Barcelona - Travel Guide

28/08/2009 Barcelona - Wiki Travel Guide - Travell… Barcelona Introduction The Roman Empire founded "Barcino" in the 1 st century BC and the city has been a meeting point for different cultures ev er since. Barcelona saw the rise and fall of the V isigoths, Moors and Franks, ev entually becoming a part of Castile in 1 7 1 4. Franko's authoritarian dictatorship in the 20th century restrained Barcelona's potential, but the last few decades hav e witnessed the ev olution of Barcelona into a v ibrant and modern city . Barcelona is a major centre of business, design and fashion, and its rich history has gifted it with countless pieces of the finest architecture, some of which are now included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. La Boqu er ía © A ll Rig h t s Reser v ed Em Slice Neighbourhoods Barcelona is div ided into 1 0 districts, each consisting of a few neighbourhoods. These districts are: Ciutat Vella (Old Town) This is where y ou'll find the oldest buildings and constructions of the city , such as the Town Hall, St. James Square, the Cathedral, Palace of the Generalitat, Palace of the Catalan Music and las Ramblas, with Liceu Theatre and Boqueria Market. L'Eixample (New town) Designed in 1 860 by Ildefons Cerdà, it is where countless modernist buildings can be found, the most important of which is Sagrada Família, the biggest project from A ntoni Gaudí. Passeig de Gràcia is a v ery long street in which other important modernist buildings can be found, such as Casa Milà (La Pedrera) and Casa Batlló, both works of A ntoni Gaudí. Other Districts Rav al (Old Chinatown, now a perfect match between old city and fashion places) Sants-Montjüic Les Corts Sarrià-St. Gerv asi Gràcia Horta-Guinardó Nou Barris St. A ndreu St. Martí Mon t ju ic fou n t a in s, Ba r cel on a © A ll Rig h t s Reser v ed fish it a ly Sights and Activities Barcelona is a v ibrant city with a nev er ending list of things to do; from nightclubs to tours of the Old Town and its pubs, to family -orientated fun-parks, museums, windsurf lessons and more. Art and architecture are a major draw card for the city , in particular the stunning works of Barcelona's most famous architectural son Antoni Gaudi. Museums Joan Miró Museum (Fundacio Joan Miró): Joan Miró was a Catalan artist from the early 20th century . Paintings by the artist are display ed, as well as other art collections from all ov er the world. Located on Montjuic. Antoni Tàpies Museum is a museum dedicated to the life and work of Antoni Tàpies, a Catalan abstract ex pressionist artist. Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MA CBA) mainly has 20th century , predominantly from travellerspoint.com/guide/Barcelona/ 1/7 28/08/2009 Barcelona - Wiki Travel Guide - Travell… Catalan, pieces of art on display in this museum. National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNA C) features one of the biggest collections of Romanesque art in the world. Picasso Museum features a significant collection of paintings from Picasso's y outh. Located in Old Town. CosmoCaix a is the city 's Science Museum and one of Europe's best. Located at Isaac Newton 26 near Av inguda del Tibidabo. Phone: 932 1 26 050 Parks Parc de la Ciutadella (Ciutadella Park) is where the 1 888 univ ersal ex position was held. It currently is a place where locals, as well as tourists, go when they want to get away from the busy city life. Parc Güell or Park Güell (Güell Park): The Count of Güell ordered Antoni Gaudí to construct a zone where the high class families of Barcelona would liv e. Gaudi's stunning work in this park was considered worthy of inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1 984. It has now become the city 's most v isited tourist attraction. Other main sights La Sagrada Fam ília: Construction on this modernist cathedral, by architect Antoni Gaudí, began in 1 882 and continues to this day . Building works aren't ex pected to be completed till 2026, but that doesn't stop millions of trav ellers v isiting the unfinished masterpiece each y ear. The