Barcelona

bungaro79

Heading to the camp nou in may for barcas last home game. Will have 3 full days there so looking for any tips on places to see or things to do. I know that the stadium is a bit out so where would people advise I should stay??
Mucho gracias!

Spanish Eyes

With 3 days I'd stay closer to the centre and make sure to be near a metro that takes me to CN.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/camp-nou/getting-to-the-camp-nou
I stayed in Gracia District last year. It was fifteen minutes walk to Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas. Quick walk that is!

Cheaper accommodation as it's a bit outside the main drag, but plenty of bars and restaurants and a good vibe to the place, i.e. locals on the tear, great fun. But you may have other ideas.

Requires a change on the metro line to get to CN, but that's normal.

As to what to see, well how long is a piece of string!

Barcelonetta, the beach place is great, Las Ramblas is mad busy but fun, The Gaudi Park (near Gracia,), and so on, look it up! Google the ten best places in Barcelona.

Enjoy the match, and the trip, you won't be disappointed. Barcelona is magic.

zweton

going myself last week of july, first week of august. Is it possible to catch a game in nou camp then or is season finished all together?

accensi0n

Was there last week, my top two things were la sagrada familia and Montserrat.

I thought barconaleta and parc guell were disappointing.

zweton

must check out montserrat, do you need to get tics beforehand?

accensi0n

zweton wrote: »

must check out montserrat, do you need to get tics beforehand?

nope, Just for the transport, train + rackrailway or cable car.

bungaro79

thanks for the replies!

was just outside barca before for a couple of days so we actually did monserrat which was amazing. definitely going to do sagrada familia and maybe another gaudi location but aside from the match i'm open to any suggestions!

will check out gracia district, we stayed off las ramblas for a night when i was there before so would prefer some place else

tradhead

Gracia is really cool, and a great place to stay.

Parc Guell is definitely worth a look, as is the Sagrada Familia (even if you just go for a wander around the outside!). The castle at Montjuic is lovely and has stunning views of the Port and the ocean; you can get a cable car up to it from the city centre.

A stroll along the beach at Barceloneta is always nice, and you can drop into one of the many seafood restaurants along the way for some lunch/dinner. If you're staying near a train station you could get off at the stop for Tibidabo and walk up- there's a funfair there in the summer but aside from that the views are incredible.

I studied over there for the year and actually had a lot of fun doing some really touristy things when my parents came to visit towards the end of the trip. We got on the hop-on hop-off bus which was great value and actually really interesting (miles better than the Dublin version!), and we went on a Golondrinas boat ride along the port which was fab. It leaves from the bottom of las Ramblas, at the statue of Christopher Colombus, or "Colón" as it's known there (in case you need to find it on a map!)

Ah, I'm getting so nostalgic for Barcelona as I'm writing this, you'll have a ball!

iusedtoknow

I lived there for years and am now starting to get nostalgic (was there last week visiting the in-laws)

Camp Nou is really easy to get to - Green Line stop : Maria Cristina or Blue line: Badal/Collblanc. Personally, I would go with the green line as it get less full than the blue one on match days. Either way it is really efficient and you can get out of the stadium and onto the metro in about 20 or 30 minutes.

Gracia is a great neighborhood, some nice bars and restaurants (especially around Plaça del Sol and Plaça Ville de Gracia) and is an easy enough walk into the city. Sagrada familia neighborhood is nice as well (in-laws, wife are from there). The church is extremely cool but try get there early enough as the lines can be long. If you feel like some pizza when you're there go to a small place called El Felino on Carrer de Marina, 2 blocks up from the church.

Tibidabo and Montjuic are worth the visit...just stay away from Las Ramblas...awful awful awful place.

purcela

Go to La Fonda restaurant just off La Rambla, you will not be disappointed.

zweton

On that note does anyone else have any recommendations for good restaurants? Staying at the jazz hotel.

kingshankly

zweton wrote: »

On that note does anyone else have any recommendations for good restaurants? Staying at the jazz hotel.

You will love the Jazz I have stayed there it's real funky with a very impressive rooftop pool right beside place de cattalunya

Maxmelay

There are a lot of nice places to eat in BCN. That's almost impossible to tell which restaurant are better or not.

