Tourist concentration in Barcelona in November. EnricM?

Not too worried about the weather in November. With highs in the 60's an lows in the upper 40's... it sounds like heaven to me. I am hoping though, that the huge numbers of tourists like me will have dissipated somewhat. Can anyone comment? Do Barcelonians get their city back from November to March?

No, sadly we don't... not one moment of peace, sigh! LOL!

Barcelona receives tourism all year round, more during the Summer months, but also at other times during the year. The city hosts around 16 million visitors every year (counting only those staying at least one night in a hotel/tourist apartment, not including cruise-goers or those staying elsewhere), for a resident population of 1.6 million (4.8 million if counting the whole metro area)

For starters, there are the regular "vacationers" which visit from Jun to Sep but also in Dec. Then the "city breakers", coming from all over Europe, in low-cost flights, for short escapades across the year, mainly on long weekends. Then the "seniors", same than vacationers but focused on what it used to be the low season months, that's Mar, May, and Sep-Oct. Then the business travelers, since Barcelona has conferences and congresses every month, there are always large groups attending (ie. just last week: 30,000 cardiologists!) which, in their spare time, do touristy stuff of course. Then the event-goers, be Formula 1 or a football/basketball/etc match or any other sports event (ie. a race, a marathon, cycling, etc), also the partygoers (concerts, music tours, proms, etc...). Then, during all summer we have a zillion music festivals across the whole of Catalonia for all genres, from classical to rock to ethnic to pop. Then the heritage festivals, from La Mercè in Barcelona to Temps de Flors in Girona, Havaneres in Calella de Palafrugell or TarracoViva in Tarragona, just to name the most popular. Then the weekend escapades -mainly groups of women from elsewhere in Europe I must say!- for the sales periods, much like city breakers above mentioned but focused only on hunting fashion bargains. Then school breaks, like in Feb/Mar and Easter, when schools from elsewhere -mainly France and Italy- visit us with their pupils (we do the opposite, our schools tend mostly to choose Italy, Greece, Ireland, and France). Then Christmas, this is one of the safe havens in Europe and it's normally warm enough outside not to freeze the balls off a brass monkey... and our colleagues in Europe know that!. Then...

... and, of course, the hordes of cruise-goers that suddenly appear unannounced over the horizon and swarm the city in great numbers in a frenzied race to visit lots of things in a few hours -oopsy! look where I am writing this! I hope nobody jumps to my throat, hahaha!

Ah, of course, and us ourselves too!... my fellow countrymen from all over Catalonia also visit Barcelona to spend the day, so we also get lots of internal tourism.

Can you imagine the nightmare for us regular residents to go about our lives?

Yet, everyone is welcome, we're welcoming people -for the most part :)

For many years "seasons" (high, low) have ceased to exist and now it's measured by weeks instead. Thus, when planning it's important to check "what's going on" that particular week. Albeit not one single event ever collapses the city -despite not being as large as other major cities out there, it's still far too big for that- sometimes several major events happening at the same time can, for example, cause hotel prices to skyrocket --ie. during the last week of February, when several major events coincide, being the World Mobile Congress one of them and which brings 140,000 professionals to the city on a short span of time; or during La Mercè, in the last week of September, when over 1,5 million visit Barcelona for this festival-- or cause difficulties in the availability of certain attractions/restaurants at precise moments.

All of the above means there are places you need to pre-book always, also because they work on time-based schemes, such as Sagrada Família, Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Palau de la Música Catalana... In some, this is not to say that, outside the busiest weeks in the year, if you were to risk purchasing onsite the same day you couldn't find a ticket, but it's not guaranteed.

So, where do I know what's going on?... .ah! the million dollar question... unfortunately there are far too many actors and variables, so there's no single place. For those adamant about having a full picture, you can look across these webs to get a better picture -albeit not complete- of what's happening in Barcelona on any given week:

>The City Hall website http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en -very dense, lots of info, you need to delve into it

>The unofficial "bible" to go out for many Barcelonans https://www.timeout.com/barcelona you'll find here festivals and heritage events

>To forecast the hordes of cruise-goers, lol!... http://www.portdebarcelona.cat/en/web/port-del-ciudada/consulta-cruceros

>One of the trade show calendars -probably the one containing most of the big events- http://www.firabarcelona.com/en/calendar

>The calendar of the football matches for FC Barcelona https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/schedule --there are other teams in the city, but this is the team which draws more fans by a long shot

>A guide for the main sports events happening in the city for the current calendar year http://bcnsports.barcelonaturisme.com/EN/

Have fun.