construction process itself is a fascinating thing to behold and ev en in its uncompleted stage, it is already a superb building and listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Sa gr a da Fa m il i a , Ba r cel on a Casa Mila (La Pedrera): Casa Mila's undulating roof line is one of © A ll Rig h t s Reser v ed m ir om a r Barcelona's most iconic images. A v isit to this A rt Nouv eau Gaudi masterpiece is essential for any v isitor to Barcelona. Montjüic is where the Montjüic Castle is located on top, as well as the Oly mpic Stadium and other Oly mpic games buildings and Palau St. Jordi, a concert/sports hall designed by the prestigious architect Arata Izosaki for the Oly mpic Games. Port Olím pic (The Oly mpic Port) was built for 1 992 Oly mpic Games, and has now become a place with many of the finest restaurants in the city , fashionable bars and plenty of discos. UNESCO World Heritage List Casa Milà, or La Pedrera. Hospital de Sant Pau ( St. Paul's Hospital). Palau Güell (Güell Palace). Parc Güell (Park Güell). Casa Vicens Casa Batlló Sagrada Fam ília Palau de la Música Catalana (Palace of the Catalan Music). Events and Festivals As mentioned abov e, Barcelona is a city full of life and consequently , plenty of festiv als are organised ev ery y ear. It would be pointless to name all of them as there are many , but they are mainly about music, theatre and cinema. In September the city gets ready for "la Merce" when the whole city celebrates for a whole week. During this period people from v arious neighbourhoods decorate the streets of the city and many concerts (most of them free concerts) take place in different districts. Check the Festes de la Merce website for more information about activ ities. There are dozens of other ev ents and festiv als though, including: travellerspoint.com/guide/Barcelona/ 2/7 28/08/2009 Barcelona - Wiki Travel Guide - Travell… Primav era Sound. Dia de Sant Jordi - Ramblas becomes flower market and book stall. Festiv al de Sonar - Adv anced music and multimedia art in June. Festiv al de Sant Joan - start of summer festiv al late June, with beachfires etc. Grec A rt Festiv al - June to August, music dance and theatre all ov er the city . Festa Major de Gracia - in the Gracia neighbourhood, music and fireworks. La Diada Weather Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate, with v ery dry , sunny and warm summers from June to September. Rainfall is predominantly during the wintermonths of Nov ember to March, though showers are possible y earround. July and A ugust are the hottest months of the y ear, but due to the influence of the Mediterranean sea it doesn't get as hot as in the inner regions of the country where there is no sea-breeze. Still, humidity is a little higher here, so day time temperatures of around 30 degrees Celcius feel pretty oppressiv e as well. Winters are mild, also due to the moderating influence of the Mediterranean sea. The coldest months of the y ear are December and January , but temperatures are still well abov e zero at night, with 1 2-1 4 degrees during the day . Getting there By Car Spain has a dense road sy stem. Getting to Barcelona by car shouldn't be regarded as a problem. If y ou come from Europe, the AP-7 runs from Ly on and all the way down to Barcelona, passing near Perpignan (the largest French city before the Spanish border). In France it is known as A7 between Ly on and Orange, and A 9 between Orange and the spanish border. By Train Spain may not hav e the best trains in the continent, howev er it's not a problem to get to Barcelona by train. The main station of the city is Sants Station and it is perfectly connected to the city centre by either underground or bus. If y ou come from Europe y ou will probably need to change trains in Portbou (the first Spanish town after the border) from where a direct trains runs to Barcelona. The estimated trip time is 3 hours. Getting there from other parts of Spain is quite easy : there are sev eral trains ev ery day between Barcelona and main Spanish cities such as Valencia, Madrid or