How many days to spend in Barcelona

Our cruise finishes on May 1 in Barcelona. I'm trying to figure out how many days to spend there so I can book our flights. This will be our first trip to Spain.

Probably won't do more than 4 nights.

What sights should we see?

I suggest you visit trip advisor and research what you are interested in doing. That should help you make a decision.

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You should do more research on your own to identify what sort of spots/activities you'd like to see/do.

Keep in mind though, that there's life beyond the city limits... Barcelona is the capital city of an old small European nation called Catalonia. This small territory is full of historical sites, picturesque little towns, great cities, beaches, monuments, breathtaking scenic views, sacred places, high peaks and mountain ranges, ski resorts, old ruins, diverse and unique flora and fauna, beautiful natural parks, one of the world's best gastronomy, wonderful and warm people, and plenty of sun... what else can you ask for?

Start your research by having a look here: http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/ | http://www.infocatalonia.eu | http://www.timeout.com/barcelona | http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en | http://www.catalunya.com/?language=en

We are going in April and we are staying 6 nights. In doing my research, I think we will be able to fill our days fairly well.

Research your airline choices and that might help you decide also. Certain days might be cheaper, etc. Some airlines only fly certain days out of Barcelona also.

4-6 days is enough to tour Barcelona and some of Cava country. We did this several years ago and LOVED it. Have fun.

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You should do more research on your own to identify what sort of spots/activities you'd like to see/do.

 

Keep in mind though, that there's life beyond the city limits... Barcelona is the capital city of an old small European nation called Catalonia. This small territory is full of historical sites, picturesque little towns, great cities, beaches, monuments, breathtaking scenic views, sacred places, high peaks and mountain ranges, ski resorts, old ruins, diverse and unique flora and fauna, beautiful natural parks, one of the world's best gastronomy, wonderful and warm people, and plenty of sun... what else can you ask for?

 

Start your research by having a look here: http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/ | http://www.infocatalonia.eu | http://www.timeout.com/barcelona | http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en | http://www.catalunya.com/?language=en

Actually it's a wonderfull city, but we should be correct with facts as not to confuse our international guests. For the moment Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, which is still part of Spain.

We shouldn't confuse our wishes with facts.

Thanks for your input Keltic, but...

I believe the above text does not cause any confusion: Catalonia IS an old small nation in Europe, existing since the 9th century -so far so good- that indeed happens to be part of Spain at present. Fact #2 does not invalidate fact #1. So it happens that fact #2 is irrelevant to my comment above -so I believe it is too for the question asked by the OP, which refers specifically to the area of Barcelona- hence the reason isn't mentioned. :D

... I believe the above text does not cause any confusion: Catalonia IS an old small nation in Europe, existing since the 9th century -so far so good- that indeed happens to be part of Spain at present. Fact #2 does not invalidate fact #1. :D

Good to clarify the point in a partial and arguable way. But as this is just a cruising web whose users aren't concerned about internal Spanish political wrangling, I am gratefull to you to have added the remark of the actual status of Catalonia.

Just to give a clearer perspective to all foreigners :-)

About the question I would suggest just a couple of days in Barcelona and leaving the city. My suggestion is heading south and visiting my favourite village. Altafulla. And perhaps the old ancient roman & medieval city of Tarragona.

I think a minimum of three full days in Barcelona is good.

Take a city tour, we used Barcelona Day Tours.

One day go on your own to Monserrat.

Lest day fill in with visits to key places not on the city tour. Make sure you go inside Sagrada Familia. Also, there is a nice museum near the Cathedral in old city with Roman ruins. If you like Picasso, there is a museum there.

Enjoy tapas an any number of great restaurants.

For dinner we loved ATM, which is close to an open air park with Roman ruins.

Our cruise finishes on May 1 in Barcelona. I'm trying to figure out how many days to spend there so I can book our flights. This will be our first trip to Spain. Probably won't do more than 4 nights. What sights should we see?

As other smart posters on these Cruise Critic websites have shared, there is lots to see and do in and around wonderful and charming Barcelona. Much depends on your personal interests and travel desires. How much have done in and around Europe? How much are you seeking for history, food, culture, nature, art, wine, architecture, beaches, etc.? Tell us more!!

