The views from the heights of Tibidabo (550m), the peak that signals the northwestern boundary of the city, are legendary. On a clear day you can see across to the Pyrenees and out to sea even as far as Mallorca. However, while many make the tram and funicular ride up to Tibidabo’s amusement park, few realize that beyond stretches the Parc de Collserola, an area of peaks, wooded river valleys and hiking paths – one of Barcelona’s best-kept secrets. You can walk into the park from Tibidabo, but it’s actually better to start from the park’s information centre, across to the east above Vallvidrera, where hiking-trail leaflets are available. Meanwhile, families won’t want to miss CosmoCaixa, the city’s excellent science museum, which can easily be seen on the way to or from Tibidabo.
Pl. del Tibidabo 
932 117 942, 
tibidabo.cat. Days and hours vary, but basically June–Sept Wed–Sun, Aug daily, rest of the year Sat, Sun & hols only; closed Jan & Feb. Park open from noon until 7–11pm depending on season. Skywalk ticket €12.70, full admission €28.50, plus family/discount tickets.
Barcelona’s self-styled “magic mountain” amusement park takes full advantage of its hillside location to offer jaw-dropping perspectives over the city. Some of the most famous rides (like the aeroplane – spinning since 1928 – and the carousel) are grouped under the discounted “Skywalk” ticket. Summer weekends finish with parades, concerts and a noisy correfoc, a theatrical fireworks display.
Parc d’Atraccions
Tim Kavenagh
Elevator operates daily 10am–2pm & 3–7pm. €2.
Next to Tibidabo’s amusement park climb the shining steps of the Templo Expiatorio de España – otherwise known as the Sagrat Cor (Sacred Heart). This is topped by a huge statue of Christ, and inside the church an elevator climbs to a viewing platform from where the city, surrounding hills and shimmering sea glisten in the distance.
Carretera de Vallvidrera al Tibidabo 932 117 942, torredecollserola.com. March, April, Nov & Dec Sat & Sun noon–1.45pm & 3.30–5.45pm; May & Oct Sat & Sun noon–1.45pm & 3.30– 6.45pm; July–Sept Wed–Sun noon–1.45pm & 3.30–7.45pm. €5.60.
Follow the road from the Tibidabo car park and it’s only a few minutes’ walk to Norman Foster’s soaring communications tower, built for the 1992 Olympics. This features a glass elevator that whisks you up ten storeys (115m) for extensive views – 70km, they claim, on a good day. Note that there’s a combo ticket for the tower available at the Tibidabo amusement park.
Centre d’Informació, FGC Baixada de Vallvidrera (on the Sabadell or Terrassa line from Pl. de Catalunya; 15min) 932 803 552, parcnaturalcollserola.cat. Daily 9.30am–3pm.
Given a half-decent day, local bikers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts all make a beeline for the city’s ring of wooded hills beyond Tibidabo. The park information centre lies in oak and pine woods, an easy ten-minute walk up through the trees from the FGC Baixada de Vallvidrera train station. There’s a bar-restaurant here with an outdoor terrace, plus an exhibition on the park’s history, flora and fauna, while the staff hand out English-language leaflets detailing the various park walks. Some of the well-marked paths – like the oak-forest walk – soon gain height for marvellous views over the tree canopy, while others descend through the valley bottoms to springs and shaded picnic areas. Perhaps the nicest short walk from the information centre is to the Font de la Budellera (1hr 15min return), a landscaped spring deep in the woods. If you follow the signs from the font to the Torre de Collserola (another 20min), you can return to Barcelona on the funicular from the nearby suburban village of Vallvidrera (daily 6am–midnight; every 6–10min), which connects to Peu del Funicular, an FGC train station on the line from Plaça de Catalunya.
Getting to Tibidabo
Reaching the heights of Tibidabo takes up to an hour, all told, from the city centre. First, take the FGC train (line 7) from Plaça de Catalunya station to Avinguda Tibidabo (the last stop), where you cross the road to the tram/bus shelter (the Bus Turístic stops here too). The Tramvia Blau, an antique tram service (Jan–April & mid-Oct to Dec Sat, Sun & hols 10am–6pm; May, June & mid-Sept to mid-Oct Sat, Sun & hols 10am–7.30pm; July to mid-Sept & Easter week daily 10am–7.30pm; €4.20 one way) then runs you up the hill to Plaça Doctor Andreu; out of season there’s a bus service instead during the week. Here, you change to the Funicular del Tibidabo, with connections every 15min to Tibidabo (operates when the Parc d’Atraccions is open; €7.70 without park admission, €4.10 with park admission). Alternatively, the Tibibus runs direct to Tibidabo from Plaça de Catalunya, outside El Corte Inglés (from 10.15am every day the park is open; €2.95, reimbursed with park admission).
Parc de Collserola
iStock
Villa Joana, Carretera de l’Església 104 932 047 805, verdaguer.cat. Tue 10am–1.30pm & 5–7pm, Wed–Sun 10am–1.30pm (April–Oct also 5–7pm). Free.
If you’re up at the park, it’s worth having a quick look inside the country house just below the Collserola information centre. Jacint Verdaguer (1845–1902), the Catalan Renaissance poet, lived here briefly before his death, andthe house has been preserved as an example of well-to-do nineteenth-century Catalan life.
CosmoCaixa
Chris Christoforou
C/Isaac Newton 26 932 126 050, cosmocaixa.com. Tue–Sun 10am–8pm. €4, under-16s free.
A dramatic refurbishment in 2005 turned the city’s science museum into a must-see attraction, certainly if you’ve got children in tow – it’s an easy place to spend a couple of hours and can break the journey on your way to or from Tibidabo. Partly housed in a converted modernista hospice, the museum retains the original building but has added a light-filled public concourse and a huge underground extension with four subterranean levels, where hands-on experiments and displays investigate life, the universe and everything, “from bacteria to Shake-speare”. The two big draws are the hundred tonnes of “sliced rock” in the Geological Wall and, best of all, the Bosc Inundat – nothing less than a thousand square metres of real Amazonian rainforest, complete with croc-filled mangroves, anacondas and giant catfish. Other levels of the museum are devoted to children’s and family activities, which tend to be held at weekends and during school holidays; pick up a schedule when you arrive. There are also daily shows in the planetarium (in Spanish and Catalan only), a great gift shop and a café-restaurant with outdoor seating.
The easiest way to reach CosmoCaixa is by FGC train from Plaça de Catalunya to Avinguda del Tibidabo station, and then walk up the avenue, turning left just before the ring road (10min) – or the Tramvia Blau or Bus Turístic can drop you close by.
Pl. del Dr. Andrea, Av. Tibidabo 934 185 879. Daily 11am–5am.
Unbelievable city views from a chic bar near the Tibidabo funicular that fills to bursting at times. By day, a great place for coffee, by night a rich-kid disco-tunes stomping ground.