Next week I am going to Barcelona with a friend .
She wishes to take a bus tour - sort of "overview" of the city.
I have visited Barcelona twice before , I will not join her.

Could anyone recommend a good tour ( not a Ho - Ho bus) for 2-3 hours???.
thanks.

I'll be watching this thread to see what responses you get, danon. Since my son and I are going to be taking an earlier flight to Barcelona than my husband, that might be a good thing for DS and I to do while we're waiting for him to arrive. DS and I are much fonder of tours than DH is!

Why NOT a Ho-Ho bus? We did that (both routes) the first day we were in Barcelona and thought it was a terrific way of figuring out the "lay of the land". In good weather, I'd also much prefer an open-top doubledecker bus, to a "regular" bus.

I confess I must be one of the few persons out there that hates the HoHo buses. When I was in Barcelona last April, everytime I walked by a HoHo bus stop the lines were incredibly long.

Danon, since you said you don't want a HO-Ho bus, please forgive me for highjacking. I promise to try to butt out after this question!

sf7307, can you tell me the name of the company that does the HO-Hos in Barcelona?

Thanks!

Sorry, a couple of questions about language. I assume there's a spiel on these tours (HO-Ho or other)? Is it given in several languages? Unfortunately, a tour in Spanish or Catalan wouldn't do me much good!

It's been awhile since we did the HoHo in Barcelona, so I don't remember the name of the company, but yes, there is a taped "spiel" in many languages.

Thanks, sf7307!

"Why NOT a Ho-Ho bus? "

sf7037
Doing it alone ,she would be more comfortable with a "regular" tour, someone explaining and pointing out sights.

cruiseluv, I have also noticed the line ups for HH in Barcelona.
When I travel alone or with my husband, we never take tours
but some people find it a good way to get around ( especially if they don't speak the language or have very short time in a city))

CAPH52
Ho-Ho is short for Hop-on Hop- off buses. There are stops all over starting at Placa Catalunya.

Thanks, Danon. I knew what it was but asked about a company because, as I understand it, London has two companies that do them. Thought if that were the case in Barcelona (since sf3707 mentioned doing "both routes"), one might be better than the other.

The hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus is the Bus Turístic which starting off point is the Plaça de Catalunya. The bus travels 3 circuits, the northern (red), southern (blue) and the "new Barcelona" route (green), from the Port Olympic to the new Forum-Barcelona Diagonal area. The latter, I think, is of limited interest to tourists and runs from April 3 to September 27. The red and green routes run DAILY except for December 25 and January 1.

Both one day and two day passes are sold. Most folks do this in two days, but if one is very pressed for time, the whole tour, north and south (red and green), can be done in a single day.
Without alighting from the bus, each route, red and green, can be done in two hours. The blue route takes 40 minutes. There are a total of 44 possible stops along the way. The bus takes you through the Olympic Village area, plus there's a stop in front of the Parque de la Ciudadella, for an optional visit to the zoo.

For adults the one day pass costs €21 and for children 4-12 , it costs €13, two days for €27 (child for €17). ('09 prices) It’s free to toddlers three years and younger. The bus comes by every 10-15 minutes, but in summer lines can be long! Tickets can be purchased on the bus or on line in the BCN shop section of barcelonaturisme.com.

Passengers are given a little book of explanations of the sites and a booklet full of discounts for tours, museum entrances, cable car, Tower of Collserola (on Tibidabo) and the Mirador de Colón tower (at the harbor) and “Las Golondrinas” boat trip, etc. There’s a *very* limited commentary in several languages by attendants on board.

http://www.tmb.net/en_US/turistes/bu...usturistic.jsp

For guided walking tours,the city tourist office offers
"Barcelona Walks" with several options-
of the Gothic Quarter, Picasso’s Barcelona, the Modernist architectural route and a Gourmet tour, all departing from the Plaça de Catalunya office. The guides use a wireless tour guide system. Participants should be there ten minutes in advance of the scheduled departure time. One can purchase tickets online.

• The Picasso Tour, in English, departs Tuesday –Thursday- Saturday at 4 pm and lasts 2 hrs. The price includes an entry ticket to the Picasso Museum, all for €12.
• The Gothic Tour in English departs daily at 10:00 and lasts 2 hours, costing €12
• The Modernism Tour in English departs Friday - Saturday only at 4:00 from Oct-May and at 6 from JUne-Sept, lasting two hours and cost €12.
• The Gourmet tour, which is a tapas tour with two tastings, departs on Friday - Saturday only at 10:30 and lasts two hours, costing €16. (’09 prices)

There's also a Marina tour, which includes a boat ride on "Las Golodrinas", admission to the Mirador de Colón monument for the views and a 20% discount on admission to the Maritime Museum. The English tour departs Fri.and Sat. at 10 am from the info booth next to the Mirador de Colón and cost is €15.

If one books on line at www.barcelonaturisme.com, there's a 10% discount on all the above walking tours.

See the routes of all tours and further details on tours conducted in other languages in the online shop section of www.barcelonaturisme.com.

Thank you very, very much, Maribel! That's very helpful.

Forgot to mention that the Barcelona Tourist Office does run several bus tours with licensed guides. All the info regarding these can be found here-
http://tinyurl.com/auaub7

In fact, all info regarding bus (hop on, hop off and others), walking, shopping, bike and helicopter tours of Barcelona can be found at the online shop of www.barcelonaturisme.com

And you can purchase online here-
http://bcnshop.barcelonaturisme.com/

This is a great source.

thank you very much Maribel.

It is my friend's first visit to Barcelona ( thanks to my raving about it) , I would like to make sure she has a good experience

ttt

Since the thread's title is sightseeing tours in Barcelona, in addition to the above, run by the Tourist office,the hop-on, hop-off Bus Turístic, and the canned Julià coach tours, there are also individuals who run small group guided tours of the city.

One has recently been mentioned on another thread,
Jordan Susselman, who runs private, tailor made tours (and tapas tours) of the city and day trips.
www.hithisisbarcelona.com

Another is Dominique Blinder, who runs Jewish Heritage Tours of the city.
www.urbancultours.com

I went to Barcelona last year and visited Girona too. Girona is a quiet and typical Spanish town, full of churches and fascinating narrow streets. I recommend a visit. Yes, you can stay there one night and then move to Barcelona. http://www.explorenevadatours.com/las-vegas-bus.php

The OP of this thread has long since come and gone.

But, since it's been pulled back up....

I may as well jump in to say that we bought the two day ticket for Bus Turistic and loved it! I highly recommend it to anyone who pulls up this thread looking for info on it. We had beautiful weather and found sitting on the top deck to be a very relaxing way to see the city. And there's no way we could have seen as much as we did in the short time we had if it weren't for the hop-on/hop-off.

Oh, and Maribel, thanks for recommending the Bus Turistic in your guide. It was your admonition that it's hard to see so much of the city in a short time that really encouraged us to take it. And I'm very glad we heeded your advice!

Hello tokmik....is there, perhaps, an error with the link you posted above? It refers to tours in Nevada,USA, not to Girona. I'd appreciate having a chance to view your intended link to tours of Girona. Thanks for your help.