Barcelona

ellay864

My head is spinning wading through Trip Advisor! I'm looking to book a few days in Barcelona, likely in June, just for hubby and me. We'd like to stay central enough that we can walk as much as possible, but prefer a hotel that's not directly in a very busy area. In the UK we often like staying in pubs/inns with rooms - not sure if there's an equivalent there. I don't know Barcelona at all -all I've really been told is that we must visit Las Ramblas. Any recommendations for areas if not specific hotels would be great as I just don't know where to start!
Also any recommendations for visiting the Nou Camp much appreciated, it's one place I really do want to go to

phatbear

i have been to barcelona 6 times and on three occasions stayed at Room Mate Emma, its really lovelly, and its located in a quiet'ish area, so plenty of locals bars/eateries/coffee shops, but still within a 5 min walk to the nearest subway station and 10mins to placa de catalunya, which is at the top of las ramblas.

daveyjp

Area around Passeig de Gracia station is just away from Ramblas, has high end shops, plenty of places to eat at reasonable prices and handy for cheap public transport to and from airport.

We stayed at Hotel Cristal Palace which is on a quieter back street, which in Barcelona is a bonus!

Alidolly

Barcelona is a lovely city to visit. Probably easiest thing would be to do a city tour doing the jump on / jump off buses. There's 3 routes if I remember correctly (one of which passes by Camp Nou so can jump off and walk down to the stadium). That's well worth a visit even if you don't like football. There's also the Gaudi stuff like Sagrada Familia which is stunning and casa battlo / casa mila on Passaig de Gracia.

Be careful on Las Ramblas as its notorious for pick-pockets as gets very busy. The metro is easy to navigate and stops near most of the main sites too.

We stayed just off Passaig de Gracia twice - one was slightly noisy as busy road outside, the other quiet so check a map - Passiag de Mallorca was the busy street.

Also stayed in a small B&B at the bottom of Las Ramblas near the Christopher Columbus monument (down a side street). There was a carnivores delight type restaurant nearby that did amazing steaks and a little bakery next door for fresh pastries in the morning. I can't remember the name of the place though - sorry.

There's also the beach if it's sunny and warm and the olympic village so plenty to see and do. Recommend the DKingsley tourist book as those have decent photos and itineraries etc..

Have fun!

agrinnall

Barcelona is probably one of the top few destinations discussed on this board, every question you could ask has almost certainly been answered already. Try this link, but if it doesn't work just do a search yourself.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.php?searchid=165315201

slinga

We don't stay in hotels not worth it for us.
AirB&B worked well for last time and another site I don't recall the missus did all the work, the two times before that.

Loads of stuff to do in Barcelona, but book a 'free' walking tour the first day you are there and really get a quick idea of the place.

A must try is Restaurant 336. Great value and quality. Nice owner/chef as well.