Key Post: Barcelona

I'm heading to Barcelona in Feb and am looking to book a REALLY good restaurant. Will pay up to €100 per person. Can anyone recommend anywhere.....?


Thanks
 
Barca restaurants

El Builli is said to be the best restaurant in the world. It is not actually in Barcelona, but is about an hour away.

Check out [broken link removed]
 
Re: >>Barcelona

Just back from Barca, beautifull city but be very carefull! Had our camera pinched but it was knackered anyway. On reporting the theft there were about 20 other people reporting crimes in the police station all appeared to be tourists. Then in the metro on the way to the airport I had my wallet lifted as one guy pretended to drop cigerates near the top of an escaltor his buddy barged into me and got my wallet out of a closed pocket. Got it back intact though as I was pissed at having the camera nicked (and I was much bigger then him).

Will file a report on some cool bars and restauraunts soon
 
Re: >>Barcelona

The restauraunt I would fully reccommend is called Les Quiinze Nits in Placa Reial. You will know it by finding the the long queue which builds up from about 1930 untill it opens at 2030......I dont do queues but it was either that or have a big row with my other half. But I had to admit it was supberb and with apitiser starter, main course and desert each plus 1 bottle wine and 1 beer 59.00 euro BETWEEN US, so good I treated her. Also try a bar called La Fianna near the Picasso museum and also loads of good Tapas bars in the Placa de Commercial, great spot to end the night.
 
Re: >>Barcelona

If anyone has been to Barcelona lately, could you please let me know how to get from Girona airport in to Barcelona city? How long does it take, are services frequent, and how much does it cost?

many thanks.
 
Re: >>Barcelona

I think (but can't confirm) that there may be a bus from Girona Airport to Barcelona city.

I definitely know there are frequent trains from Girona Station (not far from the airport at all) to Barcelona - they're fairly cheap and take around 1 hour .. As far as I can recall they run at least hourly during the day - times on www.renfe.es

Girona is a nice town with a lovely old centre - well worth a visit too
 
Re: >>Barcelona

From Girona Airport:

...by Bus. There is a bus service that departs Girona Airport about 30 minutes after the UK flights arrive. Journey time is about 1.5 hours. It stops at Barcelona's Bus Station Estacio de Nord. From the bus station you can take the Metro Arc de Triomf or take a taxi. Click on this link [broken link removed] from RyanAir for details. Click on this link http://www.bcn.es/cgi-guia/guiamap4...a=2&grayscl=0&zoom=4&escala.x=249&escala.y=23 to see where the bus drops you off (its the blue dot in the middle of the map).
 
Re: >>Barcelona

We're spending this weekend in Barcelona and I'm looking at using the metro to get into the P d Catalunya area. More precisely, we're staying at the Atrium Palace (€99 a night with a bottle of cava thrown in - birthday rate). Here's a map of where it is.

If anybody's done the trip recently, we'd appreciate any tips to using the metro system (especially with regard to buying the tickets). We may be travelling out of town to the 'La Roca' outlet shopping mall at some stage over the weekend. So if there was some kind of weekend pass we should be looking at, that would be handy to know.

I just thought I'd ask here before I start combing the web for info - starting [broken link removed].
 
Re: >>Barcelona

From that map, your hotel is a stone's throw from Placa de Cataluyna. Why would you need the metro??

I'd say 5 mins walk max.
 
Re: >>Barcelona

Yes, I had a cursory look at the hotel's website, where it says that the hotel is:

"400m from Placa Catalunya"
 
Re: >>Barcelona

About getting to La Roca, well according to its website, it is near the town of Granollers. There are buses from Granollers station MON-FRI to the shopping centre. Otherwise, seems to be a "5-min taxi" ride.

This is outside the city, the metro won't get you there.

Instead, you take a train. You take suburban or Cercanias train 2, from Sants station, towards Macanet/Massanes. Get off at Granollers Centre. A single ticket is €1.80. I found all this on www.renfe.es, the website of the Spanish railways.

For the metro, buy a 10-journey ticket for €6.30, best value in Europe. Machines sell them in every station.
 
