The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Hen Do in Barcelona: A Complete Itinerary

As I have just come back from the most amazing weekend away in Barcelona for my own hen do, I thought I would share the full itinerary for any Bride to Be’s that are looking at Barcelona as a destination option!

This was not the first time I had been to Barcelona, the city is absolutely beautiful, has an amazing vibe, is warm all year round and is so compact that you can walk around a lot of it, use taxi’s or use the metro.

I had my hen do in early February and it was a lovely 20 degrees Celsius during our stay, if you go during the summer it can get quite hot, and you can take advantage of the beach!

The Hotel

We stayed at the lovely Oriente Atiram Hotel on Las Ramblas. The hotel has the most beautiful foyer which is large, marbled and spectacular. We had booked the rooms with a balcony which overlooked Las Ramblas.

The hotel and rooms themselves were decent sized, clean but were not major great shakes compared to hotels such as the W hotel. However, the hotel itself wasn’t too expensive and for a hen do where you don’t spend anytime in the hotel, it was perfect.

It has a very ideal location being on Las Ramblas which is the main busy centre of Barcelona. A lot of the restaurants we went to were a short walk away, as were lots of the activities. The main super clubs are a short taxi ride away, but taxi’s are super easy to pick up and are not expensive.

I would absolutely recommend this hotel and I would also stay here again. I would rate the hotel a 3.5 stars

Day One

We landed into Barcelona Airport at 10:30am and got a transfer with suntransfers, they were there at arrivals when we got there and the transfer was seamless. We got to the hotel and unpacked and got ourselves ready.

At 1pm I had a reservation at Bar Canete which I had seen amazing reviews about online and was even blogged about my Michelin. It was also just round the corner from the hotel so was very easy for us to get to! There was a queue forming outside waiting for them to open, and the hype was very much worth it! The food was incredible. I have written a separate blog about it here.

We had the table at Bar Canete till 3pm. Then we headed back to the hotel to have a bit of downtime and get ready for the night ahead.

At 8pm we had a dinner reservation at Cecconi’s which was located a 5 minute walk from the hotel. The building and atmosphere was incredible at Cecconi’s which is a traditional Italian restaurant, offering fresh handmade pasta among other dishes. I have written a separate blog about it here. The cocktails at Cecconi’s were also incredible and a great start to our night!

We then got a 10 min taxi ride to The Coconut Club to start our night out out. It is located on the beach front and only meters away from the top super clubs that Barcelona has to offer such as Opium, Pascha and Carpe Diem. They had a live DJ playing, a menu full of cocktails, shots and the normal spirits. On entry we got some free shots due to being a hen do, as the bride I got a bigger and more ‘special’ shot. They really got our night started and ready to head to the super clubs.

At 1am we went into Opium. It was a normal club night so there wasn’t any special events or particular DJs playing. As we had pre brought our tickets we got a free drink on entry, I got a vodka and coke which might as well have been a quadruple vodka and coke! This meant we didn’t actually buy that many more drinks here which was great for our bank balances. Opium is a huge club with some seating areas, smoking areas and the main dance floor. The only drawback was that there was only one set of toilets open which meant long queues! But the music was great, they had dancers and the atmosphere was very vibey.

We left Opium at about 3:30am and it was super easy to collect Taxi’s from the exit and get back to the hotel quickly.

Day Two

We had a slower start to our second day due to the late night out! We booked brunch at 11am at Senor Pina Terraza Gotico which was again just a short walk from the hotel. The menu is incredible and has pretty much anything you might want for brunch: from cooked breakfasts, egg benedicts, pancakes, oats, smoothie bowls…. There was also plenty of vegan and vegetarian options (something that can be a little bit hard to find in Spain). We sat outside in their lovely garden area.

This set us up for our next activity at 1pm which was a Salsa dance class which we booked through Hen Weekends. No one in the group is a dancer but we all had such amazing fun! The teacher made the steps super easy and the last video of us doing the choreographed dance doesn’t look too terrible. Make sure to take your own heels but if you forget then they do provide some. It was great to get some Spanish culture in and it was not something we would normally do.

We then had a small break before heading to Spa Minos , which is located inside a hotel, for our spa afternoon. This was the most cost friendly option that we could find it Barcelona centre and it did not disappoint. You get access to their pool (which has many sections with different jets), plunge pool, Jacuzzis, hammam and sauna facilities. You can also book treatments of which there is a large selection to choose from. You can book a 90 min session (one of the longest we could find in Barcelona) but if it is not busy then you can stay for longer. We stayed for about 2 hours, which we felt was a good amount of time to spend here.

After a freshen up, at 8pm we headed to a Thai restaurant called Boa-Bao. They had a large selection of Thai dishes from the normal curries and rice dishes to Bao buns and more! They also had a good selection for vegans and vegetarians. The vibe was fun and funky, with bright interiors which were decorated in a modern Thai fashion. The cocktails on the menu were also delicious.

After we finished dinner, at 11pm we headed to the fashionable and exclusive Noxe nightclub at the W hotel. I would recommend getting on the guestlist which you can do for free to ensure entry. Noxe is on the 26th floor of the W hotel which is located on the beach. So you get fantastic views across Barcelona. It feels very exclusive and has a DJ playing throughout the night. The only drawback is that there is no cloakroom and unless you pay out a large sum for a table then there is no where to sit or rest. However, I would recommend including Noxe into your trip as it is a lovely experience with amazing views.

It was slightly harder to get taxi’s from the W hotel, however there is a taxi rank outside the hotel and there are regular taxi’s stopping there.

Day Three

We had an early morning due to having a trip to Monserrat tour with Castleexperiance Wine Tours which included a wine tasting and tapas. The tour started from the North bus station which was a 20 minute walk from the hotel. This tour was incredible from start to finish. Monserrat was beautiful and full of history and culture. We got a short tour around Monserrat and then we had options in our free time that ranged from a hike to an art gallery and shopping. I went for the 40 min hike option, then we also got some free liqueur tastings that the monks make in Monserrat and then we did a little shopping in the small market. Then a short ride away we went to an ancient winery which had been owned by the same family for many many generations. We got to taste 3 of their wines alongside some tapas. Then we got some free time at the winery were you could go for a walk or continue to try some more of their wines. The tour guide also gave us so much information on the wines and how you should try them to get the best flavour. I learnt so much on this tour!

Once we got back to Barcelona we had some down time before heading to dinner at CentOnze. The restaurant is very modern with a lot of glass features. We went to this restaurant in our hen sashes and hair bands, all the staff were super friendly and congratulated me. The food was outstanding, although little choice for vegans and vegetarians. At desert they brought mine out with ‘congrats’ written on it which was a nice touch. CentOnze is located on Las Ramblas so was very convenient to get to.

Day Four

This was our travel day back home but we had a few hours in the morning and I wanted to make sure we did see some of Barcelona’s sights. So we booked a 3 hour tour with GoCar. They are small two seater, bright yellow cars that you drive yourself and the sat nav gives you a tour and tells you about the different sights that you can see. As there was only 2 of us that were happy to drive they gave us drivers for the other cars (at no extra cost!) so that everyone could still participate. This was a fabulous way to see the city and gave us many laughs and memories.

Soon after finishing our tour it was time to go home and we picked our Suntransfers up at the hotel to get to the airport. Again the transfer was on time and super easy to use!