Barcelona - Long weekend

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chicken man

I would take the train from the airport Passeig de Gracia, get off and transfer to the yellow line (L4) metro toward La Pau. Get of at Poblenou, walk north on Avda. de Bilbao (away from the water, slightly uphill), and turn left of Diagonal. (http://maps.google.es/maps?hl=es&tab=wl) (www.tmb.net)

If you plan on taking public transit (which I recommend), get a 10-ride ticket at the train station. It's good for train, metro, buses, and trams.

The sites question comes up periodically, so browse the old answers, too. My thoughts:

Museums: Museu Picasso, Fundacio Miro, Museu de la Ciutat (City Museum). The 2nd is a little out of the in the Parc Montjuic, but is the best collection of Miro's work anywhere.

Architecture: Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Mila (aka La Pedrera), Casa Batllo, in that order. All these are Gaudi buildings, the first two are must-see, and the 3rd almost is. You can walk down the street Passeig de Gracia from Casa Mila to at least see the outside of Casa Batllo as well as other Art Noveau Buildings. A short hike up to the Tres Creus in Parc Guell gives you nice views of the city and helps orient you.

Music: Palau de Musica. Another Art Noveau gem. Try to catch a concert there (make sure its in the main hall) over the tour. It's gorgeous and the music is great. Buy tickets online.

restaurants: Les Quinze Nits (15 Nights) in Placa Real - get there about 20-30 minutes before opening as they don't take reservations. If you can't get in there, try La Fonda (I hear it's owned by the same people). Both excellent Catalan food at very reasonable prices.

Also try Origen 99.9, a local chain, but good authentic Catalan food. Get there a little before opening because they don't take reservations and often only do one sitting. http://www.origen99.com/web/

Tapas Gaudi of La Rambla de Gaudi (not Las Ramblas, but near Sagrada Familia) is a good tapas place.

nightlife: Clubs everywhere, for a slightly more relaxed and less touristy experience try Placa del Sol or La Cervesera Artesana (http://www.lacervesera.net/eng/indexeng.... best beer in Barcelona, not that that says a lot. Drink wine everywhere else - reds from La Rioja, whites and Cavas from Penedes).

Other: La Boqueria market, Las Ramblas, Barri Gotic, including Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar. Just wander that area. Sitges for nearby beaches, though the ones in the city are decent if you don't have the time to get down there.

You probably can't do all that, but pick and choose what sounds good to you. Have fun!

MO K

My most recent visit to Barcelona was in September 2006 and I would recommend myriad activities, commencing with a long stroll the Ramblas from Downtown to the Mediterranean where you will find an abundance of shops and restaurants on the streets and "living models" (dressed phantasmagorically and in colorful array as abroad-winged angels, diabolical-looking devils, Wizard of Oz-like tin men, futuristic robots, ballerinas, and other fanciful characters from fiction and feverish imagination) and a vast array of enthusiastic artists and performers(jazz, classical, ballads) who accept donations. The parks are fantastic in Barcelona. In fact, there are sixty-eight municipal parks in all that are characterized by public art and wondrous trees. My favorites are all suitable for outdoor recreation and sight-seeing: the Ciutadella Park which contains the Zoo, an old military citadel, a vast fountain which consists of statues of animals, including magnificent bronze horses and various museums; the sprawling Park Guell which was designed by renowned artist and architect Antoni Gaudi and features huge iridescent figures of lizards and frogs and people dressed like these creatures; and the Montjuic which is on the mountain of the same name.
Spend time in the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) which is the center of what is referred to as the "old city", which has buildings dating from the Roman settlement and Medieval times.
Gaudi also designed the Sagrada Familia, the construction of which was started in 1882 and it remains unfinished with scafolding and active ongoing work that continues to this day (with Gaudi dying tragically in a street accident in the 1940s); it is expected one day to replace the Barcelona Cathedral as the center of Catholic worship in the province. As of this year, the forecast is for completion in 2026!
If you enjoy museums, there are many from which to choose, within walking distance from the Ciutat Vella ("Old City") and Barri Gotic"(Gothic Quarter")dedicated to such interests as chocolate(with sculptures made of chocolate and a cafe inside where one can drink or eat the most succulent culinary delights), Egyptology, archeology, maritime history, Catalan history, modern art(e.g., the artists Joan Miro and Picasso have their own museums), erotica, and the armed forces(built in a mountaintop fortress facing the shimmering azure-blue/green of the Mediterranean), among others.We especially enjoyed the City History Museum and the Museum of the History of Catalonia and the Cosmocaixa (science museum).
There is always free street music:sopranos singing operatic arias; flamenco in the ancient cobblestoned alleyways; Euro-tinged blues;and performers from Morocco, Brazil, and other diverse and sundry places entertaining crowds of Barcelonans and travelers alike. Yet, if you prefer indoor venues for listening to music, I have been to, and would recommend, the Gran Teatre del Liceu theatre, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the TeatreLliure, and a must on any visitor's list-- the Palau de la Musica Catalana designed by Lluis Domenech i Montaner(these are local spellings in the Catalan language)
We enjoy churches, which are Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque in design, with multiple interior chapels and shrines consecrated to individual saints, including St. George, the patron saint of Barcelona and Catalonia. Do not miss taking your own tours through the awe-inspring spiritual spaces contained within Santa Maria del Mar and Santa Maria del Pi churches. If you have time for a day trip, please visit the monastery at Montserrat, set against an inspiring craggy mountainous landscape and accessible by funicular rail, and which has the Black Madonna, with performances by a gifted choir free to the traveling public without reservations. Meanwhile, fans of farmers' markets will thrill to La Boqueria, right off Las Ramblas; it has a kaleidoscope of sweets and fruits and vegetables from seemingly every region of the planet and meats galore.The beaches are superb(there are seven of them); many were expanded when old industrial buildings were demolished prior to and because of beautification projects associated with the 1992 Summer Olympics which were held in Barcelona. I am a fan of futbol(soccer) and as such, I reveled in touring FC Barcelona's stadium, athletic facilities and adjacent museum that has permanent club-specific exhibits and temporary exhibits which encompass soccer as it is played around the world. Barcelona always seemed to have fairs and festivals from at least June through October.
We patronized a number of restaurants in the Gothic Quarter and Las Ramblas, enjoying tapas, and paella, and drinking ocean-sized quantities of sangria; some were near our hotel (the Colon) and others were farther afield.
The subways, buses, and trams (Barcelona Metro subway system, night bus network Nitbus, tram networks Trambaix and Trambesos) were easy to use and maps were abundant at the stations.
Take the Funi

