera
10 stops · about 51 min walking · start: Plaça de Catalunya · finish: Picasso Museum (Museu Picasso)
The hunt starts at Plaça de Catalunya and heads into the old town past the Palau de la Música Catalana to the Cathedral. From the Liceu you walk down La Rambla past Palau Güell to the Columbus Monument and cross the Rambla de Mar, then follow the waterfront to El Cap de Barcelona, turn into La Ribera for Santa Maria del Mar and finish at the Picasso Museum. Every answer can be read from the street side of these buildings, which keeps the game free of entry tickets, and the app will move the starting point and rearrange the stops if the old town is not where your day begins.
Open the route map ↗
1Plaça de CatalunyaStart
Barcelona's central square links the old town, via La Rambla and Portal de l'Àngel, with the Eixample grid of the 19th-century city extension. It took its present form in the late 1920s, before the 1929 International Exhibition, and on one side stands Josep Maria Subirachs's monument to Catalan president Francesc Macià, installed in 1991.
2Palau de la Música Catalana
Lluís Domènech i Montaner built this concert hall in 1905–1908 for the Orfeó Català choral society, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Look up at the corner of the building, where a sculpture group by Miquel Blay stands for Catalan song.
3Barcelona Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia was begun in 1298 on the site of earlier churches, but its neo-Gothic main façade was only completed in the early 20th century. Thirteen white geese live in the cloister, a number linked to the belief that Eulalia, the city's co-patron saint, was 13 when she was martyred.
4Gran Teatre del Liceu
Barcelona's opera house opened on La Rambla in 1847. It was rebuilt after fires in 1861 and 1994 and reopened in 1999, and in 1893 an anarchist threw bombs into the stalls on the opening night of the season.
5Palau Güell
Antoni Gaudí built this town palace in 1886–1890 for his patron Eusebi Güell, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of Gaudí's works. Look at the two wrought-iron gates shaped as parabolic arches, wide enough for horse-drawn carriages, and at the mosaic-covered chimneys on the roof.
6Columbus Monument (Mirador de Colom)
The Columbus Monument at the bottom of La Rambla is 60 metres tall and was completed for the 1888 Universal Exhibition, after a competition won by Gaietà Buïgas. Columbus stands on top with his right arm stretched out towards the sea, and a lift inside the column goes up to a viewing platform.
7Rambla de Mar
This wooden walkway, designed by the architects Helio Piñón and Albert Viaplana, continues La Rambla across the water of Port Vell to the Moll d'Espanya. It began operating in 1994, when the old harbour was being turned into a public waterfront.
Read the full story →
8El Cap de Barcelona (Barcelona Head)
The American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein created this giant head for the 1992 Olympic Games, and it stands on the waterfront near the old port. It is made of concrete and glazed ceramic tiles, with the comic-strip dots and bold outlines typical of his work.
9Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar
Santa Maria del Mar in the La Ribera district was built between 1329 and 1383 and is one of the finest examples of Catalan Gothic. Inside, slender octagonal columns hold up a wide, open nave. According to local tradition, the harbour porters, the bastaixos, carried its stones on their backs from Montjuïc.
10Picasso Museum (Museu Picasso)Finish
The Picasso Museum opened in 1963 on Carrer de Montcada and now occupies five adjoining medieval palaces. Its collection is especially strong on Picasso's early years, and it holds his complete Las Meninas series from 1957.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Caroline– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Bolivia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Maria– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Très bonne activité à faire pour découvrir les monuments de Tarragona. Je recommande le départ au niveau du parking avec le monuments des castells comme recommandé par l’application. On a apprécié de pouvoir prendre notre temps et faire à notre rythme pour profiter de l’environnement de chaque arrêt. Et on avait calculé pour finir avec la démonstration des castells au pied de la cathédrale. Un vrai plaisir pour la fin de la chasse au trésor. N’hésitez pas à regarder les jours et horaires des démonstrations pour finir en beauté. Seule remarque: une version sonore des informations serait intéressante.
