Barcelona visiting peeps - your tips please!

[jerseymonkey]

I'm heading off to Barcelona in a few weeks so I am looking for tips from the Barcelona going types - seem to have been quite a few in the past few weeks.

So... what to do and not to do? Any great food places (hate ending up somewhere and missing out on great food)? And any recommendations of cheap hotel type places - ideally budget (no need for frills - TV and phone in particular unnecessary) but nice and clean and preferably light and airy?

Cheers for any tips.

 

[Fuzzy]

try this for cheap accommodation here

we used them i went a year ago and the appartments were functional but ok. we had two for a group of 11 lads and hte owners were fine with it. got our deposit back no problems either. they were about 5-10 minutes walk from la rambla. all in all i would recomend them.

 

[moose]

If you like animals, don't visit Barcelona zoo, unless you're going in with a sledgehammer and balaclava to liberate the poor buggers who live in that stinking concrete hell hole.

 

[WasGeri]

I've used that site for accomodation twice now, with no problems. They have apartments all over, they are clean and functional (you might want to take a travel kettle though, or you'll be boiling water in a saucepan!)

It's difficult to find decent food if you are a veggie, or a fussy eater - there are Italian style places that aren't too bad and there's Pizza Hut/Burger King/McDonalds if you get desperate. I quite like the Ideal restaurant on La Rambla.

Watch out for thieves - on my last day I was standing on Via Laetana, which is a busy road, in broad daylight and surrounded buy dozens of people when two guys ran up to me and grabbed my purse from my hand.



Parc Guell is fantastic, also the cable car ride across the harbour and the one that goes up to Montjuic are good fun. We wanted to go up to Mount Tibidabo but the funicular was closed - only open weekends until the summer.

 

[Space Girl]

great city but hold onto you valuables, it's pick pocket hell

 

[rubbershoes]

Mrs Shoes and I were there last week. What sort of accommodation price range are you looking at? If you want really cheap and very basic, you can stay right in the heart of the old town, overlooking Plaza Real (sp?). I’ll dig up an address/ fax if you want. We didn’t stay there but Mrs Shoes has stayed there before. You pay a lot less if you away from the tourist areas. We stayed in Gracia. The metro is cheap and efficient so it doesn’t take long to get into the centre.

Parc Guell is good as people say, and the church of Sagrada Familia is OK. It’s just a big building site but is still quite interesting. If you are scared of heights, don’t walk up the tower. I’m petrified of heights and was very wobbly on the way up and down.

For me the best thing about Barcelona was the food. The food seems to be better (and better value) away from the old town. We often ate in little restaurants near our hotel and the food was fab. We had some really good tapas though I over-ordered and they kept on bringing more and more plates of food. 5 or 6 dishes between two should be enough. You can always order more.

The castle at Montjuic gives a good view of the city. We walked up from the top of the funicular instead of taking the cable car. It only takes about 15 mins.

Take your bathing costume as if it’s sunny, you can go to the beach.It’ll probably be too chilly to swim in the sea but it’s nice to spend a couple of hours chilling when it’s hot.

Luckily we didn’t have any problems with pickpockets but it’s wise to keep your money in an inside pocket, preferably one that can be zipped up.

 

[WasGeri]

Another thing: the top floor restaurant at El Corte Ingles (big department store in Placa de Catalunya) has excellent views across the city, if you go the self-service bit at the back you can get a table in the window.

 

[Part 2]

I'm going myself on the 16th.

Someone told me about some buses that tour the city and you can buy a ticket to just get on and off as and when you please.

Anyone know about this?

Oh and did anyone who has been see any skateboard ramps in any parks around the city?

 

[WasGeri]

Originally posted by Part2
Someone told me about some buses that tour the city and you can buy a ticket to just get on and off as and when you please.

Anyone know about this?

Oh and did anyone who has been see any skateboard ramps in any parks around the city?

I can't remember the name of the ticket, but it's quite expensive - I wouldn't bother with it myself, it's easy to get around on foot and you can hop on a bus/metro for longer journeys. You can get a book of 10 tickets for about 6 euros, or an individual journey costs 1 euro.