Re: >>Barcelona

Thanks Protocol. After a while I made the distinction between metro and Renfe and that's it's a Renfe journey from airport to PdC. And, as you point out, this is also the case for the journey to Granollers. I think that the nearest station for us is Passeig d Gracia.

So it looks like we don't need the metro at all.

Do you have any experience of using the Renfe ticketing system? Or do all tickets come from the same machine?

I'll have another look at the Renfe site. It's just that they don't have it fully translated to English and my Spanish is whatever I've picked up from Dora the Explorer.

Vaminos!
 
Re: >>Barcelona

OK, you are correct.

The national railway company, RENFE, run the suburban trains (like the DART). These are called Cercanias. There are four lines in Barcelona. The sign for them is an inverted uppercase "C".

Yes, the line from the airport is one of these four Cercanias lines.

And yes, the line C2 to Granollers and beyond does pass through Barcelona-Passeig de Gracia, your nearest station. Note that this may also be a metro station.

There are ticket machines for the Cercanias trains. Your destination should be on a button to choose. From the RENFE website http://www.renfe.es/cercanias/barcelona/index.html I see that Granollers Centre is in zone 3, for which a single ticket is 1.80.

If you want you can buy a ticket from a ticket hatch in Passeig de Gracia, maybe write "dos billet sencillo Granollers Centre" onto a piece of paper if you don't speak Catalan.

Or approach a machine, make sure it's for Cercanias, and see is there a button for either Granollers Centre, or zone 3.

Below please find the times of trains from Passeig de Gracia to Granollers Centre on Sat 10th Dec.




Origen :BARCELONA PASSEIG DE GRACIA [broken link removed]Destino :GRANOLLERS CENTRE [broken link removed]Día de viaje: 10-12-2005 [broken link removed]Hora Salida solicitada a partir de las 06.00 [broken link removed]Hora Salida solicitada hasta las ...: 23.59 [broken link removed]Hora Salida Hora Llegada Línea Tiempo
de Viaje06.3207.01C2 0.2906.5807.21C2 0.2307.3308.02C2 0.2908.0908.39C2 0.3008.2908.54C2 0.2508.3209.01C2 0.2909.0809.37C2 0.2909.3810.07C2 0.2909.5910.28C2 0.2910.3311.02C2 0.2911.0311.32C2 0.2911.2511.48C2 0.2311.3312.02C2 0.2912.0312.32C2 0.2912.3313.02C2 0.2913.0313.32C2 0.2913.2513.46C2 0.2113.3314.02C2 0.2914.0314.32C2 0.2914.3315.02C2 0.2915.0315.32C2 0.2915.2815.56C2 0.2815.3316.02C2 0.2916.0316.32C2 0.2916.3317.02C2 0.2917.0317.32C2 0.2917.2817.56C2 0.2817.3318.02C2 0.2918.0318.32C2 0.2918.3319.02C2 0.2919.0319.32C2 0.2919.2919.54C2 0.2519.3320.02C2 0.2920.0320.32C2 0.2920.3321.00C2 0.2721.0321.31C2 0.2821.3322.02C2 0.2922.3323.02C2 0.2923.1923.47C2 0.28
 
Re: >>Barcelona

Thanks Protocol. After all of that I have confirmed with some tourist office in Barcelona that there are rail works going on at Sants station so it is not possible to travel directly from the airport to PdC on the RENFE. They advise taking a bus. Thanks again for the information. I'm sure it'll be useful for other, future Barcelona-bound people.
 
Re: >>Barcelona

I was there again this summer we went on the cable cars which was lovely great view of the city it is down at the harbour. And we got of at it near christopher columbus statue which was a good spot for getting photos and then it brought us back. We visited the Olympic area aswell which is lovely walking along the promenade and their is little restaurants where you can enjoy the view. I thought the Hard Rock Cafe on La Ramblas was one of the nicest i have been in and you must try the apple cake it is heaven.
 
Re: >>Barcelona

Well we're back and we loved it. Could have done with another day. Lots and lots to take in.

We ended up taking the Aerobus from the airport to Plaza Catalunya. This costs €3.60 a head one way. Well worth it. Little scope for error. Plenty of room going from airport to PC. A bit full on the return trip. The journey time is about 20 mins so it was bearable. Only about 2 stops too so you're always moving.