We have been to Barcelona twice. First for about two days. The second time was one day before doing our and another day at the end of our cruise. You can do and see lots in two, three or four days. Below are just a few of my suggestions to consider with my photo highlights below. Plus, more on the live/blog can be seen on that long posting.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Did a June 7-19, 2011, cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. We are now at 218,038 views for this live/blog re-cap, including much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

For Barcelona, one of the most famous sites is its main and historic Cathedral that is over 700-years old and right around the corner from our Hotel Regincia Colon. It is also near where you catch the hop-on buses circling the town.:

Barcelona has many apartment building with interesting architectural details. Here the iron railings are wonderfully designed with a local lady taking a look as we passed below on the top level of our hop-on bus as we traveled all over this historic and interesting city with great character, charm and innovative design.:

This is a closer look at the top of one of Gaudi’s most famous buildings along one of Barcelona’s major boulevards.:

Our first night in Barcelona, included wonderful tapas and a spectacular paella in a small dining place near our hotel. It is named Neyras in the neighborhood of Sant Pere Santa Caterina i la Ribera with an address of Laietana, 41. Here is the lady preparing some of the food.:

Gaudi’s new Cathedral is still under construction, making progress toward a potential 2026 completion. The Pope was here in the fall of 2010 for a dedication. This design is “unique”, innovative and in some ways strange. Here is one small sampling what is being done, so far.:

Before boarding our ship, we visited Barcelona’s famed Mercat La Boqueria and had breakfast here. WOW!!! It is easy to see why this popular Boqueria Market is not to be missed. It has a wide range of fresh meats, cheeses, produce and delicious food options to enjoy. Here is one of the beautifully stock fruit stands and a busy breakfast stand in the market.:

Our cruise finishes on May 1 in Barcelona. I'm trying to figure out how many days to spend there so I can book our flights. This will be our first trip to Spain.

 

Probably won't do more than 4 nights.

 

What sights should we see?

We did 2 nights before cruise last month , it was our 1st visit, had a great time , food and drink were cheap compared to USA. I would do Barcelona day tour early they will show you all the major sights, then you can go back and spend more time in the places that most interest you. 2 nights were not enough

I will be doing research on Trip Advisor and in some guide books on what to see too, but I'd like to get our flights booked so some idea on how long and what to see helps.

We have traveled in Europe a fair amount - about 4 trips together. I've also had a lot of business trips with a day here or there, sometimes a weekend between meetings to see sights.

This will be our first trip to Spain and Portugal.

It will be April and we aren't really beach people anyway, so I'm not planning on any beach time or snorkeling. More interested in architecture, culture and how people live there than art. Some history would be good too - I feel that I know much more about English, French and German history than about Spain. Good food and wine are always welcome.

We like nature walks too, but probably for a first visit would concentrate more on city and town sights than country.

Did you know that Barcelona is one of the best place for a chocolate tour?. Some tips

Chefs chocolatiers like Rovira, Butrón, Balaguer etc.

Chocolate shops. Most of the traditional ones.

-Escribá at Ramblas 83. Old fashioned place full of character.

- Petritxol Street for the great Chocolates Petritxol.

-At Drac de Sant Jordi (San Josep Oriol) try La Palleresa. Cakes are awesome.

-La Colmena at Plaza del Ángel 12. From 1849. Truffles are sinfull.

- Brunell´s en Princesa 22, try the Craquers. Turrones (nougats are great).

-Chocolate Museum at Plaza del Comercio 36. The ticket is a chocolate bar.

-my favourite is Bubó at Santa Maria del Mar Church. Try the Xabina. Mamilaka, Milhojas de chocolate, or the Cruixent de Avellanas.

Actually it's a wonderfull city, but we should be correct with facts as not to confuse our international guests. For the moment Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, which is still part of Spain.

 

We shouldn't confuse our wishes with facts.

Thanks for your input Keltic, but...

