Walking around Barcelona??
 

Beginning to reseach for our Europe trip for next year and have some questions.

We will be staying on Las Ramblas it looks like everything is very close it is safe to walk to the Sagrada Familia, Magic Fountain, Park Guell?

Thank you!!!

It's safe to walk but way too far to walk to the Magic Fountain and Parc Guell unless you want to spend most of the day walking. I would take a serious look at the map.

Walking from La Rambla to Sagrada Familia would take at least half an hour if not more; Parc Guell is even further. We were just in Barcelona last month, staying three blocks from the basilica, and had a twenty minute public transit ride to the top of La Rambla. Like adrienne suggests, I would look at a map.

La Rambla (a.k.a Las Ramblas) is safe except for a preponderance of very skilled pickpockets. Carry loose cash in a chest pocket for incidental expenses so that you don't pull out your wallet, for all to see where you keep it as you put it back. And have no wallet in a pocket that you might think is safe but that - in practice - can be reached by those who train to do that sort of thing without you noticing.

Thank you all for the input.

<i> it looks like everything is very close</i>

Zoom in.

Parc Guell isn't close to any major attraction or to the Metro. Best to take a bus or cab.

Sagrada Familia and Montjuic are in opposite directions and both a short metro ride away from La Rambla.

Hi kb,

The Barcelona metro map is at
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...metro-map.html

A guide to the tram system is at
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...barcelona.html

Enjoy your visit.
((I))

Safe to walk in Barcelona but use common sense especially around gypsies. Use the metro.

Keep your wits about you on the metro also..Keep your bag tightly held and be aware of what's going on around you, not letting yourself be distracted..DD's back pack was unzipped and you can fill in the blanks..Not alot was gone so could have been worse. BCN and else where can be a bad experience..

You need to get a map with a distance scale on it but even without it, you should see how many streets are between those and know they are pretty far apart. It's about 5 km from Parc Guell to placa Catalunya, for example.

I took the city bus up to Parc Guell, that wasn't hard. some go right up pg de Gracia from placa de Catlunya (eg, no. 24 or 92 are the best). I think this is info on no. 24 http://www.mapametrobarcelona.net/bu...-linea-024.php

Careful with the escalators in the metro. My wife was standing next to me riding the escalator. A man was standing in front of her fiddling with his watch. He "accidentally" dropped it at the top of the stairs and held back trying to retrieve it. His partner behind my wife opened her bag while she was being pushed against the man in front. They only got an empty glass case which they "found" on the ground when I started getting really angry.

Barcelona along with Madrid are Europe's most street crime prone cities in Europe - do not wear the family jewels or flash a expensive smart phone around, etc. Be prudent and be leery of anyone coming up to you - unfortunately - for diversion tactics where a partner may be pickpocketing you.

There have been several threads of Fodor's about the prevalence of such street crime in Barcelona - and the Rmblas seems to be one of the worst places - don't be deterred from seeing one of Europe's most amazing cities but be careful and wear a security money belt under the clothes.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...cketsscams.cfm

We used taxis in our 2 brief days in Barcelona last November to get to our hotel (not too centrally located--but free with some points!) to La Sagrada Familia and from there to Park Guell--good decision, as the ways were long and the paths sometimes steep so we saved time and energy for not a lot of money and "felt safer" than on a metro or bus. We just didn't want to the take the time and effort to figure out the public transport (we've "mastered" such in longer stays in London and Paris, so it's not big-city public transport that we had issue with)

In Barcelona, the tourist bus on a two-day pass is a great way to see the sites. There is a north loop and a south loop; do one each day. This has the advantage of depositing you at the door of the site rather than at the bottom of some big hill.
This is something I have avoided in every other city but in Barcelona someone suggested it and I found it extremely useful just because the main things to see in Barcelona are quite spread out.

It is safe to walk in Barcelona, but as others have said, the distances to some places are too far to walk. My husband and I spent six weeks at a flat near Sagrada Familia this summer and took the metro everywhere. And, I strongly echo the comments about street crime - I was robbed on the metro (carrying a small, ugly purse and not wearing fancy clothes/jewelry). But, I still recommend Barcelona as a great place to visit - just be very aware of your surroundings and belongings.

Here is my trip report, http://latitudeb.com/summer-of-spain...-in-barcelona/.