Barcelona tips?

[nextbigthing]

Heading to Barcelona in July for work then staying 2 extra days to see the city with 2 work friends. I've been before so I've seen the main touristy stuff, they have not. I'm sure we'll go to Park Guell and Sagrada Familia

Staying downtown.

If you had 2 days what would you do and where would you eat? Are taxis still the best mode of transportation? (last time I went was about 10 years ago and). Wondering if we should book a tour. It was also winter last time so this is definitely different.


Any tips and tricks much appreciated!

[mich1]

I’d go to Monserrat. It’s utterly spectacular.

You’ll need to book tickets for Sagrada Familia in advance, not sure about Park Guell. Barcelona has a good Hop On Hop Off bus with several routes.

[mambo123]

We took the train everywhere. My husband wore one of those under the shirt Fanny packs, our money was never taken from us, so I call that a win.

Expect it to be hot hot hot. Light clothes, lots of water, take breaks.

[jamaicam]

We got the travel card that covers the subway and buses and used that to get everywhere last summer. You should book ticekts for Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia in advance as the queues there are crazy!!

[mrsukyankee]

We loved our food & wine tour - I don't have the link any longer but I'm sure any of them would be good. I found it through Viator, I think.

[okla]

Jun 19, 2023 6:08:04 GMT -5 mich1 said:

I’d go to Monserrat. It’s utterly spectacular.

You’ll need to book tickets for Sagrada Familia in advance, not sure about Park Guell. Barcelona has a good Hop On Hop Off bus with several routes.

Definitely also book tickets for Park Guell. You can walk around the exterior and see cool stuff without them, but you can’t get in the gates to see the best stuff without a ticket.

We took either public transit or the hop on/hop off bus to get around. Also walked a lot. This was pre-COVID, so don’t know what might have changed.

[gastro]

Bubo (bakery/patisserie)
Tapas 24, quimet i quimet, Lolita (great tapas - Barcelona has great cuttlefish and "bikini" open- faced sandwiches)
Commerc 24 (fancy)
And, the amazing La Boqueria food market is not open every day so check hours before your trip to make sure you get a chance to go!

[eb777888]

My favorite day in Barcelona was when we ate at this little place on the beach. We had paella and gin and tonics and it was the best meal of my life. Have fun!!!

[mrspez07]

Our family of 4 was there in Nov and took a taxi to/from the airport but otherwise did the subway and bus. I found it got us close to nearly every destination we wanted to be.

So.much.good.food!!
We tended to eat somewhat close to where we were staying in the gracia neighborhood. Two of my favorites/best meals of my life:

Santa Gula, a tiny place in a quiet area. santagula.es
Placa de narcis oller, 3, 08006

Marcelino 1968
Placa del sol, 2, 08012

In addition to Parc Guell, and Sagrada Familia I also really enjoyed the night tour at La Pedrera-Casa Mila. I also recommend Sagrada in the morning to see how the light hits the stained glass.

We also did day trips to Tarragona and Girona and really enjoyed the charm of both old parts of those towns.

We also went back more than once to wander in the gotic quarter
ETA: I will also recommend a tour at Sagrada, especially those not very familiar with Christian and/or catholic story. It also had a lot of construction/design info. We also did a tower tour, which was cool but not a game changer

[Nonny]

We were just there at the end of April / beginning of May. We got transit passes and took the subway and bus everywhere, or walked. We stayed in the Gothic Quarter and pretty much everywhere we went was either an easy walk or an easy transit ride away.

A day trip to Montserrat is absolutely worth it, it's so gorgeous out there. But I will say I found scheduling that and getting out there to be the biggest, confusingest pain in the ass. It was also were a ridiculously rude French guy coughed in our faces on the rack train on the way up the mountain and got us sick. Just pay for the all-up pass, because then you'll get the funicular ride up the mountain for the best views without the painfully steep hike. Get there early, and plan to spend all or almost all day out there.

Definitely get tickets to Park Guell in advance, they aren't that expensive and they sell out, and the park is so fun. 

I'm just going to say it, Sagrada Familia is overrated and expensive. Is it pretty? Sure. But it was loud and crowded and since neither my H or I are religious, we were both immediately bored (and it didn't help that we went the day my H was starting to get sick and was super cranky, see above). We almost bailed immediately, but discovered there is a museum in the basement that had a lot of models of the architecture, and that was a lot more interesting than the church itself.

We also did a side trip to Figures to see the Dali Theater Museum, and then stopped in Girona on the way back and did a free Game of Thrones walking tour I found online. My H didn't watch GoT, and had no idea what I was doing as he guided us around the city as I pretended I was Arya in Braavos, but he enjoyed wandering all the little backstreets, and looking at all the old buildings. 

One of the best meals we had was at a place called "My Fucking Restaurant." They had two different shared fixed menus called "Fuck Your Diet" (or something like that) which was a bunch of shared plates, and my wine pairing was only 25 euro for 6 wines. We will be talking about the smoked cheese tartar burger for years to come.

[mich1]

Oh, another thing. Check to see what’s playing at the opera hall on Ramblas. We managed to snag tickets to an opera, and the inside if this hall is unbelievable. The acoustics are fabulous too. It’s the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

[litebright]

Whenever I go for work, we always GTG for dinner at Gilda in the Gothic Quarter.

gildabybelgious.com/?lang=en

Tasty food, fantastic drinks. It's tiny, though, you will want reservations.

Taxis are fine, but I love the transit system. It's easy, especially since Google Maps gives great directions on using public transit + walking.

[lust2hart]

Something you may want to check into - We went last September and because of an energy crisis due to the invasion of Ukraine, there was a national law/order that the lowest public thermostats could be set to was 80. So there was basically no AC anywhere except our hotel, no relief from the heat when we were out all day. We thought we were prepared by taking our Camelbak, only to discover our first day that we had to lock it up most places because backpacks weren't allowed (which seems kind of, duh, of course backpacks aren't allowed - but we didn't realize the Camelbak would count), and my DH ended up with heat exhaustion that day. I don't know if the country is still in that situation.

Otherwise, we enjoyed the Rick Steves audio tour of the Eixample neighborhood which includes stops in front of several Gaudi buildings. We also did a food tour that was really good (unfortunately can't remember which specific one we did, but I imagine all of them are good), and a chocolate tour one morning that was great: foodlovertour.com/barcelona/chocolate-tour/

[majesty318]

Devour Tours Food Tour