My girlfriend and I are planning our first trip to Europe together (both early 30s) and we have 5 days. Narrowed down to Barcelona or Paris, can’t decide.
We care about: food (she’s pescatarian), walkable old neighborhoods, and she wants photos that don’t look like every other Instagram. Budget is maybe $200/night for a hotel.
Which one is the better 5 day city? I feel like Paris is “the” romantic pick but Barcelona food sounds more our vibe. Tell me why I’m wrong.
I’d probably pick Barcelona for five days. I’m actually visiting Barcelona next month then going down to Madrid, Seville and Granada, so I’ve been looking into it a lot lately. For your girlfriend being pescatarian, there’s loads of seafood and tapas options. I’ve even saved Honest Greens after seeing it everywhere online 
It’s more of a healthy bowls/salads kind of place and has plenty of veggie options, so it could be good when you want something quick between all the tapas.
While I wouldn’t say every part of Barcelona is super walkable if you’re trying to cover different neighbourhoods in the same day, but the Metro looks really straightforward to navigate. You can explore places like the Gothic Quarter and El Born on foot, then just hop on the Metro when you want to get somewhere further out. And if she wants photos that don’t look exactly like everyone else’s Europe trip, I’d definitely wander beyond the obvious Gaudí stops.