What to do in Barcelona!


Status
Not open for further replies.

boroangel

New Member
Apr 23, 2005
431
0
0
Hi everyone...I m going to Barcelona tmr night from Paris and comin back on Sunday night....been checking up virtualtourist and pics on pbase...looks like theres nothing much to go there except Gothic quarter and Parc Guell...are there any nearby scenic places for photography? Dont mind like taking an hour or 2 just to get out of the city...

Any suggestions? ;p
 

If you have only 2 days in Barcelona, this is what you can do.

Take the hop-on, hop-off bus called the Bus Turistic. The 2 day pass costs 23 Euros. unlimited rides.

Here's the link. You can check the bus schedules etc.
http://www.tmb.net/en_US/turistes/busturistic/rutesiparades.jsp

One day, do the Northern Route in RED color.
The other day, do the Southern Route in BLUE color.

The important places on the Northern Route are :
Sagrada Familia
Park Guell
La Pedrera
Casa Battlio
Futbol Club Barcelona (for those die hard Barca fans)

All these places except Park Guell and probably FC Barcelona (I didn't go there) have an entry fee. You get a discount if you show your Bus Turistic 2 day ticket/pass.

In the Southern Route, the interesting places are :
Plaça d'Espanya
MNAC (if possible go there on a Saturday evening. beautiful fountains at 7 PM on Thu/Fri/Sat evenings only. I missed it because I went on a Sunday)
Olympic Stadium (you can walk from MNAC to this place instead of waiting for the bus - just 1 stop away)
Barri Gotic (plan to spend at least 1/2 day here. beautiful architecture. i didn't have enough time for this...)

What I would recommend you do is that you do one round of each route without getting off the bus. Each trip will take 2 hrs. Keep marking the places that interest you. During the 2nd round, get off at those places.

At night, go to Las Ramblas. Take some pics of the graphic artists who use aerosol paint for their artwork. Its fantastic. Please don't go too late at night. Around midnight, it didn't feel too safe to walk alone - quite a bit of rowdy elements.

Don't rely too much on the Barcelona metro. Its the worst i've encountered.

Note that there is a train from the airport (outside Terminal A, its quite a long walk to the train station from the airport building) that runs every 30 minutes, into the city.

Have fun. I think Barcelona is a nice place, but wasn't too great an experience for me.
 

Thanks for the suggestions...I was thinking of trying to venture out of the Barcelona city a little...and I am just checking the wikitravel page and places like Girona(where I m flying in) and Monserrat looks interestin...and they would probably take up one whole day (saturday) and I can use the next day for the city itself...
 

Thanks for the suggestions...I was thinking of trying to venture out of the Barcelona city a little...and I am just checking the wikitravel page and places like Girona(where I m flying in) and Monserrat looks interestin...and they would probably take up one whole day (saturday) and I can use the next day for the city itself...

yeah Monserrat is nice - expect some amount of walking, so wear good walking shoes. There is a small chapel built right at the edge of a small cliff.. very interesting. since u r going in late feb, i think cover up well - it was cool when i went there in Sep 2000.

Barcelona is very beautiful, take your time and book your accommodation in advance.

if you like museum, theres the Picasso museum which is worth to go, if not for avoiding rain or bad weather too.
 

Man there's TONS to do in Barcelona. Beautiful city, with architecture that you can't find anywhere else in the world. Enjoy!
 

:lovegrin: Barcelona is my all time favourite place after going round Europe for 5 weeks.
I spent nearly 5D4N there and still not enough time (even went Nou Camp watch Barcelona match):sweatsm: .
There is even a monastery at the outskirts high up in the mountains, interesting place, but doubt you got the time.

Visit all the interesting building by Gaudi, Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and that house (dunno wat name)etc.
Las Ramblas and other flea market area since you will be there on weekend.
The beach is very nice too, stroll there at sunset and can have their yummy seafood dishes at restaurants there.

BTW be very very very careful. Crime rate is high, beware of pickpockets. Wallet put in front pocket. Bag sling at your side or front. I nearly got pickpocketed in the train, luckily friend notice.
 

Thanks for the suggestions...I was thinking of trying to venture out of the Barcelona city a little...and I am just checking the wikitravel page and places like Girona(where I m flying in) and Monserrat looks interestin...and they would probably take up one whole day (saturday) and I can use the next day for the city itself...

Since you are already in Girona, I would suggest walking around the old city & on the Roman Walls (a mini Great Wall of China). Having a meal by the canal is pretty pleasant. You should be able to finish Girona in 4 hours. The train ride back to Barcelona will take approx 2 hours.

Close by Scenic places ?
1) The old town in Sitges (1 hour away from Barcelona city) will provide good photo opportunities.

2) Personally, my favorite nearby town is a place called Tarragona. Its about 2+ hours away from Barcelona by train. You will find Roman walls & ruins, Roman tunnels & the Roman Colosseum

3) If its in Barcelona itself, most of the other folks have recommended good places for picture opportunities?
- You may also consider the La Boqueria Market (go in the morning) on the right side of La Rambla as you are walking towards the sea. Good photo opportunities there
- The water fountain at the "Museum d' Història de Catalunya" with the museum in the background would be impressive. They are turned on only at night.
- Night shot of the Sagrada Farmiliar
 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys...just got back on Sunday night...was rushing around to look for hotel and the whole stretch along la rambla was fully booked ....managed to find hostel above the main clubbing square next to la rambla around 4+ am on saturday morning! On saturday we went around barcelona and used the bus turistic which was really good...missed out certain places like parc guell as we reach the trains at 530pm and the place apparently closes at 630pm..

