Barcelona
Barcelona
Hi, my o/h is (fingers crossed) treating me to a break for my bday. He's mentioned Barcelona for a week - some people have told him this is too long. Is it? We're going late August so thought about a hotel with a pool so we can do both a bit of sunning and a bit of the sights.
Any recommendations on where to stay/see/eat/drink? We prefer our nights to be nice food and a few drinks rather than a booze fest. He had spotted the Silken Gran Hotel Havana.
What sort of clothes during the day would be best? I've always just done ski or the typical beach holiday.
Thanks
Answers:
Barcelona is fab - a week is never too long! I've been three times and still not seen everything I want to see. August is going to be very hot though, and by is probably the worst time to go as most people take their holidays at this time and a lot of places are closed.
See here:
http://www.holidaycityflash.com/spai...na_summer1.htm
If you go to Barcelona (and I can't recommend it highly enough - it's my favourite city!) then you are better off waiting until September when things are back to normal.
Things to do/see...well, there are just so many! The Nou Camp (if you like football!) La Sagrada Familia, the Gothic Quarter, walking down Las Ramblas towards the harbour...the Aquarium is fab (but expensive!) Montjuic...for shopping there is El Corte Ingles, which is a huge department store in Place de Catalunya...the tourist bus is great, there are three different routes that take you to all the major sites and you get one ticket which you can use to hop on and off all day.
Places to stay - well, central is best, anywhere around Las Ramblas, the Gothic Quarter.
One thing to be careful of is crime - pickpocketing, theft etc. is really bad, I had my purse snatched out of my hand when I was waiting to cross a road. Make sure you take a bag that has a strap that goes across your body and never leave anything unattended, even for a few minutes.
Don't let that put you off though, it's the best city in the world!
BTW, just checked on a map and that hotel is fairly central so it should be fine.
Answers:
Geri - do you happen to have any recommendations of a really posh Barcelona hotel? I'm looking for something special for a weekend - not bothered about how much - it's for a 40th.
Also - how do you get tickets for Camp nou?
Answers:
Re: Barcelona
Hi, my o/h is (fingers crossed) treating me to a break for my bday. He's mentioned Barcelona for a week - some people have told him this is too long. Is it? We're going late August so thought about a hotel with a pool so we can do both a bit of sunning and a bit of the sights.
Any recommendations on where to stay/see/eat/drink? We prefer our nights to be nice food and a few drinks rather than a booze fest. He had spotted the Silken Gran Hotel Havana.
What sort of clothes during the day would be best? I've always just done ski or the typical beach holiday.
Thanks
Another Barcelona fan / regular here. I could spend ages posting on what to see, where to go and what to do, but the post would be interminable!
It WILL be very hot, and probably very crowded as geri says, being August.
The best guide to the city, by far, is the Dorling Kindersley guide from their Eyewitness range (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...lance&n=266239). If you read this you won't go far wrong with regards to sightseeing, eating, drinking and transport. The city is very easy to get around and if you fancy a day or two at the beach, you can hop on a 15-minute train out to the very pretty seaside town of Sitges, which is what my friend and I do if we are going to Barcelona for longer than three or four days. But trust me, I doubt you'll have much more than a day to fit in at the beach once you have done the following "essentials"!:
1. Sagrada Familia
2. Casa Mila (La Pedrera)
3. Casa Batllo (House of Bones)
4. Parc Guell
5. Montjuic and the National Art Museum
7. La Rambla
8. Parc de la Ciutadella
9. Font Magica (Magic Fountains)
(all the above are in the guide book)
If you fancy having a look, go to my online albums at www.nickyb.smugmug.com and look under Barcelona June 2004 and Barcelona March 2005 and you'll find pictures with probably every tourist attraction imaginable on there (they are captioned)! It'll give you an idea of what to expect, including all the place names.
Hope this helps! I am green with envy :)
Answers:
i love barcelona :yay:
its a great place, and very easy to get round
nou camp-you get tickets for the tour from the actual stadium-the stadium is huuuuuuuuuge and you can get right onto the side of the pitch
get the bus turistic, which has 3 lines, and its 25 euros for 2 days-its great and you can get on/off at all the touristy bits. as someone else said-its v big v hot and v busy, but its such a cool city. heres what we visited-
Nou Camp
Ramblas
Port Olympic
Mare Magnum Area
Mount Tibidabo (great fernicular railway to the top)
La Sagrada Familia
La Museu Picasso
Barcelona Cathedral
Barceloneta Beach
Montjuic
Clothes wise you will need comfy shoes and a bag that goes across your body-keep your wits about you!
we went in early august and stayed near the beaches
Have fun!! barcelona is great :great:
Hi, my o/h is (fingers crossed) treating me to a break for my bday. He's mentioned Barcelona for a week - some people have told him this is too long. Is it? We're going late August so thought about a hotel with a pool so we can do both a bit of sunning and a bit of the sights.