Reggie

Hi Sunshine you will love it and every hotel provides you with a map and a book about the place La Ramblas is the place for all the fun watching all the buscars?there is a bus open air that takes you round and you just jump off and on and see the place we took a taxi from the airport and was not expensive but you can get a bus or train but all the hasstle you just want to get to your hotel unpack wash and go out and explore the food everywhere was fab ?as its a big city and busy watch your money for the pick pockets ,the ports and the shops are great too,the people are very friendly have a great time .

SUE

To get to your hotel, just take a taxi. Sometimes the splurge is worth it.

The most important things to see in Barcelona are the Ramblas, you could probably spend a whole day just strolling up and down that boulevard. Take a detour for the Boqueria market, the Cathedral and Barri Gotic, and maybe the Palace along the one side, almost all the way up to the PlaÃ§a de Catalunya.

From the PlaÃ§a de Catalunya, in the other direction is the Eixample neighborhood. You might want to take the bus, as it is pretty large and spread out...take the tourist bus in the morning...your ticket is good all day, and ride through...get off for the Pedrera, Sagrada Familia, and Parc GÃ¼ell, all designed by GaudÃ, and if you like, also Casa BatllÃ³ (also GaudÃ). And Camp Nou, the fÃºtbol field, is also on that route. It's the only tourist bus I have ever thought worthwhile, because the area is so vast, and you can see so much! So do that for the second day.

Tons of clubs and good food everywhere! I just eat wherever I am hungry. I wanted to get to the 4Chats (a place where Picasso hung out in his youth) but we never found it. Mostly because we would eat, then forget about food places.

Ice cream is terrific there. Chocolate is out of this world! Seafood is the freshest you will ever find!

Beware: the food at the cafÃ©s on the Ramblas costs about the same as anyplace else, but the drinks are outrageous! 5â‚¬ for a soda! and the tap water is awful! So you have to buy bottled. We usually don't bother, but did there.

the big man of gangsters

BARCELONA!
fantastic"
i strongly recomend that you take a trip down the 'la ramble' it is the market place of barcelona, its great but make sure you watch your wallet or purse, like all citys there are alot of pickpockets.
also i recomend the fountain at night! its fantastic, i know fountains sound boring but you have to see it, it is an unbeleivale sight. there are coaches that will take you on a full tour of barcelona, which will show you the christopher columbas statue, olympic stadum, and the nou camp. and for restaurants....we went macdonalds:) but there are many restaurants

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Barcelona - Long weekend - sightseeing?