We stayed at the Apsis Atrium Palace about 5 mins walk (with carry-on luggage going, about 10 mins coming back with shopping + carry-on :) ). The hotel is just terrific. Just off Las Ramblas and about 2 mins walk from the nearest Zara. Everything is branded from the sand in the ash trays to the bath robes, slippers and toothbrushes! The room was immaculate and, interestingly, there was an additional demi-en suite in the room (i.e. an additional basin). There's also a safe. TV wasn't a high priority. Just as well. There was only BBC News 24 and CNN in English. There is wifi Internet access throughout but you have to pay. There is also a wired ethernet option. Again you have to pay. It's a bit of a strange set up because, on the first floor, there is a nice quiet room with 2 Compaq Internet café-type PCs free for use. Very helpful even if you do all your homework before you leave. We didn't try the attached eaterie but from Tripadvisor reviews it's grand. There was a steady stream of local people using it which is usually a good sign. We didn't get to try out the pool or the sauna. Too busy shopping and sight-seeing. Read on ...

Ladies, you'll love it. There is at least 1 Zara store on every block. And in between each Zara there's a Cortes Ingles. These are like Clery's. 5 floors of everything you could want. The good thing is that because there are so many Zara/CI they aren't jammers. There are plenty of other shops. Actually, I've never seen so many shoe shops in my life. We also ventured out to La Rocca Village which is one of a chain of premium outlets. They're not very accessible but we were determined to get out to them. It involved a 40 minute train journey and another 10 min taxi ride once we arrived at Granollers. When we were enquiring in Barcelona we approached a tourist office in the Plaza Catalunya train station but his command of English wasn't too great. We had more luck when we made it to Sants station where the ticket agent was very helpful. There was some last minute confusion over where we had to go. One slip and you could end up God knows where. We actually got the Sants by buying a day pass on one of the open top tour buses which passed the station. Bus Turistic. This bus runs different routes throughout the city and one ticket covers all routes. Our plan was to go on the blue line to Sants, get off there, train to La Roca, shopping, back to Sants and continue the bus journey. This worked quite well except it was a bit nippy. A good excuse to jump off the bus again and do some more shopping down by the harbour. We did really want to get on the red line and see the Neu Camp stadium but time was against us. We did however get to see a lot of Gaudi architecture and the bus also went through the Gothic quarter. Some startling architecture there.

Getting a bit tired now so I'll sign off. We flew with Iberia and, for the money, we thought we'd be getting an on-flight meal. Not so. The meals on offer started at around €7 and consisted of panini or a variant thereof. We didn't partake as the flight was only 2hr 20 mins.

On the whole, we'd love to go back some time and spend a bit more time doing the tourist thing. The bus was good value. Especially if you kick-off first thing in the day. They run from 10am and are €17 for one day. €24 for 2.
 
Re: >>Barcelona

Anyone know what the weather would be like in Barcelona in mid-February??
 
Re: >>Barcelona

Check www.gohop.ie or .com. Great site.. gives a load of flight options to most cities in the world and even scowers aerlingus/ryanair and easyjet which are not always the cheapest. Iberia have great prices and fly daily also. Gives hotels options as well while under their city break section they offer a barcelona break with apartments. I went for that option last time and found it was the best as I find the food in Barcelona a bit hit and miss and it is always nice to get up and cook a breakfast if you feel the need.

Barcelona as a city is highly recommended as it is interesting, the people are nice and the nightlife is truly great. Beware though as it is nocturnal living and typically people do not start to eat dinner until 10pm at the earliest and then hit the pubs thereafter. Clubs and such do not open till 4pm onwards. Check out lafianna.com for a different place to go eat/drink and be merry. This is not an Irish pub but rather a moroccan decor, highly entertaining venue run by an Irish guy who simply wanted to do something different and it works a treat.

The shopping in Barcelona is tremendous. The big brands are similarly priced to Dublin however there are loads of shops for men and ladies which offer alternative buying to here and are much more affordable.

Hasta Luego (Until nextime)
 
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