Barcelona advice

adonis10

Looks like Cuba is out due to price and availability so looking at other options, first of which is a long weekend to Barcelona. Have found some good value flights with BA for the bank holiday weekend in April and am looking for some ideas as to where to stay. Want to be in a nice area, near-ish to the airport but nothing excessively expensive.

Any ideas?

andycris3107

Totally depends on what you want to do.

As is often the case the airport is a little out of the way but there are some nice beaches nearby with good communication into the city. The city is in the main broken down into zones, each one may have a specific attraction.

If you can generalise what sort of thing you are looking for I can advise.

richardw

Look at the hotels north of placa Catalunya on las ramblas.

fiscalfreckles

There's a good & fairly cheap bus from the airport to the Placa Catalunya, so I'd look for somewhere within walking distance of there. The you'll be near the city centre and lots of attractions, bars, restaurants etc - also walkable to the beach and harbour.

Alter_ego

Please be very careful in Barcelona. Everyone I know who has visited the city has either been robbed/mugged or at least an attempted.

DepositSaver

Alter_ego wrote: »

Please be very careful in Barcelona. Everyone I know who has visited the city has either been robbed/mugged or at least an attempted.

Yes be careful, but don't let this put you off. I've been 4 times and not been robbed/mugged, or had an attempt at it, and neither did my travelling companions. I know one person whose sister had her bag stolen, but she had put it on the floor under a table in a cafe.

I agree with others that walking distance from Placa Catalunya would be good, although last time I went I stayed not far from the Sagrada Familia, in a fairly quiet not full of tourists area 300m from the Monumental metro station. This was fine for me, the metro got us everywhere we wanted to go, and it quite liked getting away from the hectic Las Ramblas/Placa Catalunya area when it was time to sleep.

Poppie68

Alter_ego wrote: »

Please be very careful in Barcelona. Everyone I know who has visited the city has either been robbed/mugged or at least an attempted.

Totally agree with the above.....We have ffriends who were travelling round Spain and actually got carjacked in Barcelona...Police not interested ....Stranded no money etc and 2 little boys..

I went with a group of girlfriends...1 was mugged for her bag and necklace in a very busy street with the rest of us stood around her and half a dozen tourist police looking on....another had her card cloned from an ATM machine..


We witnessed several blatant muggings where men's wallets were lifted in full view by African immigrants which Barcelona seem to have a great deal of....one poor sSpanish guy tried to retrieve a strangers wallet off a vile creature and was jumped and beaten to the floor by her and friends...until he was saved by a group of English guys...

I could name a few other unpleasant instances but one of the most shocking is the lack of police intervention...
I read an article a couple of years that the Tourist minister have instructed officers not to respond and to walk away...Otherwise crimes would have to be reported and he was trying to keep crime figures down as it was bad for the local tourist industry????

Barcelona is such a beautiful place in itself and plenty to see but everything good about it was marred by the bad imo.
If you do go though....don't forget to look out for naked man strolling down La Ramblas...base ball cap on his head, sandals on his feet , carrier bag in hand....tattood shorts covering his bum and nothing covering his front...which incidently is swinging against his knee caps:rotfl:

daveyjp

Look up the Hotel Cristal Palace.

We have been to the city four times and this is the best hotel we have stayed in. Located to north of Ramblas, close to metro station and lots of bars restaurants which aren't tourist rip off places and more importantly on a quiet street. Cheap hotels can be in very noisy areas.

Never had a problem with crime personally, but have seen money stolen off cafe tables. If you leave a 50 euro note lying around to pay the bill you can't complain if it gets stolen using the 'lost tourist placing a map in front of your face' trick.

agrinnall

Alter_ego wrote: »

Please be very careful in Barcelona. Everyone I know who has visited the city has either been robbed/mugged or at least an attempted.

Three times for me, including twice in a week. I spent more time than I really wanted to at the Tourist Police station! But it hasn't put me off going again.

OP, you really don't want to stay near the airport. If you want safe then richardw's recommendation of north of Placa Catalunya is a good one. If you want a bit more atmospheric then I like the streets around Born to the north of Estacio de Franca (some trains from the airport go all the way there).

richardw

daveyjp wrote: »

Look up the Hotel Cristal Palace.

We have been to the city four times and this is the best hotel we have stayed in. Located to north of Ramblas, close to metro station and lots of bars restaurants which aren't tourist rip off places and more importantly on a quiet street....

That's exactly the location I was thinking of https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search/hotel+cristal+palace+barcelona

Neil49

richardw wrote: »

That's exactly the location I was thinking of https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search/hotel+cristal+palace+barcelona

Another vote for this location. It's a great city. Just take care and you will have a great time.