Barcelona info

[miked]

So the wife works for an airline and we have a few days off next week and were thinking about a quick trip (~4-5 days) to Barcelona depending on child care. Anyone have any good hotel recs in the city? I've looked at tripadvisor and have a general idea, but recommendations from here may help narrow the search a bit. Since we are only there for a few days, we don't want to stay on the outskirts. Also, are there any must-sees, or something awesome that is off the beaten path? Thanks!

[DaddyTorgo]

Can you go to a Barcelona game? Or take a tour of the Nou Camp?

Never been to Barcelona, but I understand it's beautiful.

[miked]

Interesting, next Saturday night they are home against Racing. My wife isn't super into soccer, but may love going there. So far, there appear to be no tickets together in the entire stadium :)

[cartman]

The Sagra Familia is one of the must see sights. Also, near the cruise ship harbor, there is a jetty that is full of great restaurants.

I don't have fond memories, because we were the victim of a street crime on the way into town. One guy distracted us while another stole my iPaq and overcoat out of the car. The iPaq was also the GPS. It took us forever to find the hotel. Then we awoke to find that construction had started in front of the hotel, and the car was towed. On top of that, the car also had a flat tire, so had to deal with that as well.

[sooner333]

Park Guell is a pretty neat place to walk around. Can't say about a great hotel, as I stayed in a hostel (although it was a nice one with a/c and an Internet room).

[johnnyshaka]

We did the hostel thing as well.

Park Guell, and the Sagra Familia are definitely must sees. We also spent some time walking around the Olympic grounds and also spent a day at the beach (pretty much right in town).

Highest recommendation would be to get a pass for the tourist bus as I believe they have 3 routes that take you just about everywhere you could possibly want to go...including a block or two away from the beach.

(I'm actually wearing the T-Shirt I bought at the Barcelona Hardrock Cafe right now!)

[Pyser]

stay up late. the city wakes up at like midnight.

[3ric]

The "Farmer's Market", Mercat de la Bouqueria, just off Las Ramblas, is very much recommended. The Old City, Barri Gothic, has a lot of sights.

As for hotels, the Hotel 1898 Barcelona with Spa, pool and terrace | Official website | Hotel on Las Ramblas Barcelona (http://www.hotel1898.com/) is always recommended to everyone who's visiting the city. I've never been there, though - we stayed at Hotel Rialto (Hotel Rialto, Barcelona, España | Los mejores precios en Web Oficial (http://www.hotel-rialto.com/)) which was a good middle-level hotel.

[Logan]

Bump. Did you end up going? Any insights to offer?

My wife and I are thinking about doing Barcelona after spending about a week on the Amalfi Coast. I know very little about the area and plan on doing the research but searched here first.

[Lathum]

My wife lived there for 6 months in college, I'll ask her about it.

[Logan]

Thanks.

[miked]

We went there. Ended up staying at the Melia with some points (basically since we were flying standby we booked on the plane while it was boarding). The location wasn't terrible, a few blocks from the subway. I would recommend getting a subway pass, it's so convenient to places like Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia.

Go on a bike tour, it was awesome. If you are not afraid of biking through crowds, it was the best way to see the city. We loved some areas so much we ended up trying to find them on our own, like the old gothic area. We used Ciclotour I think.

Nap! Restaurants don't open until 8 or so at the earliest (you'll be the only one there). We ate dinner every night around 11 or so. If you like wine, it's the bomb. Bottles for like 5 euro, not bad either. Take a nap and have some snacks, shit gets real around midnight.

Park Guell is awesome, really easy to get to from the subway. Pack a lunch and some wine (and an opener). It's huge and you can spend hours there. There is no food except for an overpriced area that is packed.

Go see Sagrada Familia, buy tickets in advance or at the little machines a block away. The subway stop is right there.

We tried to eat at a place called Cal Pep (or something close). It opens at 7:30, we got there at 7:45 on our last night and the line was already around the corner, I'm told it's worth it.

Go see Casa Mila. It's expensive for what it is, but the architecture is cool and the views from the roof are breathtaking.

The thing I regretted most was not seeing Barca play. They were playing some team called Racing and we had other plans, but there were still tickets available. Messi ended up scoring 2x and we watched it on TV from a restaurant.

[miked]

Oh, and the Le Seu cathedral (Barcelona Cathedral) in the gothic area was amazing. Great show some evenings outside the church.

[Logan]

Great info, thanks mike.