nimz

Hi,
My wife and i are going to Barcelona next week for 6 days and have prepared a rough itinerary. We want to avoid tourist traps and want to focus more on spanish culture and Catalonian way of life. Also, since its going to be HOT, i dont intend to kill us with an optimistic itinerary.

Day 1:
Arrive at hotel at 3 pm. Explore La Rambla and El Born in the evening. Have a late dinner and go to some disco in the neighbourhood

Day 2:
Barcelona walking tour (runnerbean tours)
- Plaça Reial
- Palau Güell
- Casa Batlló (might go inside, but 18 euro pp is crazy..even versailles or louvre wasnt this expensive)
- Casa Milà
- La Sagrada Familia

Explore La Rambla and Barri Gottic area

Flamenco show: This is where my confusion starts. I understand that i will not be able to see the authentic Flamenco in Barcelona. And there are options ranging from 7 euro to 45 euro.

Flamenco show at Los Tarantos at Plaça Reial - looks like the best and cheapest option if u want to experience flamenco in barcelona
or
Opera y Flamenco at Palau Musica Catalana - i want to look at the interiors but cant justify 18 euro pp for a guided tour. Can spend 45 euro on the Opera y Flamenco if its really worth. Wasnt really impressed by the videos on youtube. The show didnt look extravagant.

What's the sensible thing to do to enter the Palau?

Late night dinner and return to hotel

Day 3:
Parc Guell
Barcelonetta beach - relax, ride bikes etc...
Magic fountains at Montjuic at night

Day 4: Trip to Montserrat
Day 5: Trip to Sitges
Day 6: Dedicated to my wife - all day Shopping
Day 7: Broke after day 6, return to Germany

Your suggestions will help a lot (like always).

Thanks,

josephhinds

Thanks for sharing such a nice information with us. I had never hear about these things before.

txtree

my opinion: day 2 is extremely ambitious, especially if you're planning to stay up until all hours the night before. I personally would not have wanted to pack all of that into a single day. Sagrada Familia took several hours on its own. Why not spread the shopping/sightseeing out over a couple of days?

nimz

txtree, good suggestion, i will modify accordingly. I dont intend to go inside Sagrada Familia, so will not spend a long time there.

Smeagol

Reserve your Sagrada familia tixs in advance ( or buy at the La Caxia ATMs) will save waiting in a LONG queue. Your runner bean tour ends there so you could go in then but i I would probably leave for another day you could be Gaudi' d out!!!! For me the interior is WELL worth the money.
Enjoy runner bean they are BRILLIANT we did both tours as we loved the Gaudi one so much.

Oops after writing the above I see you are not planning on going inside SF, that is a shame it was one of the highlights of our trip to Barcelona and really is fantastic, I urge you to reconsider! We did the audio tour and spent about 1.5 hours in there. It could have been longer but I was hungry and getting grumpy

nimz

Smeagol, for SF do u recommend the basic basilica visit or paying extra for the towers/museum as well?
Any suggestion regarding the Palau Musica Catalana?

Smeagol

We had the tickets which included everything BUT the towers were closed due to wind (actually i wasn't aware there was a difference in tixs you could buy, apart from having the audio tour) the museum is well worth a look. We dont tend to be people who spend hours and hours some where, we saw what we liked (and it REALLY is impressive inside.
We didn,t go to the Palau Musica so can,t help you there.

Oh another thing Park Guell is a pig to find if you go by underground and then walk, do yourself a favour get a cab... (loved it though)

BigRuss

If you're not going into the Sagrada Familia, you don't need tickets.

Your day 2 is impossible and will have you trekking from one end of the city to the other. Which of those sites is part of the runnerbean tour and which is not?

Unlike Casa Batllo, you do need to go into La Pedrera (Casa Mila) and to the roof or else it's just a strange looking apartment building.

You can also do a Fat Tire Bike tour since your English is obviously good.