Denmark –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Kom rundt i byen og hørte om Warszawa historie
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Die Schnitzeljagd hat Spaß gemacht 🙂 Die Punkte waren gut zu finden und durch die Fragen/Aufgaben, hat man sich viele Dinge und Details noch genauer angeschaut. Die Aufgabenstellungen waren nur nicht immer ganz eindeutig was etwas schade war . Aber ansonsten alles gut 🙂
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Das „Rätsellösen“ war witzig und hat den Stadtrundgang abwechslungsreich gestaltet. Wir hatten vor Jahren schon mal eine Stadtführung gemacht und haben mit der Schnitzeljagd trotzdem noch einiges andere erfahren. Die Infos (gut zu lesen, nicht zu umfangreich) und die Aufgaben wechseln sich ab. Über die App ist die Tour sehr flexibel handhabbar, nach eigenem Tempo, man kann Pausen machen, wie man möchte und nach Belieben die Schnitzeljagd fortführen.
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
De vragen hadden een tandje moeilijker gemogen. Maar dit is heel leuk om als date te doen.
Desiree Kieffer– Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Ich finde 7 Euro pro Person eigentlich einen stolzen Preis dafür, dass man zusätzlich eine App downloaden landen und die Infos lesen muss. Man kann auch nur für eine Person bezahlen und zu zweit losziehen. Die Informationen sind jedoch interessant und ich habe einiges über Lübeck gelernt. Man muss diese Art der Stadterkundung mögen und neugierig sein.
Chilling– Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
The questions where not too easy nor too hard. Overall very nice game. We had a lot of fun
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Flexibilität- Infos- individuell im eigenen Tempo!
Grace– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Einige Orte entdeckt, die man so vielleicht gar nicht so wahrgenommen hätte!
Ana Beatriz– Portugal –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Super schön flexibel. Viele machbare Rätsel.
Constance– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Schöne Tour, hat uns viel Spaß gemacht.
Australia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
good fun way to see the city
Constance– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Die Dauer
Cotrez– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Ludique et culturelle à la fois, nous avons passé un agréable moment en famille. Les énigmes sont sympas !
Sabine Smit– Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Je maakt op een ludieke en gezellige manier kennis van de stad!
Lou– Australia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
I recently did the Zaragoza scavenger hunt with my daughter, and we had an absolute blast! It was so much fun hunting for clues and learning about the city’s history along the way. If you’re short on time but still want to explore, this is a fantastic, portable way to see the sights.
Angela– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Canada –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Solène– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Bonne activité, cependant le cercle reste très restreint, et elle ne nous pousse pas à visiter les différents monuments de la ville.
Anett– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Gisela– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Es war eine sehr schöne Tour. Durch die Schnitzeljagd lernt man die Stadt ganz anders kennen.
Dani– Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Diese selbstgeführte Schnitzeljagd ist sensationell aufbereitet! Wir waren mit unserer Tochter (16) unterwegs, sie übernahm den Part des Navigators ;-). Nichts ist zwingend, am Ende ist man um einige Ecken und Fakten klüger als zuvor. Alle Orte sind gut auffindbar, die Reihenfolge ist optimal, kann (könnte) auch geändert werden. Schwierigkeitsgrad ist angemessen: Weder unlösbar noch banal, nicht allzu schwierig. Sehr einfach zu buchen. Die Beschreibung, Dauer etc. trifft ziemlich gut zu. Unterhaltsam und informativ, unbedingt machen!
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Arnaud– Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Super, on a bien visité grâce à cette activité. Juste une énigme un peu spécial/difficile, sinon parfait.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Harriet Yayra– Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Spain –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Muy bien.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
alles toll
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Renko De– Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
App gebruikt als routeplanner en om achtergrondinfo te lezen.
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Claire Dos– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Il n emanque qu un passage dans les rue piétonnes pour que le tour soit complet.
Lone– Denmark –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Claude– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Pour une première utilisation , il faut s’adapter
Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Lennard– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Gute Rätseltour. Leider sind die Rätsel in den unterschiedlichen Städten immer sehr ähnlich. Aber als erstmalige Aktivität eine super Sache!
Ina– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Christian– Norway –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Toller Einblick in die Stadt mit dieser Schnitzeljagd. Die Rätsel machen es für Kinder und Erwachsene abwechslungsreich. Empfehlenswert.