3 Days (Fri-Sun) In Barcelona Pre-Cruise

[taylortime05]

We will be flying into Barcelona on Thursday, Sept 25 mid-afternoon and our cruise leaves on Monday.  So we have 3 full days to see Barcelona.

 

I'm starting my research on Barcelona and the other ports.  Should we do the sight seeing on our own or do you recommend any excursions or sight seeing tours?

 

Thanks

[mskaufman]

Barcelona is a very easy DIY city.  Public transportation is good, plenty of taxis.  Figure out what you want to see and you might even decide that the HOHO bus (2 day ticket) is worth it.

[mapleleaves]

Haven't been there yet, but 'downtown' Barcelona seems fairly compact and easy to get around.  I bought Rick Steves book on Med cruise ports, and borrowed a Barcelona travel book from the library.  We plan on DIY ... a Rick Steves walk, a free walk thru Runner Bean,  the Market, subway to Sagrada Familia., and some wandering.  If I had an extra day I would consider a half day trip to Montserrat Monastery, but even that would DIY. 

 

[mskaufman]

We did the Runner Bean tour of the Gothic Quarter and can recommend.  Not quite (although some have done it) walking distance to Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Montjuic, and the Gaudi Houses (on the way to SF from the Gothic Quarter).  In three days you can do all of that and more.  Just needs some planning and figuring the best way to get around.  On our first trip we worked around the HOHO bus and did things in that order.

[gma rae]

We just did a cruise from Barcelona to Rome in Oct 2018. My first trip to the Med. We spent 3 1/2 days in Barcelona prior to boarding the ship. I second the Runner Bean walking tour of the Gothic Quarter. We did this on our first day after an early morning arrival from San Diego, so needless to say we were exhausted but wanted to stay awake! We had to wait to check into our hotel but they were more than happy to hold our luggage while we did the walk.

 

 Park Guell - book the entrance tickets on line ahead of time it comes with a guided tour with headphones.  

Barcelona Cathedral  is a great easy DIY tour, lines were much shorter in late afternoon.

Majic Fountains of Montjuc at night, wonderful, look up the performance schedule on line, it is free but gets very crowded.

 

Mondays many things are closed and we wanted to see Montserrat, the monastery outside of town so we scheduled our tour for a Monday. We scheduled a private tour with Barcelona Day Tours but they also have larger group tours,. They picked us up at the hotel and took us for the half day to tour Montserrat, explained how to get seats for the Escalonia boys choir performance and then took us to a private wine tasting at an old historic farm. Great Day!

 

La Sagrada Familia is a don't miss! You can get public transportation there, we took a taxi. Buy your entrance tickets and headphone sets on line for a DIY tour. Tickets can sell out quickly for certain times. You definitely want to purchase ahead and be there 15 minutes before your admission time. We did this the day we boarded our cruise. We checked out and left luggage at the hotel while we toured La Sagrada and walked Eixample district.

 

I found Rick Steves Mediteranean cruise book very helpful in planning as well as the forums here on CC.

 

For us this was a perfect introduction to Barcelona! Enjoy the planning and the cruise trip.

 

 

 

\\

 

[NayaSantaFe]

On 1/12/2019 at 1:36 PM, gma rae said:

Majic Fountains of Montjuc at night, wonderful, look up the performance schedule on line, it is free but gets very crowded.

 

I was seeing that the scheduled time for this during the month we will be there is 9pm, but I am wondering how safe the area is to head back to our hotel (NH Constanza) by metro or should we consider a taxi instead? We are a group of 11 (adults and kids.)

[caripoo]

Do HOHO at least the first 1/2 day.....It will give you ideas on what you want to see......Check Viator.....and take a 1/2 day to Montserrat Monestary.......

[VMax1700]

It is too early yet, but there is the possibility of a Barcelona F.C. home match.  They can be played on Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday, depending on TV schedules.

The 2019/20 fixture schedule will not be issued until early August approx. but something to keep in the back of your mind!

[dkata]

On 2/1/2019 at 10:19 PM, NayaSantaFe said:

 

I was seeing that the scheduled time for this during the month we will be there is 9pm, but I am wondering how safe the area is to head back to our hotel (NH Constanza) by metro or should we consider a taxi instead? We are a group of 11 (adults and kids.)

 

The area where the fountain is (Placa Espanya)  is safe, but in large crowds, pickpockets abound. It's not a violence thing. Most likely you won't even know you were pickpocketed as they brush by you while you stand there watching the lights change.  So just be alert.  We took the Metro back to our hotel from Placa Espanya (the metro stop for the magic fountain) that late at night with no problems. But we were only two of us. Not sure what to recommend with 11 of you- as that would be several taxis.

[NayaSantaFe]

18 hours ago, dkata said:

 

The area where the fountain is (Placa Espanya)  is safe, but in large crowds, pickpockets abound. It's not a violence thing. Most likely you won't even know you were pickpocketed as they brush by you while you stand there watching the lights change.  So just be alert.  We took the Metro back to our hotel from Placa Espanya (the metro stop for the magic fountain) that late at night with no problems. But we were only two of us. Not sure what to recommend with 11 of you- as that would be several taxis.

Taking the metro back is probably our best option...

 

Any restaurants you would reccomend in the area for dinner after the fountain show? Something like a steakhouse within walking distance?

[wing]

we did Barcelona by our own. It is really easy.  Public transportation is very good.   We took HOHO bus both routes. It is worth it. went to the National Catalunya museum and spend half a day there. It is great. We were lucky to get tickets to the Football match and watched Barcelona team playing with Sevilla. Liked that!