Bilbao. Check the RENFE website, Spain's national railway company . By Plane Barcelona Aeroport del Prat (BCN) is the second biggest airport in Spain and the 9th biggest airport in Europe. It handles ov er 30 million of passengers ev ery y ear and it is perfectly connected to the other main European airports by direct flights operated by either low cost airlines or normal ones. It is located a few kilometres away from the city , but it is easy to reach by train. The trip lasts 30 minutes and it costs around €2. A nother alternativ e are tax is, which tend to be more ex pensiv e. If y ou leav e from Sants Station the trip will last 20 minutes and cost around €22. Reus International A irport (REU) is a good alternativ e and is located near Tarragona. It's particularly good when y ou want to trav el with lowcostairlines. The Girona - Costa Brav a International Airport (international code: GRO) near Girona is another fav orite and is getting more and more popular as a start of a trip in the region as there are quite a few lowcostairlines serv ing the airport. Ry anair serv es dozens of cities in Europe, including London, Brussels and Rome. A few others include Jetairfly , Transav ia and Star1 , Thomson A irlines and Thomascook, which serv e both or one of the airports at least. travellerspoint.com/guide/Barcelona/ 3/7 28/08/2009 Barcelona - Wiki Travel Guide - Travell… By Bus Buses to and from Barcelona are mainly used to smaller places within the region. A number of bus companies hav e serv ices from Estacia del Nord (northern bus station). Destinations include Girona (including the airport), Figueres and many smaller towns both inland and along the Costa Brav a. Long-distance buses go to Madrid, V alencia and Zaragoza, Burgos, Santiago de Compostela and Sev ille[[, but in many occasions taking the train or plane is a better idea. [[http://www.eurlines.com (< ERROR: the link title is too long!) has many buses both to the northern parts of Europe as well as Morocco. By Boat Italy Grimaldi Ferries between Civ itav ecchia and Barcelona. GNV between Genoa and Barcelona. Morocco GNV operates serv ices from Barcelona to Tangier. Algeria Chan Maghreb Lines (website under construction) has boats between Barcelona and Oran and Algiers. Acciona Trasmediterránea is the main ferry operator with boats from Barcelona to the Balearic Islands. Other ferry operators include Balearia between Barcelona and the Balearic islands of Menorca, Mallorca and Ibiza. Iscomar offers roughly the same connections as well. Getting around By Car By Public Transport Barcelona area is div ided in 6 fare zones. Zone 1 include all Barcelona city and some of the suburbs (from Castelldefels to Montgat, and from the sea to Tibidabo). Y ou only need to buy multizone tickets if y ou want to go to places as Sitges, Calella or Montserrat A bbey . Underground and buses hav e sev eral kinds of passes. One single journey ticket doesn't allow to make any change. But a 1 0-journey card ('T-1 0') and all other passes allow free change of mean of transportation (from metro to bus, bus to metro, bus to bus -but different bus line-...) during 7 5 minutes after the first v alidation. There are 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5 and 30 day s trav elcards, v alid for unlimited number of journey s in N consecutiv e day s. T-1 0 allows 1 0 combined journey s in any means of transport. T 50-30 allows 50 combined journey s in 30 consecutiv e day s. The easiest way to get around the city is either the underground (consisting of 8 lines, 5 from TMB Transports Municipals de Barcelona- and 3 from FGC -Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Cataluny a-) or buses. The underground has different schedules for different day s of the week: from Monday to Thursday they run ev ery 2-1 0 minutes between 5am and 00:00. On Friday , Sunday and bank holiday s they run ev ery 2-1 0 minutes between 5 am and 2 am, while on Saturday besides running during day time they also do for the whole night. Buses are also quite reliable but howev er slower than the underground. There