Barcelona On your Own

[chrismakris]

Hello All,

 

DW and I are booked on a cruise through the Mediterranean and have a stop in Barcelona. We are trying to do a lot of the stops on our own. We used Google maps and noticed that it seems possible to do what we want by just walking.

 

My questions is for those that have done it, what is the walk like to get out of the Cruise port? That's the only thing I'm having trouble with. Are there any major roads to cross(highways) etc.? Or should we cab it to our first spot?

 

Thanks in advance.

[SwissDave]

Barcelona is very easy to do on your own.

Depending on the dock your ship is at, it can be a shortish walk, or a longish walk. The traffic can be busy around the port and there are a couple of major junctions to navigate. However, it is certainly walkable.

 

Personally I would take the ports bus to the Columbus monument at the bottom of Las Ramblas, it costs €2, and start from there.

[suekay]

So would I. Dark blue bus which runs frequently to the Columbus statue and back. Pay the driver €2 cash

[4774Papa]

Are you only in Barcelona for one day?

 

If so, you can do the Gothic area and Las Ramblas easily. However, if you want to see all the Gaudi buildings, including Sagrada Familia and Park Guell.

In particular, don't miss Sagrada Familia, including going inside and up in the tower.

[mrobstad]

Get a HOHO pass and def Sangrada Famila and Parc Guell...as well as LasRamblas....all on HOHO route....

[mskaufman]

La Sagrada and Parc Guell really can't be done by walking from the ship. We had good success with the HOHO bus.

[OCruisers]

Did you feel safe in Barcelona walking around on your own?

LuLu

[chrismakris]

The ship is in port until 6 pm. A little early for our liking but it will have to do. Our thought was to now bus to the Columbus monument and then walk to the Cathedral of Barcelona. Walk to the Picasso museum for a couple of hours and then off to La Sagrada Familia. We would then take a taxi or bus back to the ship.

 

We want to start at 9 am and be done by 4 pm at the latest and it says its about 50 minutes of walking in between sites. So it gives us an hour at the Cathedral, 3 hours at the Picasso Museum and 2 hours at La Sagrada.

[Miryam1234]

The ship is in port until 6 pm. A little early for our liking but it will have to do. Our thought was to now bus to the Columbus monument and then walk to the Cathedral of Barcelona. Walk to the Picasso museum for a couple of hours and then off to La Sagrada Familia. We would then take a taxi or bus back to the ship.

 

 

 

We want to start at 9 am and be done by 4 pm at the latest and it says its about 50 minutes of walking in between sites. So it gives us an hour at the Cathedral, 3 hours at the Picasso Museum and 2 hours at La Sagrada.

 

 

Do book the Sagrada Familia tickets in advance. People keep saying that there might be hours of waiting if you dont prepurchase. Haven't been there yet myself, but that's what we are planning.

[suekay]

The ship is in port until 6 pm. A little early for our liking but it will have to do. Our thought was to now bus to the Columbus monument and then walk to the Cathedral of Barcelona. Walk to the Picasso museum for a couple of hours and then off to La Sagrada Familia. We would then take a taxi or bus back to the ship.

 

We want to start at 9 am and be done by 4 pm at the latest and it says its about 50 minutes of walking in between sites. So it gives us an hour at the Cathedral, 3 hours at the Picasso Museum and 2 hours at La Sagrada.

 

Sounds like a good plan:)

[suekay]

Perfectly safe from a personal assault point of view. I've been multiple times, both with DH and at different times with my elderly Mum, and we always wander around. Although.....I did have my bag stolen the first time......I stupidly put it by my chair in Subway:o. When we eventually found the Police station to report the theft, there was a large room full of tables, one for each of many languages, set up to record the thefts. As we entered we had to record our name and time of arrival on an A4 sheet of paper. I noticed that the page was almost full in the half hour before we arrived:eek:

[mrobstad]

As a solo traveler, I felt safe but had read about the robberies, so keep your euros close and you'll be fine. It's a lovely, clean city....but I only saw Sangrada Famila from the outside since I had not pre-purchased a ticket and the lines were unbelievable...worse than Disney over school vacation!

[insanemagnet]

Did you feel safe in Barcelona walking around on your own?

LuLu

The issue in Spain is that the law treats small value theft without violence (up to a few hundred euro) as no worse than a parking offence, so the police don't bother enforcing.

 

So there are lots of pickpockets, but little violent crime.

[mskaufman]

Did you feel safe in Barcelona walking around on your own?

LuLu

 

We did feel safe. There is little violent crime in Barcelona. We did always feel that we had to be "on guard" for pickpockets and luckily did not have a problem. We tried to follow the advice received from this board and T. Advisor. We were obviously tourists as my camera was always out and I took hundreds of pictures. There was one time when a woman seemed to get close to me and DW moved between us. The woman seemed rather insulted and said "I am not going to rob you".

[mrobstad]

Mskaufman echoes my sentiments exactly!

[resstation]

We did feel safe. There is little violent crime in Barcelona. We did always feel that we had to be "on guard" for pickpockets and luckily did not have a problem. We tried to follow the advice received from this board and T. Advisor. We were obviously tourists as my camera was always out and I took hundreds of pictures. There was one time when a woman seemed to get close to me and DW moved between us. The woman seemed rather insulted and said "I am not going to rob you".

 

Did you answer "You're right. You're not going to rob me - and smile"?

[mskaufman]

DW is the Spanish speaker between us so she did the translation.

 

Once in Placa Catalunya we saw a gentleman (?) on the line to buy HOHO tickets who was alone, well dressed and did not have a camera (opposite of looking like a tourist). We saw him get on and off the line multiple times. It was suspicious but we didn't see anything actually happen.

[jkspringtexas]

Can we take our luggage onto the port bus? How often does it run? Last time we felt ripped off by a taxi from our apartment to the ship - $50.00 including tip.

[scottbee]

Can we take our luggage onto the port bus? How often does it run? Last time we felt ripped off by a taxi from our apartment to the ship - $50.00 including tip.

 

Yes, we did along with many other travellers. And yes, I understand your feeling about taxis, you never know what you're going to get.