When thinking of panoramas of Barcelona people tend to think of the cable car up to Montjuc or viewing the whole of the city from The Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, on the summit of Mount Tibidabo. However there is another way that is not exactly a tourist spot. Los Bunkers Del Carmel.

What is Los Bunkers Del Carmel?

An old Civil War bunker, where anti-aircraft guns were installed has now become a favoured spot for the young to sit with a beer and watch the sun go down over the city. I ventured there on my last trip and below I’ll tell you how to get there and NOT make the same mistakes we did!

You can get the metro to El Carmel (line L5) but then the hike from the station to the bunkers is practically vertical! I’m not kidding we did this and there were handrails on the side of the footpath on one of the hills.

The best way to get there is to get the bus. It’s cheap and you drive right past Park Güell so if you change your mind or are planning on doing this first it’s an easy hop off and then grab the same bus further up the hill to view the bunkers.

Buses

DO NOT I repeat DO NOT get the V17 bus! The route has changed and it will drop you at the last stop up by the hospital which is nowhere near as close as you need to be and will result in climbing what feels like Everest (especially in a dress!). The best bus to get is the Number 24 Pl. Catalunya to El Carmel, the bus picks up right near Las Ramblas and stop just on the side of the hill near the Bunkers at a stop call El Carmel- Pasteur.

Once you get off face up the hill and on the right hand side there is a road that curves round, called Carrer de Mühlberg follow this road to the end where you will see a look out point and a set of stairs. Follow the stairs up and here is where you will find the bunkers.

The views are spectacular and there does tend to be a few people selling cans of beer or bottles of wine there, so you can watch the sun go down with a drink (might be cheaper to take your own). There are even plaques with some of the history of the bunkers written on.

A word of caution though, this ground is uneven and due to the large amount of stairs and the fact that they are not all the same in height. I wouldn’t recommend going right up to the bunker if you are unsteady on your feet or need the aid of a stick or wheelchair. However the first view point contains no stairs but is still a little uneven on the ground so please just be cautious.

Coming back down

You can get the same number bus just from a little up the hill on the other side of the road and that will take you back down to Las Ramblas OR you can walk back down to Carrer de Mühlberg and cross the road into the Park, follow the path down the hill and

you’ll end up at the very top of Park Güell. This gives you another bus option or you can then continue further down the hill to the nearest metro, if you don’t decide to stop off to check out the park.

There we have it, how to get to one of the best view points of Barcelona.

Have you been to Los Bunkers before? I’d love to hear about your experiences there.

(* Disclaimer – all information on bus routes was correct at the time of publishing, please make sure to double check the bus route before getting on and doing what I did and having to mission up the side of a huge hill in the heat in a dress!)