About Us
Who’s Behind Barcelona Hacks?
This all started in 2011 as a way of documenting our time here in Barcelona.
Call it nothing more than a way to keep friends and family updated while we worked in call centres, taught English, and cracked cans of lager in the Spanish sun.
Back then there were all sorts of strange articles like the Mojito Marathon or the effect of El Clasico firecrackers on local eardrums.
Eventually the page found some footing in the tourist sphere and people started asking us to help plan their holidays from scratch.
It’s here that we realized there are very few Barcelona websites that put a human face on an informative travel guide.
That’s our goal right there.
As cheesy as it sounds we want you to feel like you’ve got a friend in Barcelona.
Fast forward six years and 1.2 million yearly visitors and this is now our full time job – no more call centres or English teaching!
Over the years we’ve replied to over 10,000 reader questions in the articles, emails, and via Facebook and Instagram.
Most recently we’ve teamed up together with my Italian colleagues at Visitare Barcellona to create our own travel agency: Muve Travel.
We can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Our Philosophy
This blog was created with the values of friendship, sharing, respect, and diversity. We’re nothing without our readers and we want to give back as much as possible.
That’s why we encourage you to write us about anything via email, in the comments, on Facebook, or in my traveler’s group I’m Off to Barcelona.
We’ve heard it all so no question is too ridiculous, just try us! You’ll get customized responses with insider info on Barcelona absolutely free.
On Barcelona Hacks you’ll also get thorough information on Barcelona’s top attractions, hacks on how to visit the city like a local, a community of fellow travelers sharing information, informative food and drink guides based on real experiences, sage budgeting advice, and a shop offering skip the line tickets at the lowest prices possible.
Welcome to the community, I hope to hear from you soon 🙂
Take advice from the people who love and live Barcelona every day!
Our Team
-
Content ManagerAshleyYou wouldn’t know it now but growing up in Vancouver Canada I was never much of a traveler.
I took my first trip overseas at 22 and remember having a mini panic attack on the Stansted Express into London watching all those red brick houses fly by. I never knew I’d later move there for three years to work in the online gaming industry.
I never knew I’d call any other city home for that matter.
After a stop in Italy I ended up in Barcelona.
I was teaching here and working on a blog on the side (called Abroadsided) when I met Pedro and we put our heads together to launch Barcelona Hacks to help English speaking travelers smash Barcelona!
Need some help? Get in touch!
-
Founder + CFOPietroMy friends in Italy have called me Pedro since I arrived in Barcelona for the first time in 2005. That year abroad in Erasmus confirmed what I’d always suspected: outside of Italy there is a world to be explored .. and from then on my desire to travel has never stopped growing!
After finishing my studies in Economics, I went back to Barcelona and worked in Trade Marketing and in my spare time I dedicated myself with passion and perseverance to this blog until it became my full time job.
In 2015 I took a sabbatical year and traveled with Valeria to Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand, delegating much of the blog management to my dear and trusted friend Oscar.
If you want to know more about me here you can find my interview with Rolling Pandas in where I elaborate further about my love for Barcelona.
-
Project ManagerValeria
I found footing in Barcelona in 2010 with an Erasmus Placement scholarship and it only took me a few days to understand that I would never leave.
Determined to make it a reality, I rolled up my sleeves and looked for a job to allow me to live in the city of my dreams.
It’s around this time that I met Pedro and we started this blog almost as a joke, though it took a serious turn quickly! Shortly after that I met my colleage Sara and the team started shaping up.
I hope you’ll see that behind each article there’s a lot of commitment with the passion and affection of a large and growing family of Barcelona experts!
Besides the passion for the city where I live, I love to travel: I lived in a van in Australia for 8 months, and also traveled to New Zealand, Thailand, and Iceland.
Next stop… the Philippines!
My greatest love though? My little girl.
-
Photographer + Social Media ManagerOscar
I came to Barcelona for the first time at 18 and thought “now this is a city that has it all!”
There was the beach, the sun, and the fiesta. I immediately fell in love with the city.
After a couple of months getting my feet wet I found a room in a new apartment. There was a guy sitting on the couch. He was young but probably three or four years older than me. He seemed wise by the way he spoke and he was a bit quirky. Do you know who it was? It was Pedro! From that moment on we became brothers and always imagined that we’d work together some day.
In the meantime I traveled: South America, Central America, Australia, and maybe the most difficult trip of them all… going back to school! I recently graduated with a degree in Anthropology and I decided to make one of my best wishes come true: working on this blog!
Now all that remains is to immerse myself in this new path and make myself available to those who want to have advice on how to experience this beautiful city.