Don't know about skateboard ramps, sorry.

 

[Fuzzy]

Originally posted by Part2
I'm going myself on the 16th.

Someone told me about some buses that tour the city and you can buy a ticket to just get on and off as and when you please.

Anyone know about this?

Oh and did anyone who has been see any skateboard ramps in any parks around the city?

dont know about the skateboard ramps either but i went on the bus thing when i was there.

there are two loops and you can get a ticket for both which is valid for two days and from memory it costs around 15-20 euros (about 10 - 15 quid). i found it an easy way to see the city but i am sure you could walk it. it depends on how much you want to see the nou camp. that was quite a long way out.

 

[WasGeri]

You can get to the Nou Camp easily enough on the Metro (well - relatively easy - I think I had to change four times!)

 

[Part 2]

I'm not arsed about football meself, but a friend in my office said I should go (because it's so big). I'm only there for a few days though and can't imagine my Mrs or the kids would be that bothered either.

 

[WasGeri]

Originally posted by Part2
I'm not arsed about football meself, but a friend in my office said I should go (because it's so big). I'm only there for a few days though and can't imagine my Mrs or the kids would be that bothered either.

I had to go on my own, because the person I was with had no interest in football whatsoever

 

[Fuzzy]

i was lucky i was with 7 other lads when i went to see it. no stopping us. doesnt say much for us though does it. we go to a beautiful european city and all we wanted to do (well not all) was see a footie stadium.

 

[mellowmoose]

i loved the sub culture in the garcia district plus the sprinkling of some great cafe's all over the city

the schilling cafe is a must ... cant remember where it was though

 

[cybotto]

We stayed in this pension overlooking plaza real, can't remember the name, but is the top floor of the building between plaza real and la ramblas (street). It's a traveller place, think from the crowed stayed there is standing in the lonely planet.

They have rooms from €20 to €65 Euro. Depends how nice you want to have it. Rooms facing plaza, street and quiet ones inside. We took the nicest room very big, with own shower, one double and a single bed, overlooking plaza real with own balcony. No TV and service, but clean on arrival and we had our own keys to come home anytime.

However we had no valuables in our rooms, they have a own storage room for rucksack etc.. Live is going on till very late, and it's very noisy till say 4 in the morning, so it's not worth to go to bed early. We had a wunderful time there and I would take the same place again. Especially waking up very smoothly through live music and perfomances early afternoon, smoking, sitting on the balacony and watching how live is starting slowly. 1000 times better than a TV.

We ate very good in Barcelonetta on the way to the beach or back. Avoiding places with international translated menus, too expensive and not good food, worth to learn some spanish food expressions or pointing on the things of desire.

It's good not to arrive on Friday and book a room early as possible. There are lots of spanish people staying over a weekend in Barcelona and they taking the places first.

 

[LEN]

I might be stating the bleedin' obvious but don't miss out on the Sagrada Familia.Well worth the climb to the top too.

 

[skyscraper101]

Bump.

I'll be Barcelona in February for a long weekend (never been before). Given the choice would you spend 2 days in Barcelona and 2 days somewhere else (e.g. Valencia)? Or just stick around in Barcelona? I quite fancied taking a train somewhere else and flying back from another city (not Madrid), just not sure if worth the hassle? Any pro tips welcome. Ta.

 

[Plumdaff]

There's more than enough stuff to do in four days in Barcelona, but if you fancied going somewhere else for a couple of days places like Tarragona (port city, Roman amphitheatre, Sant Pol de Mar, just a nice little beach town, or Sitges, very lively beach town) are all closer than Valencia.

I mean there's tons of places nearby on that coast that would be lovely for a couple of days!

 

[T & P]

If you like surrealist art, Dalí's house in Cadaqués is a must. Very pretty town too.

 

[weltweit]

If it is your first visit you have to go to the Sagrade Familiia, Gaudi's as yet unfinished cathedral. You can (or could when I was last there) climb right up the towers and get a great view of the surrounding Barcelona.