are a few lines of night buses starting at different parts of the city and cov ering div erse districts. From 2004, the city has two branches of tram way , Trambaix (connecting Barcelona-Plaça de Francesc Macià and Baix Llobregat area) and Trambesòs (connecting Barcelona Zoo, in Vila Olímpica neigborhood, Glòries and Fòrum area). The more touristy T ranv ia Blau is an old-sty le tramway . It's a short ride, about 1 0 minutes, connecting Av . Tibidabo underground station and Tibidabo funicular. Tranv ia Blau uses an special ticket, bought on board. travellerspoint.com/guide/Barcelona/ 4/7 28/08/2009 Barcelona - Wiki Travel Guide - Travell… There is also two companies running tourist buses: TMB's 'Bus T urístic' (the 'official', managed by the public company that runs city buses and metro), and 'Barcelona T ours' (the 'unofficial', managed by two coach companies). Both buses go to the same sights, and y ou can go in and go out as often as y ou want during the v alidity of the ticket. Currently , Bus Turístic has three lines and Barcelona Tours just one. Links: http://www.tmb.net http://www.barcelonatours.es/ http://www.barcelonametro.com/ By Foot Many parts of Barcelona can easily be ex plored on foot. Wandering down Las Ramblas is one of the main attractions of a trip to Barcelona. And v isiting the narrow streets Old Town is certainly much easier done on foot than by other means. By Bike Barcelona is a relativ ely bike friendly city with quite a few dedicated lanes and some nice routes along the beach and around the harbour. There are sev eral rental companies that will hire y ou a bike by the hour, day or week. Barceloneta Bikes is one of the city 's most affordable options and is located right near the harbor and beaches. Biking in Barcelona is a co-operativ e promoting cy cling in Barcelona. They offer tours as well as rentals. Budget Bikes prov ides good quality bikes and offers good reductions when y ou hire as a group. Fat Tire Bike Tours offers tours as well as bike hire. Bicing (Website in Spanish only) is a large bike hire scheme, but unfortunately it is only really targetted at residents. If y ou are going to be in Barcelona for a while, it might be a good option. Eat In first place, and despite popular belief, we should take into consideration that paella is not originally from Barcelona, but rather from the Valencia region. Barcelona has a wide range of choices: from the finest and most ex pensiv e restaurants, passing through a middle point, to the cheapest ones. Eating out could be quite ex pensiv e in the city centre, but if y ou hav e the time to wander around y ou can find v ery decent places for a v ery decent price, either in the city centre or in the outskirts. The main dish from this part of Spain (Catalonia) consists of bread with tomato rubbed on it, with oliv e oil and salt. This is usually accompanied with different ty pes of sausage (made of pork) such as fuet or llonganissa or Spanish ham. While some restaurants consider it a main dish, others might just bring it to y ou as an accompaniment. Drink Barcelona is well-known by foreigners when it comes to drink. The main purpose of some people who go there is to get drunk. The reality is that it's not as cheap as it used to be, so unless y ou hav e some money in y our pocket, getting drunk in Barcelona could be quite ex pensiv e. Many pubs are located in the Old Town but some of them hav e abusiv e prices, so it would be a good idea to get away from the city centre. Sleep There are some great hotels, hostels and homestay s in which to stay in Barcelona but for a bit of independence and some good locations, renting an apartment is a great option. Depending on the size and location it can be an quite cheap, particularly if y ou are stay ing for more than a few day s. Supermarkets are travellerspoint.com/guide/Barcelona/ 5/7 28/08/2009 Barcelona - Wiki Travel Guide - Travell… pretty good v alue and y ou can pick up fresh produce in the famous Boqueria market and cook up some Spanish inspired treats. A partments also mean that y ou get more of a