Barcelona is one of the few major European cities where you can have a long, real date for under 30 euros for two. The catch is that the cheap dates are often the better ones, because they involve walking and eating standing up and going to places where the menus are not in English. Here is how to do it.
The 15-euro vermut date
Two vermuts on tap at Bodega Marin in Gràcia: 7 euros. A plate of olives and anchovies to share: 5 euros. Tip: round up. You are at 13 euros and you have been sitting in a 90-year-old bar for an hour. If things are going well, walk to Plaça de la Virreina and split a coffee at La Nena (3 euros). Total: under 20 euros. This is a real date, not a compromise.
Other bodegas that work for this: La Pepita on Carrer de Còrsega, Bodega 1900 in Sant Antoni (slightly fancier), and El Sortidor in Poble-sec. Avoid anywhere that lists the vermut as a cocktail. You want it from a barrel.
The menú del día gambit
Weekday lunch in Spain is the cheat code. From 1 to 4pm Monday through Friday, hundreds of restaurants serve a three-course menu with bread, a drink, and coffee for 12 to 16 euros per person. This is real food (escudella, fideuà, grilled fish), not tourist food. La Báscula in the Born does it for 14. Elisabets in El Raval does it for 13. Granja Petitbo on Passeig de Sant Joan does a slightly more polished version for 16. Total for two: under 35 euros for what would cost double at dinner.
The trick is to go at 2pm, when the rest of the city is also there, and stay until they kick you out at 4. You get the long-lunch energy of a Sunday on a Tuesday afternoon.
A free museum afternoon
Most of the city museums are free on the first Sunday of the month and on Sunday afternoons after 3pm. The Picasso Museum is free Thursday evenings after 5pm and the first Sunday of the month all day. MUHBA, the city history museum on Plaça del Rei, is free on Sunday afternoons and lets you walk through Roman ruins under the Gothic Quarter. The CCCB on Carrer de Montalegre runs free events on Sunday afternoons.
Plan around it. A free museum at 4pm, a coffee at Satan's Coffee on Carrer de l'Arc de Sant Ramon del Call (4 euros each), and a walk through the Call (the old Jewish quarter) is a 12-euro afternoon that does not feel cheap.
The Bunkers del Carmel sunset
Free. Bring a bottle of cava from a Bonpreu or Carrefour Express (5 to 8 euros), two plastic cups, a small sandwich from a bakery, and ride the metro to Alfons X. Walk twenty-five minutes uphill. Sit on the concrete platforms at the top and watch the sun set over the entire city, the Sagrada Família lit up in the middle distance, the sea on the left. Total: under 15 euros for a date most people will remember longer than the dinner you could have spent it on.
The beach at night
Free. From May to October, the move is a beer (1.50 euros at any supermarket) and a walk along the Passeig Marítim from Barceloneta to Bogatell. The chiringuitos sell mojitos for 8 to 10 euros if you want one, but you do not need one. The water is warm enough to put your feet in from June to September. Bogatell beach is calmer and emptier than Barceloneta. The W Hotel makes a good turnaround point.
A film at Cinemes Texas
Cinemes Texas in Gràcia, on Carrer de Bailèn, shows films in original language with Catalan subtitles for 4 to 6 euros depending on the time. The matinee is the cheapest. After the film, walk five minutes to Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia and have a beer at one of the terraces (3 euros). Total for two: under 20 euros for a movie-and-a-drink date.
The Carretera de les Aigües walk
Free, plus the cost of the FGC train (about 3 euros for two). Get off at Peu del Funicular, take the funicular up (cheap, included in the metro pass), and walk along the dirt road that contours the side of Collserola. The whole city is below you. Walk for an hour, turn around, walk back. Get a sandwich at a bar in Sarrià on the way home. Total: under 20 euros for a half-day date.
The math
A full Saturday in Barcelona on this kind of plan, vermut and lunch and a walk and a beer at the beach, runs about 45 euros for two. The same day in Paris or London runs 150. This is a feature of the city, not an accident, and using it well is a sign of someone who actually knows the place.