Bunkers del Carmel

Barcelona is a very magical city, and it is filled with hiddens spots that only locals know about. One of these places is called Bunkers del Carmel. I was told about this place by one of my coworkers in a school where I did my Erasmus practical period. We were talking about best viewpoints in Europe and she mentioned that we are lucky to be i Barcelona because the best European viewpoint, according to her, is situated above Barcelona.

Bunkers del Carmel, also known as Turo de la Rovira, is by far the most breathtaking viewpoint that I have ever visited. Situated in the beautiful Barcelona, Bunkers del Carmel will give you unobstructed 360 - degree views of the city and the sea around it.

Of course, it takes quite a long time and some knowledge of Barcelona’s public transportation to get up there, but once you reach the top, you will be rewarded with probably the most breathtaking view of your life.  

Not too bad for a viewpoint!

How to get there?

For the most painless experience in getting to Bunkers del Carmel, you can, of course, simply take a taxi, but this in not a good option if you are travelling on a budget. After all, an one way taxi ride from downtown Barcelona to Bunkers de Carmel will easily cost you twenty Euros or more, meanwhile the metro and bus ticket combined will not cost you more than five Euros. Well, getting there by taxi is faster, but I would still choose public transportation.

So, if you decide to get to Bunkers de Carmel with public transportation, this is the way to do it. Take the green Metro line towards Trinitat Nova and get off at the Vallcarca station. From there, exit the metro station, and walk slightly downhill until you reach a bus stop. It is easy to spot, because it is yellow and you can see it the moment you exit the metro station.

From that bus station, take the bus number V17 towards Gran Vista - Turo de la Rovira. V17 buses run fairly frequently - every fifteen to twenty minutes, so you will noever have to wait for a long time for the next bus to arrive.

Once you are on the bus, sit back and admire some of the Barcelona's so - called 'barrios', and get off at the last station. How will you know when to exit the bus? It is easy - the stations will be announced on a loudspeaker, and Turo de la Rovira is the very last station, so the bus will turn around in a roundabout - style part of the road, and then turn back towards where it came from. This is also where you will catch the bus back into the city.

And at this point I would like to give you just a little advice - it is breathtaking to watch the sunset from Bunkers de Carmel, but you have to pay attention to the bus schedules, because you do not want to miss the last bus back - it is quite a long walk back down to the center of Barcelona.

From the bus station, you will have to walk uphill for a while before reaching the top. Only the first part of the road is paved, and make sure you walk on the side of the road, because sometimes cars will drive by. There is only one way up (well, at least there was last time I was there, hopefully they did not change anything), and once you get to the top, prepare to be swept off your feet by the view.

How does the place look like?

In the past, Bunkers del Carmel were actually a place for people to spot potential aircrafts that would bomb the city. Nowadays, you can still see the remainings of this place’s not so positive past. There are a few informative signs, explaining the place's history, where you can read more about it.  

The remainings of the former buildings offer some cool photo opportunities.

The best view, unobstructed by anything, will require you to climb over a fence onto a stone platform. When I first went to Bunkers del Carmel, I was not sure whether this kind of behavior is legal, but since there were other people doing it, I decided to do the same.

All you have to do now is sit down (or lay down) and enjoy the marvelous view. And you can play spotting different famous Barcelona buildings with your friends. It is fairly easy to spot Sagrada Familia, Torre Agbar, and the W hotel. Can you spot them on this picture?

You can also bring some food or snacks and enjoy a (sunset) picnic there. Sunset at Bunkers de Carmel should be on anybody’s bucket list, but like I mentioned earlier, pay attention to the bus schedule. 

When I visited Bunkers del Carmel for the first time, I was very surprised how big the city of Barcelona acually is.

(Anti) tourist spot

Last time I visited Bunkers del Carmel was just a few months after my Erasmus semester in Barcelona. I travelled back to Barcelona to visit some of my friends that I met there, and when I visited Bunkers del Carmel again, I noticed that they were installing public bathrooms up there, which probably means that they will soon start charging visitors an entrance fee.

In general, people in Barcelona are not very friendly towards tourists, because there is simply too many tourists in the city, and another reason for locals not liking tourists, is the AirBnb problem, which rises the monthly rental prices. But the hatred towards tourists is especially evident in the area where Bunkers del Carmel are situated, and when you will be going up there, you will notice several unwelcoming graffitis, saying things like: ‘Tourist, go home!’, or ‘Stop the invasion’. Seeing that made me quite sad, because I knew I was one of those people, but I really wanted to see what the hype of this spot is about.  

'Street art' like this is a common occurence in the area where Bunkers del Carmel are situated. I understand the locals, but I am also glad I discovered this spot.

A few words for the end…

I love to travel and I love to share my travel experiences and my favourite spots with my friends (well, and everyone else), but I was a little bit hesitant to write this blog post. After all, I was just writing about more and more people discovering this beautiful spot. But, at the end, I decided that such a beautiful place deserves to be shared with the world.