feel for the city as y ou will probably be liv ing side by side with the locals! There are some great apartments in the older areas, like El Borne although if they are in old buildings they can be quite small and don't alway s hav e a lift. First impressions can be misleading too, especially in the traditional buildings whose entrance way s may not hav e seen a lick of paint in decades and which often hav e narrow and dark stone staiway s. Look bey ond that though and many hav e been well restored and modernised inside! Show 1 0, 25, 50, 1 00 properties Search: Property Hostal d´Ux elles Ana´s Guest House Duquesa de Cardona Anita's B&B Barcino 1 47 Domenech AA E Hostels Europa Barcelona Apartments in Barcelona Tiradors Mambo Tango Backpackers Hostel Petit Palace Opera Garden Ramblas Casa de Billy Barcelona Gran Via Rooms B&B Barcelona Hostal Ciudad Condal Apartments in Barcelona III Direct-Barcelona Sagrada Familia 1 Hosteria Grau Sant Jordi Diagonal Hostel Sant Jordi Alberg Hotel Pere IV Mapamundo Las Ramblas Bacardi Apartment Fashion House Gran Central Inn Vrabac Apartments in Barcelona Dames Showing 1 to 25 of 27 2 entries Gran V ia 688 Rosello 298, 1 º,1 ª Paseo Colon, 1 2 c/ August Font, 24 Gran V ia 662..6th floor 2nd door Calle V ila Joiosa 1 Carrer de la Boqueria 1 8, Carrer Tiradors nº 1 C/ Poeta Cabany es 23 Boqueria, 1 0 (Ramblas 7 8) Gran V ia 420, 4-1 c/ L´A liga Nº 21 , Call Before y our arriv al to arrange key pickup C/ Mallorca 255 Principal Calle Muntaner 4, second floor, first door Prov enza 439 n 2, 3 Calle Ramelleres, 27 A v Diagonal 436, Entr., 2' C/ Roger de Lluria 40 1 -2 Pallars 1 28-1 30 A v da Pera IV Calle Milans Las Ramblas 40 Carrer Bruc, 1 3 Principal Gran V ia de les Corts Catalans 686, 2-2 Calle Portaferrisa 1 4 2 C/ Dames nº1 Address T y pe Popularity Guesthouse 1 00 % Guesthouse 1 00 % Hotel 1 00 % Guesthouse 1 00 % Guesthouse 1 00 % A partment 97 % Guesthouse 93 % A partment Hostel Hotel 93 % 93 % 93 % Guesthouse 93 % A partment 93 % Guesthouse 93 % Guesthouse 93 % A partment 93 % Guesthouse 93 % Hostel Hostel Hotel A partment 93 % 92 % 92 % 92 % Guesthouse 92 % Guesthouse 92 % Guesthouse 92 % Guesthouse 91 % A partment 90 % Work Learn travellerspoint.com/guide/Barcelona/ 6/7 28/08/2009 Barcelona - Wiki Travel Guide - Travell… Keep Connected Internet High speed internet is av ailable in the most parts of the city . Most of the hotels and restaurants offer free WiFi to their guests. Phone See also International Telephone Calls Telefonica is the main telephone prov ider of Spain and is responsible for installation and maintenance of telephone lines as well as offering internet, telev ision and other v alue added serv ices. Telefonica has monopoly in the rural areas whereas in Barcelona and other urban areas there are other serv ice prov iders such as Orange, y a.com and tele2, hav ing offers of cheaper calls to certain countries. Despite the stiff competition, Telefonica remains the preferred serv ice prov ide due to superior customer serv ice and prompt response to problems. The most central Telefonica stores can be found in Barcelona at Cataluny a,1 6 and Gran de Garcia,1 43. Post The central Post office in Barcelona is situated at Pz A ntonio Lopez-Sots-Tinent Nav arro, 34 and remains open till 9:30 PM from Monday to Friday s and is open on Saturday s until 2:00PM. Most of the post office and post box es are identified by their y ellow frontages. Apart from the postal serv ices, most of the post offices also act as an agent of Deutsche Bank offering a range of Banking serv ices and money can be transferred internationally v ia Western Union. This is v ersion 4 6. Last edited at 1 9 :4 6 on Aug 1 1 , 09 by Utrecht (+ 1 6 9 ). 6 7 articles link to this page. Ex cept where otherwise noted, content of this article is licensed under a Creativ e Commons A ttributionShareA like 3.0 License Printed from Trav ellerspoint - www.trav ellerspoint.com Join Trav ellerspoint and enjoy a global, free trav el community that keeps the trav el ex perience aliv e! travellerspoint.com/guide/Barcelona/ 7/7