My girlfriend and others are traveling to Barcelona for 3 days of fun coming up. The girls, young at heart 40s/50s, still like to dance, eat well, see sights, etc…
Must see/do suggestions anyone? Things ordinary tourists don’t see but should?
A particular overall tour to start things off?
Are there multi-day or all day mass transit passes available? Are they a good deal?
Thanks in advance.
It very much depends on your tastes. I am very heavily into the architecture/culture/art side of the spectrum, and the things I most enjoyed in Barcelona (besides the public transit, which is just my own weird little interest) were:
I also encourage day trips – most of Catalonia is within an hour of inexpensive train travel, including such delights as Tarragona (amazing ensemble of Roman ruins), Girona (lovely medieval city including a remarkable Jewish quarter) and Figueres (home of the indescribable Museu Dali).
My customary answer, and it matches matt’s:
tell me what do you like, and I’ll tell you where to find it.
If you’re going soon, it won’t be a good time to go to the beach, not that the beach in BCN is any wonder. There’s a “tourist bus” you can take all over town (Plaza Catalonia or Sagrada Familia are two of the stops), for one day ticket you can take it and leave it as many times as you want to.
Parc Güell, also by Gaudí, is one of its stops and a place most “outsiders” don’t get to see, do go there if it’s a nice day.
My favourite museum is the Drassanes; it’s very close to the bottom of the Ramblas, so you can do something like go to Plaza Catalunya, walk down the Ramblas, go to the museum, eat somewhere, and then go to the harbor or to the Old Town. One of the items is (I think a copy of) the captain ship from the battle of Lepanto. You can see the Christ of Lepanto (which was on that ship) in the Cathedral, it’s one of the first figures on the right in the main nave. I like the cloisters of the Cathedral a lot.
Be ready to pay at museums, most aren’t free.
For anyone even remotely interested in architecture, everything by Gaudí is a must, especially Sagrada Familia (take the elevator to the top), Casa Mila and Casa Batllo.
The Palau de la Musica Catalana is one of the most amazingly gorgeous buildings I’ve ever seen, especially the interior which you can’t see without the guided tour.
For a really neat vew of the entire city, take the train/tram/funicular up to the Tibidabo Amusement Park, but only on a clear day.
There’s a wonderful food market, “Boqueria,” right off the Ramblas.
The entire harbor area is a fun place to explore on a nice day, including a great aquarium.
I came to recommend the bus tour as mentioned by Nava. You buy a ticket for the day and it takes you all over the city, actually I think there are two different routes. Your ticket entitles you to get off at any stop and back on again later, on the next convenient tourist bus. They come and go more or less half hourly.
Have fun in the Ramblas and eat a LOT of tapas!!
I loved Barcelona for all of the reasons that have already been mentioned. I was only there for a few days but it was one of my favorite cities that I visited.
I don’t know if you can stand being a very early riser but one of my favorite moments was when I decided to go take a walk through the gothic quarter at dawn while everyone was still sleeping. It was virtually empty other than one guy playing quiet flamenco music on his guitar. It was just about perfect.
ETA: One thing about staying on La Rambla is that you should make sure that there isn’t a big soccer game in town. You’ll never get any sleep.
Thanks everyone so far. I love the Doper’s input, opinions, and inside information. Keep it coming - I’ll forward to the girls.
I’m not on the trip, just the girls. I’m still in Iraqi for another month. The only place I see is Al Sahra Air Base, aka COB Speicher.
It’s impressive from the outside but the interior is spoiled by an enormous configuration of scaffolding. There really isn’t much to see. Furthermore, there are two lifts. The queue for one of them can be particularly long at times so look for the lift at the far side of the building.
Stopping for a drink anywhere on La Rambla can be expensive. The girls should especially beware of cafés not displaying a price list. A couple of years ago I paid 27 euros for an orange juice and a small bottle of red wine.
You can also walk to the top of Sagrada Familia if you’re in good shape. It’s definitely worth it to get a closer look at all the little crazy architectural details. If you just take the elevator, you can’t stop and peer out at different parts.
One thing I don’t see mentioned so far is the Barcelona Cathedral in the Gothic Quarter. It’s really dark and stony, with lots of mossy fountains…and geese! Yes, there are geese roaming free in the Cathedral. Awesome.
Another vote for La Sagrada Familia, which is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. I really didn’t expect much – a big, old church, ooh wow, there aren’t many of those in Europe, right? Wrong. It’s like a work of abstract art just jumped off the canvas into a three dimensional object that dominates the landscape. It’s a punch in the gut. LOVED it. If you can arrange for a walking tour of the historical areas of the city, do so. Gaudi’s park is really neat too.
Be careful about your belongings, especially on Las Ramblas. Theft and other crimes are extremely common. Of the 30 people I travelled with, 5 of them had something stolen, one guy came onto our bus pretending to be lost, grabbed my Aunt’s purse and tried to run (he was tackled but the local authorities were completely unhelpful), and someone tried to abduct one of my little cousins during an evening stroll. Maybe we were a statistical anomaly but my overall impression of that area is that it is a hotbed of crime.
If they’re into food at all, there’s a great indoor market on the Ramblas (I think it was near – I’m not kidding – the Dunkin’ Donuts). All kinds of stalls – veggies, meat, fish, cheese – and some stalls serving prepared food you can eat sitting on stools. We had two great dishes and a glass of red wine each for something crazy cheap like 6 Euros per person.
Mmmmm I remember that place. The food was great in Spain, but people should be warned that many kinds of food still have the eyeballs attached when they serve it to you. If having your food staring blankly at you makes you queasy, ask before you order.
I agree there’s a lot of petty crime there – don’t leave your hotel with things you can’t afford to lose. When I was there with some friends we went to the beach. The whole subway ride there one of my friends went on and on ad nauseum about how she’d cleared everything valuable out of her backpack so if it got stolen it wouldn’t be a big deal. Then it got stolen, and she spent the whole subway ride back complaining about all the cool stuff she’d lost. We also saw a woman’s purse get snatched on the subway – be aware, especially when you’re getting to the top of the escalator.
Definitely go to the Sagrada Familia. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. I agree you should take the elevator up to the top, but don’t just walk straight down the staircases. There are all sorts of turns and cubbys you can worm into, and that’s what’s fun about it. You won’t get too lost, because it’s usually pretty obvious where “down” is.
We took one of those double-decker bus tours and I thought it was a very good idea – you got to see a bunch of weird modernist buildings. And you should certainly get to the Parc Guell; I missed it (we were there only a couple days), but Mrs. Cliffy and some other friends said it was awesome.
–Cliffy