Walking distances in Barcelona
 

I'm great at following maps, but horrible at judging distances! Can someone give me an idea of walking distances to the major sites in Barcelona? We are thinking of staying in the Barri Gotic. Is it possible to walk to Sagrada Familia? Or metro there then walk to the other famous Gaudi sites?

There is a metro station right next to Sagrada Familia. They have a great subway and their air-conditioned. Purchase one of the ten pass tickets.

The first time we went to Barcelona we stayed in the Barri Gotic (at the Colon hotel) and we used the Jaume metro stop frequently to te to other places.

I'm not sure I would call Sagrada Familia "within walking distance" but then again I'm not sure how much you like to walk or what you consider "near" or "far."

One reason we picked the Colon that first time was the wonderful view of the cathedral.
This past year we visited again and since the cathedral is under exterior renovation we opted to stay near the Placa Catalunya and I'm glad we did.

Easy walking to various sites; better, MUCH better Metro connections, etc.

If you are a tourist in Barcelona, it is really worthwhile to familiarize yourself with the hop-on-hop-off bus. It makes a constant loop around all the most famous tourist destinations and allows you to visit them and return to the bus without repaying the fare.

I second the recommendation, however, to stay outside the Barri Gotic.

Some of the touristy areas are walkable(La Ramblas, Barric Gotic, Plaza Catalunya, Picasso mus, etc.). You can also walk from Plz Catalunya to some Gaudi houses on Pg de Gracia like La Pedrera in ~20 min or less.

Other tourist sites are not walkable (Parc Guell, Montjuic, Sg Familia) but can be reached easily via subway or bus.

Lots of people recommend the hop-on/off bus. I didn't use it, but just took public transport to all the different sites. Very easy and made me feel less like a tourist.

If you have one extra day, I highly recommend taking the train to Mont Serrat.

I consider the entire city of BCN walkable and do it all the time, but then again, when my mother came to visit she wanted to kill me for anything over 4 blocks. You will have no trouble walking around and using the metro, and the tourist bus is a great idea for a day or two (expensive, though), but really, the BCN bus system is fantastic. If you walk up to the Plaza Catalunya, you can catch a bus that goes to the Sagrada Familia and there are others that go up Passeig de Gràcia right past La Pedrera and Casa Batllò. The metro is convenient and fast, but every kilometre you spend underground is a kilometre that you miss in a very beautiful city.

BCN on bike is incredible if you are interested.

As a follow-on, two comments:

i have always found the Metro to be ONE good way to get around and if you buy the ten ticket pass be aware that more than one person can use it by swiping it twice upon entry..this works because you do NOT have to swipe it again when you EXIT.

Now, the bad news...pickpockets have been known to work the BCN Metro..and they are very GOOD at what they do so be aware.

Would I use the Metro..absolutely..just be aware of the possible dangers of theft.

Don't know how many people you're traveling with but we found with our group of four, taking a cab often cost the same as taking public transportation.

Sadly, I'm not as fit and nubile as laclaire who is an avid walker and cyclist... (hi claire!)

What fishee said (including hi claire!).

We used the Bus Turistic (2 day pass0 and really liked it for the convenience and ability to sightsee to and from our destinations. It worked well for us, too because we stayed near Pl.D'Espanya and used it to get home from the Ramblas and Montjuic. Also, Park Guell is very difficult to get to, except by cab or the bus that lets you off a few blocks away. Don't miss that! We thought it was worth the money.

Thanks everyone! We have only from 4pm one day to noon the next, so we will probably combine the bus and walking. Laclair has a good point - I don't want to waste a minute underground missing the views and we (2 of us) enjoy using public transportation rather than tourist buses.
Dukey, where did you stay near Pl. Cat.?

We also stayed near (actually right on) the Placa Catalunya, in the H10 Catalunya Plaza. There is a very convenient lounge with two computers for free internet access, free wine and cava and snacks all day long. A good breakfast buffet was included.

www.catalunyaplazahotel.com

When I stayed in the Barri Gotic just off Argentaria we used the metro at Jaume1, and we also took the buses a lot of the time - as laclaire says, you see nothing on the metro and it is a waste when there is so much to see from the buses!

There is no way I would have considered walking to the Sagrada Familia - we went there on the Bus Turistic.

Now, have you considered a Segway Tour? It is the same company that do the segway tours in Paris than run them in Barcelona. Just google 'segway tours Barcelona' to get all the info.

When I did this on my own, I walked round the Ruta di Modernisma, and thought it all perfectly doable- the one exception was the Sagrada Familia, which I taxied to. Mind you, I had walked all the way out to the beach and back by then.

For the most recent trip we stayed in the Apsis Atrium Palace (www.apsishotels.com) which is a scant two blocks from the Pl. Catalunya and in the block next to the Ritz!

Because we booked on-line we got the half-off offer for the buffet breakfats which was EXTENSIVE. We chose one of the rooms in the front of the hotel which had a small balcon overlooking the Gran Via but there was absolutely no street noise inside the room with the french doors closed.

The air conditioning was wonderfully powerful and in BCN with the high humidity you'll appreciate that in any hotel.

Housekeeping was excellent and free 24/7 internet access in the business center.

Hey Nikki and Fishee!

As you have less than 24 hours, I highly recommend getting out a map before going and trying to cluster the attractions so that there is minimal transport. Also, as fishee said, taxis are cheap (cheaper still is the bus, but they take longer usually) and if you are only using them to get from one cluster to the next, you should have no problems.