I lived in BCN for a year and I can give you tips but here are my top 3:

- Luis de Moles : lluisdelesmoles.com/en/ probably one of the best tapas bar in BCN but quite expansive
- Restaurant Montiel : grupmontiel.com/restaurantemontielcast.html Another one but quite fancy
- Bo de B : tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g187497-d1519230-Reviews-Bo_de_B-Barcelona_Catalonia.html The best salads in town

Jumping in on this thread - has anyone any specific hotel recommendations? I'd ideally like a place near Placa de Catalunya (on the Eixample side) but lots of places are quite expensive. I'm travelling solo and just need a simple room for nighttime.

iusedtoknow

Phantasos wrote: »

Jumping in on this thread - has anyone any specific hotel recommendations? I'd ideally like a place near Placa de Catalunya (on the Eixample side) but lots of places are quite expensive. I'm travelling solo and just need a simple room for nighttime.

Everywhere is pretty expensive on that side of things. You are heading into the most expensive part of Barcelona especially

What is your budget? One area you could stay is down by the Glories metro stop - some good hotels but cheaper than the dead center of the city. Same as around Poble Nou area.

iusedtoknow

iusedtoknow wrote: »

Everywhere is pretty expensive on that side of things. You are heading into the most expensive part of Barcelona especially

What is your budget? One area you could stay is down by the Glories metro stop - some good hotels but cheaper than the dead center of the city. Same as around Poble Nou area.

I'd pay up to €100/night at the maximum. I was looking at AirBnB but the few decent options I saw were booked/not taking people for my dates.

I suppose I'm just conscious of not being too far from the area I want to socialise in at night.

iusedtoknow

Phantasos wrote: »

I'd pay up to €100/night at the maximum. I was looking at AirBnB but the few decent options I saw were booked/not taking people for my dates.

I suppose I'm just conscious of not being too far from the area I want to socialise in at night.

It really depends on when you are planning on going. In the summer (From May) there are a number of music festivals, GLBT events etc that mean all the hotels are booked in advance or really expensive.

TBH, Barcelona is not that big, and the metro runs late on Friday night and all night Saturday.

bungaro79

ended up booking this place

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g187497-d503258-Reviews-Apartaments_Marina-Barcelona_Catalonia.html

near the sagrada familia which is the main reason i picked it! has anyone done the tours in the sagrada?? can you only see one of the towers if you do the tour??

zweton

thanks for the feedback so far, also just wondered what is a good area to have a few drinks at night? maybe somewhere off the beaten track, not la ramblas or anything like that.

iusedtoknow

zweton wrote: »

thanks for the feedback so far, also just wondered what is a good area to have a few drinks at night? maybe somewhere off the beaten track, not la ramblas or anything like that.

Take the green line up to "Fontana" metro station. That leaves you in Gracia, which is great for bars and restaurants and is very "local" in scene. Carrer Verdi is the main section of the area and just off it there are a number of squares like Ville de Gracia and Placa del sol

Great spots for an evening sat on a terrace. If you are there in August there is a fantastic regional fiesta which is indescribably fun

zweton

great stuff thanks, was having a look there it looks lovely. cant wait now.

Maxmelay

thanks for the feedback so far, also just wondered what is a good area to have a few drinks at night? maybe somewhere off the beaten track, not la ramblas or anything like that.

Otherwise, you can go to el Born (there are a lot of bars over there), Poble Nou and Poble Sec are not bad also if you want to move out.

zweton

Maxmelay wrote: »

Otherwise, you can go to el Born (there are a lot of bars over there), Poble Nou and Poble Sec are not bad also if you want to move out.

great, maybe i will check out these spots too as i have 2 weeks.
anyone know what are the best day trips outside of barcelona?
so far i have montserrat and port aventura! any others worth checking out?

iusedtoknow

zweton wrote: »

great, maybe i will check out these spots too as i have 2 weeks.
anyone know what are the best day trips outside of barcelona?
so far i have montserrat and port aventura! any others worth checking out?

Tarragona is an hour south by train, beautiful old roman city with interesting ruins
Sitges is great for a wander and very fresh seafood
The costa brava has some nice spots - accessible via the rodalies train though the nicest villages are car only
La tour de carol is just over the french border but is a beautful spot, you can get there by Rodalies train as well - if you felt like doing an over night, there is a little train (petit tren juane) that goes from there to Perpignan (then take the train back to Barcelona)