Can u recall how much is the bus by day/week and if the driver or the guide on the bus speak English?
The tourist busses run around $25-30 depending on the city, I think they are all HOHO (Hop on, hop off) so a great way to see the city your first day without the hassle of public transport. Also a good way to pick up tickets for museums, etc. for following days.
As we are close to departing date, I have a few questions for those have been there for at least one week or longer.
- Is it safe to drink tap water in Barcelona?
- Security, are there lots of crime in Barcelona? When I say crime, I meant, petty theft and pick pockets.
- Transportation from Airport to downtown, is taxi the only way around?
1.Yes
2. We had no problems, but that could be because of where we went and the times of day.
3. Metro/rail is an option from the airport. We took a cab. Actually, we took cabs everywhere. Taxis were easy to catch.
Got euros on arival at the exchange right in international arivals. Lousy rate for curency, better rates for debit card transactions.
Rented a car with built in GPS (great AAA discount with Hertz) for drive to Figueres for Dali theater-museum, to Portlligat fot the Dali house museum there, and to Pubol for the Gala/Dali caslte museum. Totally doable, but be aware that the drive to Portlligat is over a narrow mountain road. Parking in Figueres was challenging. Happykid did the parallel parking there for me!
Yes on Sagrada Familia. We did the tower tour. Ride up the elevator, but must walk down. Go during the week so you can look for the constructioncrews at work. We were there on a Sunday and so could see the gear but not the people. MIL did not go up the tower, and chatted up a couple of the security guards while waiting for us to finish the 400 or so steps of the stroll down.
Anyone in your group who is at least 60 years old can get a “tarjeta dorada” from Renfe (the rail company) for 6 eu that will yield up to 40% discount depending on the train taken. Ask at the station or the El Corte Ingles travel agency.
Enough English most places for communicating with tourists, but my group were native or fluent in Spanish so that was not an issue for us.
Have your tix for Sagrada Familia. Definitely do a guided tour. It was my favorite thing. An incredible place.
Yes, lots of pickpockets. Always wear a waist belt under clothes. Especially on Las Ramblas. You’ll be fine if you wear a waist belt and keep your eyes open a bit. Totally fun time with lots to see (which makes it easy pickings with distracted tourists).
Didn’t do the HOHO busses but it looked like a great way to get around. We walked and took cabs.
If you take the tower tour at SF, you need to put everything except your camera in a locker (1 eu). We ended up leaving our stuff there for the whole time we were at SF, and just picked it up before heading to the gift shop and home. The tower tour comes with a decent audio tour. I think that the tour guided by a person would have been nice, but we needed to keep our pace really slow for MIL.
The guided tour at SF are led by guides but through a headset which makes it really easy to hear even with the crowds.
I would have missed a LOT by not having taken the tour.
Definitely be careful on Las Ramblas. A friend of ours from the UK had her purse stolen there.
We took the train from the airport and then walked a couple of blocks to our hotel (Mirror Hotel). It was an easy safe walk and it was after 11 pm. If you like martinis go to Dry Martini for a great drink and wonderful atmosphere. We had a fantastic evening there with people from all over the world. I also highly recommend the Picasso Museum and Casa Batllo. We did SF on our own and had a great time. Monserrat was one of the highlights of our trip. We spent lots of time just walking the city and exploring different churches, the gothic quarter and finding great little places to have tapas and wine and sangria. Enjoy!
We were in Barcelona (and area) for 18 days. 12 of them were in Barcelona on a home exchange. We had no problem drinking the water and would fill our water bottles before we left every morning. We took a combination of metro and taxis while in Barcelona. We had a car and were coming from the mountains via Madrid but did take a taxi to the airport to depart. My husband was almost pick-pocketed going through the turnstile to get on the metro, but caught the guy. We were very cautious on the metro, on the Ramblas and in the market. We have never done a hop on/hop off tour. Think they are a waste of time and money but that is obviously a personal decision. We had a car as part of our home exchange and drove to Montserrat and Sitges though they are both accessible by public transport. Drove to the Dali Museum. Stayed for a few days in a small beach town near Tossa Del Mar. If you have children we enjoyed Tibidabo, which is a lovely amusement park on a hill in Barcelona.
This just in. A possible terrorist attack at Las Ramblas:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/17/europe/barcelona-las-ramblas-van-hits-crowd/index.html
I’m reading some Twitter that two armed men entered a restaurant immediately after the crash near Las Ramblas. Metro has been shut down in the area near Plaza Catalunya. There had previously been reports of anti-tourist violence against a tour bus.
Yes, ^^ its such a popular area, I hope people are okay. Praying for them.
Earlier today I read about the resentment that is building between the residents and the hoards of tourists. I suppose it is similar to how the Venetians feel about the apartments being bought up by investors and turned into air b and b rentals, thus causing the prices to rise. Locals can’t afford to live in the city center anymore. Many of the tourist rentals are unlicensed.
Not saying this is what happened today but it is something to keep in mind as people plan vacations. I booked regular hotel rooms.
Just saw this thread after reading about the terrorist attack on the Ramblas which was undoubtedly crowded with tourists and local residents. I’ve been in Barcelona 3x in my life, the first when Franco was still in power and most recent a few years ago. Last time we were there we avoided the Ramblas as it had deteriorated so with street performers, junky vendors and it is probably one of the heaviest pickpocket locations in Europe. Apart from being super careful on the Metro and around, we really enjoyed our most recent visit. We took train from the airport and either took the Metro or walked around. We stayed at Hotel Jazz, lovely and good location.
I was in Barcelona a month ago. The streets around Las Rambla and Plaza Catalunya are so crowded that a van attack would claim many victims. 13 dead. Many injured.
This is just too freaky that this OP returned to this thread this morning and now this tragedy. Prayers for all. OP are you still traveling?
We are leaving on sept 3!
Thoughts and prayers to those have lost lives. We will try to avoid that area.
@wheatonmom is there starting tomorrow (see page 1 of this thread)
It will be difficult to avoid the area. It is the heart of the city. As I recall, there were no barriers preventing a car from driving down the pedestrian walk in the center of Las Ramblas.