Lannistergold

Sounds like an interesting itinerary. I'd recommend this winery tour if you're interested in trying one out. http://www.cataloniatours.com/WineGo...4/Default.aspx

Artsfan2

I second Smeagol's recommendation that you go inside SF. It was absolutely beautiful and unique. We didn't purchase advance tickets and the line was long but it moved quickly. We didn't buy tower tickets because our guidebooks said it would be a long wait but when we were inside there was hardly a line at all so we wished we had bought them. We found the audio guide to be informative and the museum interesting for a quick visit.

danon

The only reason to go to Sitges is to be on the beach....nothing much else there.
Palau is fantastic and worth seeing.

Cowboy1968

Not sure if you need to dedicate a full day to shopping.
As anywhere you went the days before, you have the shops of any kind along the way. Born, Barri Gotic, Passeig de Gracia are the major shopping areas.
So on day 6 you would literally have to go back where you already have been.
Unless you want to go to one of the malls. Which would be a bit away from where your other trips will take you (with the possible exception of Maremagnum in the old harbor).

danon

Agree with Cowboy about shopping...depending on what price range and type of fashion
one is looking for, it is rather easy to focus on one are( or certain shops) and do it in less than half a day.
Mare magnum is o.k., but nothing one cannot find in most malls anywhere.
Same goes for the new mall in the former arena.

jgg

I don't understand why people say not to go inside Casa Battilo - we thought it much more interesting inside than Casa Mila and the rooftop is phenomenal as well. Also, going inside the Sagrada Familia is a must!! This is probably the last great cathedral being built - could you imagine being able to go inside Notre Dame or Westminster Abbey while it was being built? We found it fascinating. The towers were also closed while we were there so can't speak to that.

We are shoppers too. Be sure your wife goes to La Manual Alpargatera (Calle Avinyo, 7), the espadrille stores.

If you are interested, here is my trip report from our 5 nights in Barcelona along with pictures:
http://www.fromhometoroam.com/2012/06/barcelona/

nimz

ok, since so many of you feel so strongly about going inside SF, i am changing my mind and will definitely go in. As far as day 2 goes, txtree and bigRuss u r right, it is unrealistic, especially if i am clubbing the night before.

so my modified itinerary:

Day 1:

Arrive at hotel at 3 pm. Explore La Rambla in the evening.
Flamenco show at Los Tarantos at Plaça Reial
Have a late dinner and go to some disco in the neighborhood

Day 2:

Start late.

Barri Gottic and El Born - Explore/shop

Late night dinner and return to hotel

Day 3:

Barcelona walking tour(runnerbean tours)~ 2.5 hrs
- Plaça Reial
- Palau Güell
- Casa Batlló
- Casa Milà
- La Sagrada Familia

Spend time inside Sagrada Familia

Magic fountains at Montjuic at night

Day 4: Trip to Montserrat
Day 5: Trip to Sitges or Tibidabo (depending on the mood)

Day 6:
Parc Guell
Barcelonetta beach - relax, ride bikes etc...


Looks doable now.

P.S: @jgg I enjoyed reading your trip report. Will definitely take some tips from it.

travlsolo2

Check into taking a bus to Parc Guell; that's what we did and it worked out great.

travlsolo2

A couple more ideas:
Your wife may already be familiar with the Desigual clothing brand; bright colored cool stuff, a bit over-priced, but fun. Numerous stores in Barcelona.
The fish spa AquaBliss, where you drink cava while tiny fish nibble your feet, with a leg massage after. You end up quite relaxed, with very soft feet.

Cowboy1968

If you go clubbing, next day sure will start pretty late ;-)
You can check what line up Razzmatazz got when you will be there.
The summer beach parties in Sitges are also quite famous - and yes, it's a mixed croud.. A big organized event with lots of music.. Not just a bbq on the beach
The mirador de migdia is also a nice place at night, but more to chill earlier in the night

MiamiBeachMomma

Where and how do you get the bus to part Guell?? Is this a city bus?? Does anyone know the number that passes through?? We are going to try to head out there tomorow or the next day. Can you rent bikes up there as well??

Cowboy1968

Don't know about bikes, but you can take the #24 bus from Pl. Catalunya or any stop along Passeig de Gràcia to Parc Güell.
You can also catch the 24 at metro Lesseps.