Hello,

Me and my dad are taking a trip to Barcelona in May and spending 6 nights in the El Born area in a rented apartment. I was just wondering if anybody had any advice on good tours, restaurants, nightlife, places you have to see, beaches or even day trips that are easy to take.

Thanks!

Start here: http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/spain/barcelona/

Parc Guell is a must-see for Gaudi's architecture.

A guide book would be a good start.

Tours: Barcelona is very doable on your own and lots of is walkable, but the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell are a little way out. You don't need a tour.

Restaurants: just put "Barcelona Restaurants" in the search box on the top right of this page, you'll get more than you need for 5 days.

Nightlife: Depends what you mean. Clubs? Bars?
Places: Sagrada Familia, The Cathedral in the Gothic Quarter, Casa Batillo, La Pedrera, the Boqueria Market just off the Ramblas, The Gothic Quarter, The Magic Fountains in the Placa Espana which dance to classical and other music, check the schedule http://www.bcn.cat/parcsijardins/fonts/EN/magica.html
Poble Espanol http://www.poble-espanyol.com/pemsa/en

That should fill up most of your time.

We took two tours with Runnerbean last year and really enjoyed them both - it was a great way to get familiar with the city as well as learn a lot that I wouldn't have on my own.

http://www.runnerbeantours.com/

Otherwise, some highlights of our trip were the guided tour of La Sagrada Familia (prebook for the English tour) and the inside of Casa Batllo. Parc Guell was very cool as well. We stayed in the Gothic Quarter as well and really enjoyed that area.

With another day, I would have loved to go to Montserrat.