 

I believe the above text does not cause any confusion: Catalonia IS an old small nation in Europe, existing since the 9th century -so far so good- that indeed happens to be part of Spain at present. Fact #2 does not invalidate fact #1. So it happens that fact #2 is irrelevant to my comment above -so I believe it is too for the question asked by the OP, which refers specifically to the area of Barcelona- hence the reason isn't mentioned. :D

I hate to say this, but far too many of my fellow Americans are so ignorant about world geography and history that I suspect some people would read the comments about Barcelona being the capital of a small nation called Catalonia and not realize that Barcelona is actually a part of Spain (at least now). So the clarification is helpful. :)

I will never forget standing in the Towers of Notre Dame, marveling at the beauty of Paris spread out below us, and hearing a loud American voice exclaim "I wonder what river that is down there?"

...

 

Gaudi’s new Cathedral is still under construction, making progress toward a potential 2026 completion.

Terry, great photos and suggestions as always. One thing, though, that we learned in Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia is not a Cathedral. A Cathedral is the seat of the bishop, and there's only one Cathedral in a diocese. In Barcelona, it's the Barcelona Cathedral, the church in your first photo. La Sagrada Familia, as great a church as it is, is not a Cathedral, it's a Basilica.

I will never forget standing in the Towers of Notre Dame, marveling at the beauty of Paris spread out below us, and hearing a loud American voice exclaim "I wonder what river that is down there?"

...you should have replied: "The Mississippi, man, the Mississippi", LOL!!!!

Gaudi’s new Cathedral is still under construction, making progress toward a potential 2026 completion.

Indeed Turtles06, indeed. I'm not religious at all, but as far as I know, in the "Christian world", there can only be at the most one cathedral in each city. I'm told that the only exception so far is in Philadelphia where there are two, but this is because one is Catholic and the other is Protestant. Somebody confirm/correct me on this one, please.

Barcelona has several religious buildings that are sometimes referred to as "cathedrals" by both visitors and many locals alike, namely The Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia (a.k.a. simply as "The Cathedral"), the Basílica of Sagrada Família and the Basílica of Santa María del Mar (nicknamed the Cathedral of the Sea or also the Cathedral of La Ribera); but as you point out, only the first one is a cathedral. I think that too often people mistakenly associate the word cathedral to any impressive or large church/basílica.

Santa Maria del Mar (-Saint Mary of the Sea-) is, to me, one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the city, mostly for its simplicity and austerity. It's located in the neighbourhood of La Ribera (-the Seashore-), by the famous El Born boulevard, and represents probably one of the best examples of Catalan Gothic medieval constructions with a purity and unity of style that is very unusual in large medieval buildings. It was built between 1329 and 1383, at the height of Catalonia's maritime and mercantile preeminence in the Mediterranean, as said in the neighbourhood of La Ribera which was one of the most dynamic areas of the city. The need to replace the old small chapel dating from the 4th century BC that was located there arose and the wealthy merchants of the area proposed the construction of the new church, the one we know today. The stones needed were brought from the quarries of the near mountain of Montjuïc by sea and unloaded by workers and fishermen of the neighbourhood to which tokens of homage can be seen across the whole basilica.

A few years ago, a famous fiction novel was written about the story of the construction of this basilica and became a bestseller across Europe. Its name was "The Cathedral of the Sea", by Alfonso Falcones. I believe that this title -which was a tribute to the magnificence of the building- helped into this confusion and I'm pretty sure a lot of people refer to this basilica as a 'cathedral' because of that. To those interested in medieval fiction stories, the book is available in many languages, including in English, in Amazon. It also can be bought, also in English, directly in several bookshops in Barcelona (ie. the one inside El Born Centre Cultural -which btw I also strongly advise to visit, located barely 100 yards from the basilica). The novel is being turned into a movie and those strolling these days both La Ribera as well as El Gotic can easily bump into the production sets spread in different locations -yet no Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt I'm afraid :)

An anecdote for those visiting: Barcelona hasn't had any serious earthquake for many centuries -this area isn't located in a hot zone so to speak- but there have been a few during the long 2000 years of history of the city. A series of them happened during 1427-1428 and affected the whole region of Catalonia. It's estimated that in a modern Richter scale, the biggest was an 8 or 9 and that in Barcelona, its capital city, it was a 6 or 7. The latter happened during Candlemas, thus it's also known in Catalan as the Terratremol de la Candelera. Among the damages, part of the enormous front rose window of Santa Maria del Mar that fell on top of parishioners attending mass that day and killed a number of them. This was later reconstructed in 1459. When visiting, one can see remains of that incident if looking at the lowerleft part of the rose window on top of the main entrance.