Any recommendations on where to stay/see/eat/drink? We prefer our nights to be nice food and a few drinks rather than a booze fest. He had spotted the Silken Gran Hotel Havana.
What sort of clothes during the day would be best? I've always just done ski or the typical beach holiday.
Thanks
Answers:
Barcelona is fab - a week is never too long! I've been three times and still not seen everything I want to see. August is going to be very hot though, and by is probably the worst time to go as most people take their holidays at this time and a lot of places are closed.
See here:
http://www.holidaycityflash.com/spai...na_summer1.htm
If you go to Barcelona (and I can't recommend it highly enough - it's my favourite city!) then you are better off waiting until September when things are back to normal.
Things to do/see...well, there are just so many! The Nou Camp (if you like football!) La Sagrada Familia, the Gothic Quarter, walking down Las Ramblas towards the harbour...the Aquarium is fab (but expensive!) Montjuic...for shopping there is El Corte Ingles, which is a huge department store in Place de Catalunya...the tourist bus is great, there are three different routes that take you to all the major sites and you get one ticket which you can use to hop on and off all day.
Places to stay - well, central is best, anywhere around Las Ramblas, the Gothic Quarter.
One thing to be careful of is crime - pickpocketing, theft etc. is really bad, I had my purse snatched out of my hand when I was waiting to cross a road. Make sure you take a bag that has a strap that goes across your body and never leave anything unattended, even for a few minutes.
Don't let that put you off though, it's the best city in the world!
BTW, just checked on a map and that hotel is fairly central so it should be fine.
Answers:
Geri - do you happen to have any recommendations of a really posh Barcelona hotel? I'm looking for something special for a weekend - not bothered about how much - it's for a 40th.
Also - how do you get tickets for Camp nou?
Answers:
Re: Barcelona
Hi, my o/h is (fingers crossed) treating me to a break for my bday. He's mentioned Barcelona for a week - some people have told him this is too long. Is it? We're going late August so thought about a hotel with a pool so we can do both a bit of sunning and a bit of the sights.
Any recommendations on where to stay/see/eat/drink? We prefer our nights to be nice food and a few drinks rather than a booze fest. He had spotted the Silken Gran Hotel Havana.
What sort of clothes during the day would be best? I've always just done ski or the typical beach holiday.
Thanks
Another Barcelona fan / regular here. I could spend ages posting on what to see, where to go and what to do, but the post would be interminable!
It WILL be very hot, and probably very crowded as geri says, being August.
The best guide to the city, by far, is the Dorling Kindersley guide from their Eyewitness range (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...lance&n=266239). If you read this you won't go far wrong with regards to sightseeing, eating, drinking and transport. The city is very easy to get around and if you fancy a day or two at the beach, you can hop on a 15-minute train out to the very pretty seaside town of Sitges, which is what my friend and I do if we are going to Barcelona for longer than three or four days. But trust me, I doubt you'll have much more than a day to fit in at the beach once you have done the following "essentials"!:
1. Sagrada Familia
2. Casa Mila (La Pedrera)
3. Casa Batllo (House of Bones)
4. Parc Guell
5. Montjuic and the National Art Museum
7. La Rambla
8. Parc de la Ciutadella
9. Font Magica (Magic Fountains)
(all the above are in the guide book)
If you fancy having a look, go to my online albums at www.nickyb.smugmug.com and look under Barcelona June 2004 and Barcelona March 2005 and you'll find pictures with probably every tourist attraction imaginable on there (they are captioned)! It'll give you an idea of what to expect, including all the place names.
Hope this helps! I am green with envy :)
Answers:
i love barcelona :yay:
its a great place, and very easy to get round
nou camp-you get tickets for the tour from the actual stadium-the stadium is huuuuuuuuuge and you can get right onto the side of the pitch
get the bus turistic, which has 3 lines, and its 25 euros for 2 days-its great and you can get on/off at all the touristy bits. as someone else said-its v big v hot and v busy, but its such a cool city. heres what we visited-
Nou Camp
Ramblas
Port Olympic
Mare Magnum Area
Mount Tibidabo (great fernicular railway to the top)
La Sagrada Familia
La Museu Picasso
Barcelona Cathedral
Barceloneta Beach
Montjuic
Clothes wise you will need comfy shoes and a bag that goes across your body-keep your wits about you!
we went in early august and stayed near the beaches
Have fun!! barcelona is great :great: