Barcelona too crowded?
 

Starting to plan a trip to Spain next year and thinking about focusing on Barcelona and Catalonia. I've been reading about the city's moves against mass tourism and this morning's Guardian article is making me rethink the trip--see https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...-over-visitors
--it says that 32 million people visited Barcelona in 2017! Good grief, that's about the population of Canada!

For those of you who have visited the city recently, is it really that bad? The article shows a photo of Las Ramblas and it's a sea of people, nary an inch of breathing space. Might September/October be better than June?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Early or late season will obviously be less crowded than the peak summer months, but there's a reason so many people go to Barcelona. It's because it's really worth seeing and is one of the most spectacular cities in the world IMO. There may be those who rail against the numbers who visit, but the hotels, shops, restaurants etc welcome you with open arms. Tourism creates wealth and employment for the city, so don't be put off visiting, you'll love it.

Las Ramblas is not always a sea of people; depends on the time of day. I agree with Rubicund's response. EYW? Now THAT's a "sea of people" on Duval and not nearly as worth it as Barcelona IMO.

I would encourage you to visit Barcelona and you can try to take some steps to minimize the crowd effect. I would suggest not staying near Las Ramblas - plenty other nice parts of the city. I'm wondering if trying to visit more mid-week, than week-end, might help - I'm thinking maybe many Europeans take advantage of cheap flights for long weekends.Pre-book whatever you can - such as the Gaudi sights, so you can skip the lines. Not sure which time of year is best, summer or shoulder season, I'd probably pick either spring or fall.

One problem with Barcelona is day trippers from cruise ships, sites like this may help you figure out days with fewer passengers: http://www.portdebarcelona.cat/en/we...sulta-cruceros

I was last there in late October 2015. Las Ramblas was pretty busy, and the market was so crowded I didn't even try to visit. I slept in the Eixample area, and that wasn't too bad. I pre-booked for all the Gaudi sites, and also for the Palace of Catalan Music, but there were other less well known sites where that wasn't necessary. Aside from the crowds I would avoid the summer because of heat. For my TR start here: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...s-the-ramblas/

I have a lot of sympathy for people who don't want their cities overrun with visitors, although I admit I am part of the problem. I have mostly quit using AirBnB because of the problems it causes.

Barcelona...is a big city with many different areas much more interesting than Ramblas. .
I prefer Sept./ Oct ( or mid May) to June .

We were in Barcelona in December two years ago--it was crowded but not crazy. We stayed in the Gracia neighborhood which is a bit further away from the sights (but we still walked everywhere) and absolutely loved it. It had such a great village atmosphere--we sat in one of the squares each evening watching the kids, dogs, couples--it was fantastic entertainment. I would definitely stay there again if we visit Barcelona.

32 million is 16x the city population. It's less than 100,000 a day. Sounds like a lot but it's little more than a full football stadium a day.

Las Ramblas is only worthwhile to walk from the Placa Catalunya to the beach area. Other than that why go? The market? Too touristy IMHO. There are quite a few other markets in the city. To see Marilyn on the balcony? I can't imagine that's a reason.

June isn't really high season. It'll be busy but September will also be busy.

Reality it depends on what you want to do. If you want to see Las Ramblas go before 11am. Even better before 10. I can't remember what time the market opens but you should be able to wander around almost by yourself. Spend the rest of the day elsewhere.

Very helpful information, thanks!

I think tourists typically do wander on Las Ramblas at least to see it, I know I do where in Barcelona because it IS very central and things I may want to see are off it, it's hard to avoid. But it certainly isn't the center of my visits. There are reasons to go there other than the market, the opera house is there for one thing, and one of the Gaudi houses is just off it also (not the most famous ones), for example (Palua Guell). Placa Reial is just off it, also, and worht a look for historical reasons if nothing else.

But you will find a picture of that street in an article talking about too much tourism. there is an awful lot, and certain areas are probalby too crowded, you can find the same remarks about Venice and PRague and parts of Paris, also, at least those are the first that come to mind.

I have no reason to believe Sept and October would be less crowded than June, why would that be. IF anything it would be MORE crowded, not less as there is that famous festival at that time and hotel rates are very high.

“... shows a photo of Las Ramblas and it's a sea of people, nary an inch of breathing space.”

We were there last in August of some year - the years are starting to run together. It was crowded but I remember being able to breathe. Aren’t places like Las Ramblas supposed to be crowded? Empty malls are dull, especially at night.

Crowded subways are a pain. And art galleries. And churches when I am reflecting (not often). Other than than, crowds are not a big deal to us.

Christina, thanks for the heads up about the Sept/Oct music festival. I'll have to be careful to avoid that...maybe push the trip far beyond it. It sounds like the Ramblas and areas close to the cruise ship piers are the hardest hit by heavy tourism and that possibly places like the Joan Miro museum (one of my favorite artists) and the national museum of art with the Catalan Romanesque frescoes might be less affected. I hope.

“La Merce is Barcelona's biggest annual festival and often called the Festival of festivals. The Barcelona Mercè festival 2018 dates are Friday 21st to Monday 24th September 2018. Mercè is called Les Festes de la Mercè in the Catalan language and in the Spanish language Fiestas de la Mercè. The guest city for 2018 Merce festival is Lisbon. Bem-vindo!

it is a big festival but not very long.
there is also some spring music festival in Barcelona...not sure when

Several years ago I was lucky to be in Barcelona during the Merce festival and saw the parades thru town to the port- pure fun with many locals with groups - kind of like Mardi Gras - merrily prancing thru the streets - a time to go IMO. Like others said Barcelona is a big city with crowds crowding but a few areas and IMO walking down the Ramblas in evening is a pleasure - many locals out for the evening stroll as well. Twould be a pity to avoid Barcelona, one of Europe's loveliest cities because of crowding in a relatively few areas. Montjuic the mini mountain on southern (?) edge of Barcelona and accessible by a cable way is one of many neat places not inundated by tourism.

When you pick a main tourist attraction of course it will be crowded during tourist season. That would be like me (here in Seattle) saying Seattle is too crowded to visit because I went to the Pike Place Market when a cruiseship was in and couldn't move or breathe there!

Sorry I have no Barcelona experience but think the reasoning for hesitating to visit is flawed :-)

I found some crowded moments when I visited in 2016, but they were incredibly easy to avoid! If Las Ramblas are crowded, step over just a street or two. My advice: Book places that interest you in advance and enjoy!

For my TR
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...lunya-1047395/

BTW, I had the National Museum nearly to myself (something I found both delightful and profoundly depressing) and the Miro, while visited by others that day, wasn’t busy enough to create even the slightest problem.

Reminds me of the old saying, attributed to Yogi Berra: 'Nobody goes to that restaurant any more, it's too crowded.'

[QUOTE
BTW, I had the National Museum nearly to myself (something I found both delightful and profoundly depressing) and the Miro, while visited by others that day, wasn’t busy enough to create even the slightest problem.[/QUOTE]

Hi kja, I'm curious why you found that National Museum depressing? I reread your trip report but did not see anything about that.

July next week? Price you should just go to booking.com and see what's left. My guess areas in Eixample but it's a big area. Instead of worrying about the neighbourhood look at hostals.

I didn't find the National Art Museum of Catalunya itself depressing at all! What I found depressing was how few people visited it. :( On the day I went, the stairs at the entrance were so crowded that I could barely navigate a way to the doors, but once inside, I don't think I saw more than a half dozen people -- and I was there for hours and hours! As I said, there's a way in which I found that delightful -- but for such a wonderful museum to be so empty on a day when there were masses of people in the area seemed profoundly sad to me. (And OMG, that collection of Romanesque frescoes is exceptional!)

Sorry that my comment wasn't clear, and thanks for making sure I clarified!