The clubbing scene there were full of english speaking people...which i would assume were from UK...clubbed till 430 am on sunday night and was supposed to go montserrat at 630am...couldnt wake up obviously...and missed out old town in girona cos we had a big group...hard to coordinate and by the time we reach girona it ws too late to head to the town as we had to check in...so we kinda wasted our whole sunday...and to think I spend 500+ euros in 2 days in barcelona...including transportation that is...but still freaking expensive though...thats like a return ticket form singapore to europe...

overall, barcelona is a nice place but not stunning...heard madrid would be better...

This weekend, maybe will go to luxembourg...
 

I found Madrid dead boring as compared to Barcelona. Wow 500 euros in 2 days? Painful.
 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys...just got back on Sunday night...was rushing around to look for hotel and the whole stretch along la rambla was fully booked ....managed to find hostel above the main clubbing square next to la rambla around 4+ am on saturday morning! On saturday we went around barcelona and used the bus turistic which was really good...missed out certain places like parc guell as we reach the trains at 530pm and the place apparently closes at 630pm..

The clubbing scene there were full of english speaking people...which i would assume were from UK...clubbed till 430 am on sunday night and was supposed to go montserrat at 630am...couldnt wake up obviously...and missed out old town in girona cos we had a big group...hard to coordinate and by the time we reach girona it ws too late to head to the town as we had to check in...so we kinda wasted our whole sunday...and to think I spend 500+ euros in 2 days in barcelona...including transportation that is...but still freaking expensive though...thats like a return ticket form singapore to europe...

overall, barcelona is a nice place but not stunning...heard madrid would be better...

This weekend, maybe will go to luxembourg...

I was there in Barcelona for 2 days only. Lucky, I didn't blow 500+ Euros. There's this great budget airline - Vueling. You should check it out if you are travelling within Spain - I guess they do fly to other places in Europe...

Guess how much we paid to fly from Seville to Barcelona ? 25 Euros !!! Yeah, 25 bucks for a 1 hr 15 mins flight. :D
And to fly from Barcelona to Madrid - 30 Euros. Can't beat that man.
I wasn't prepared for Barcelona at all, and I was too tired - worked crazy hours all week and then walking around in cold, depressing, gloomy weather in Barcelona - tough :sweat:

WOW !!! You are going places. Luxembourg sure sounds good. If you ever plan to go to Madrid, let me know. I can give you some tips for good photo-ops.

Always tough to coordinate a big group. 3-4 likeminded people is just nice. Any more than that, and half the time you are trying to locate missing people ;(
 

Barcelona is much better than Madrid. The only thing good about Madrid is their neighbouring towns like Toledo or if you are a Real Madrid fan (Real Madrid's trophies collection is much better than Barcelona;) )

I find there is nothing much at Luxembourg, other than the capital. Belgium or Holland is much more interesting. I rather you visit the Moselle river in Germany that leads to Luxembourg.
 

I was there in Barcelona for 2 days only. Lucky, I didn't blow 500+ Euros. There's this great budget airline - Vueling. You should check it out if you are travelling within Spain - I guess they do fly to other places in Europe...

Guess how much we paid to fly from Seville to Barcelona ? 25 Euros !!! Yeah, 25 bucks for a 1 hr 15 mins flight. :D
And to fly from Barcelona to Madrid - 30 Euros. Can't beat that man.
I wasn't prepared for Barcelona at all, and I was too tired - worked crazy hours all week and then walking around in cold, depressing, gloomy weather in Barcelona - tough :sweat:

WOW !!! You are going places. Luxembourg sure sounds good. If you ever plan to go to Madrid, let me know. I can give you some tips for good photo-ops.

Always tough to coordinate a big group. 3-4 likeminded people is just nice. Any more than that, and half the time you are trying to locate missing people ;(

Oh man...dont remind me about the 500+ euros...imagien it could have paid for a trip to taiwan...haiz..cos I booked the air ticket 2 days before departure and include insurance and luggage came up to 210 euro...we wanted to hire a minibus to take us from workplace to airport...instead came 3 cabs...1 mercedes, 1 audi and 1 dunno what and it cost 1 person 75 euro for a 2 hour trip to airport! Add in bus fares and hostals and food...it does come up to that...

Well Luxembourg seems interesting in that I have seen much photos from Singaporeans of the place...but not sure if there much there...I only have sunday off this week and next week, the week after I have the whole weekend off and then another week with 1 day off and then its 2 weeks vacation most prob in Italy with Corsica...

I have to go up to Amsterdam...especially the redlight districts :devil:
 

Oh man...dont remind me about the 500+ euros...imagien it could have paid for a trip to taiwan...haiz..cos I booked the air ticket 2 days before departure and include insurance and luggage came up to 210 euro...we wanted to hire a minibus to take us from workplace to airport...instead came 3 cabs...1 mercedes, 1 audi and 1 dunno what and it cost 1 person 75 euro for a 2 hour trip to airport! Add in bus fares and hostals and food...it does come up to that...

Well Luxembourg seems interesting in that I have seen much photos from Singaporeans of the place...but not sure if there much there...I only have sunday off this week and next week, the week after I have the whole weekend off and then another week with 1 day off and then its 2 weeks vacation most prob in Italy with Corsica...

I have to go up to Amsterdam...especially the redlight districts :devil:

Haven't been to Luxembourg. Have seen some photos too...
Amsterdam is nice. I particularly liked the Rijksmuseum. Better book your accomodation in advance. I waited for the last minute and paid 84 Euros for a tiny room with common toilets. The only good thing about that place was that it was bang opposite the Rijksmueum and walking distance to Van Gogh museum.
Avoid the hotels near the train station...
I've read good reviews of the Avenue Hotel but didn't stay there as it was full...
A word of caution - don't even think of taking your camera out in the Red Light district :nono: . It can turn very nasty...
 

Status
Not open for further replies.