More info about Santa Maria del Mar:

http://www.santamariadelmarbarcelona.org/home/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Mar,_Barcelona

I hate to say this, but far too many of my fellow Americans are so ignorant about world geography and history that I suspect some people would read the comments about Barcelona being the capital of a small nation called Catalonia and not realize that Barcelona is actually a part of Spain (at least now). So the clarification is helpful. :)

 

I will never forget standing in the Towers of Notre Dame, marveling at the beauty of Paris spread out below us, and hearing a loud American voice exclaim "I wonder what river that is down there?"

I am 68 and remember taking geography in the 5th and 6th grade. In the 5th grade all the students in my class learned all the states and their capitals and could pick out each state on a map with not state markings on it.

I the 6th grade we had world geography and we learned all the countries in the world. While there were fewer countries during the 50s (due to colonial powers controlling most of Africa), we did know all the countries in the world.

I mentor a 5th grader at a local school. While the school is what I consider excellent, his knowledge of geography is limited. I don't think the subject is taught much anymore.

I hate to say this, but far too many of my fellow Americans are so ignorant about world geography and history that I suspect some people would read the comments about Barcelona being the capital of a small nation called Catalonia and not realize that Barcelona is actually a part of Spain (at least now). So the clarification is helpful. :)

 

 

 

I will never forget standing in the Towers of Notre Dame, marveling at the beauty of Paris spread out below us, and hearing a loud American voice exclaim "I wonder what river that is down there?"

I was actually going to disagree with your post,and say Americans are not that ignorant. Then,I though about our Presidential Election and I stopped...lol

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Terry, great photos and suggestions as always. One thing, though, that we learned in Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia is not a Cathedral. A Cathedral is the seat of the bishop, and there's only one Cathedral in a diocese. In Barcelona, it's the Barcelona Cathedral, the church in your first photo. La Sagrada Familia, as great a church as it is, is not a Cathedral, it's a Basilica.

Appreciate this nice and helpful follow-up from Turtles06. Excellent point/question on the differences between a Cathedral versus a Basilica. Not being a Roman Catholic, nor a religious expert, I view both words to reflect churches of very, very high importance. I kind of thought that a Basilica was at a higher level. St. Peters in Rome/Vatican City is always called a Basilica. Does it get any higher than being the home of the Pope? But Rome has St. John Lateran or the Lateran Basilica that is considered as the cathedral church of Rome. That church houses the cathedra, or ecclesiastical seat, of the Roman Pontiff/Pope. St. John Lateran is the oldest of and has the priority among the four papal major basilicas. Some Roman Catholic basilicas are also used as Catholic pilgrimage sites.

But I have fine-tuned my photo description on that Barcelona location as to be a Basilica. Point well taken for that famed Barcelona church under construction versus the 700+-year-old church that is more historic and is home as the seat of the Catholic church there. Glad to learn something important today and improve my religious history with your help.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 159,192 views for this posting.

To help a bit with the cathedral/basilica discussion (a bit off topic to Barcelona sites to visit!): As others have mentioned a Cathedral is the seat of the bishop or archbishop who oversees a diocese or archdiocese. To get quite particular a Cathedral is where the bishop's Cathedra (or "throne") is located.

The Pope, in addition to being Pope, is the Bishop of Rome. However St. Peter's Basilica is not the seat of the Diocese of Rome, thus it is not a cathedral. The Cathedral of Rome is the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. To add even more confusion a cathedral can (not must) also be a basilica. Examples - Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis (MO), Cathedral Basilica of Philadelphia, Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine. A basilica is a church of religious or historical importance and is designated as such by the Pope.

Thanks for the added info... Knowledge does not take place! :)

...you should have replied: "The Mississippi, man, the Mississippi", LOL!!!!

I am late to this thread, but that's a good one!! :)