PS No, it's not easy to plan the best time when to visit Barcelona, I know... I live here... and, incredibly, despite so this is not a resort, but a functioning city with 1.6 million residents!

Wow Enric. Thank you so much for the detailed reply! We will be in Barcelona twice next year (not having visited the city before next year). May will be our first visit, for just two days. I had planned on spending the first day in a general wander, and HOHO bus just to get a feel for the city - just see where the day takes us. We also have tickets already to a concert at Palau de Musica and will book a tour of the concert hall also when they allow it. The other day I plan on taking the train to Girona for the day.

I was thinking that in November we would have a couple more days at the end of a cruise to do a little more concentrated/ targeted sight-seeing.in the city itself. I will check out the links you gave, and get a feel for what else is going on in BCN at that time before I make firm plans.

Very grateful for your thoughts and your help!

P.S. I do realize that Barcelona is not just a tourist destination, but a real, functioning and important city. I just didn't realize that it was a year-round tourist destination.

EnricM, I am Kate's DH, and I have to say that your reply is possibly the best that I have ever seen in response to a thread. A must-read for anyone traveling to your fair city. Thanks so much and we are so excited to be able to explore just a small bit of all that Barcelona has to offer.

EnricM, I am Kate's DH, and I have to say that your reply is possibly the best that I have ever seen in response to a thread. A must-read for anyone traveling to your fair city. Thanks so much and we are so excited to be able to explore just a small bit of all that Barcelona has to offer.

I thought the same thing. It would be great if the mods could keep it as a sticky at the top of this forum. Whilst I realise the forum is about Spain, the vast majority of posts are about Barcelona

... well, that *might* change soon enough, LOL!

To EnricM What a great post. Thank you for the time you took to give such great information.

I was thinking of trying to book a private guide to see Sagrada Familia in November. I didn't see it last time I was in Barcelona and would prefer a live guide instead of headphones and do it yourself.

Do you have any suggestions?

I am the type of getting a bit of background before visiting something and then DIY. That gives you the flexibility to stop where you want to stop and to spend time with what you're really interested. However, a guide always brings something extra to the table, bits and pieces you'd probably wouldn't get to know otherwise... if you happen to get a good guide, of course. I've seen my share of robotic-like individuals that were frankly worthless.

HOWEVER, Sagrada Familia offers some very good audio guides, so you can get the best of both worlds: a sort of personal guide while DIYing. My view, anyway.

I am the type of getting a bit of background before visiting something and then DIY. That gives you the flexibility to stop where you want to stop and to spend time with what you're really interested. However, a guide always brings something extra to the table, bits and pieces you'd probably wouldn't get to know otherwise... if you happen to get a good guide, of course. I've seen my share of robotic-like individuals that were frankly worthless.

 

HOWEVER, Sagrada Familia offers some very good audio guides, so you can get the best of both worlds: a sort of personal guide while DIYing. My view, anyway.

Thank you. I was just reading your answer to someone else asking about a private tour. Again you gave some great info. Just looking at the Modernist route

EnricM Am I missing something? If I go to the buy tickets online, there is nothing in November - 16th in particular.

Kate, Hanoverian, Bobal, Cruisingxpert... thanks for your lines. I just wanted to open up some minds regarding this destination, as not everybody seems to be fully aware of the size nor type of city this is.

@cruisingxpert, most sites that work on a time-based entry function in a similar fashion than, say airlines... in order to better manage the sheer amounts of people that use/visit them, they only open up two-three months in advance -depending on the place. Thus, it might well be that S.F. is on a two-month-in-advance-format. Try again in a couple of weeks...

@cruisingxpert, most sites that work on a time-based entry function in a similar fashion than, say airlines... in order to better manage the sheer amounts of people that use/visit them, they only open up two-three months in advance -depending on the place. Thus, it might well be that S.F. is on a two-month-in-advance-format. Try again in a couple of weeks...

Thank you. Really appreciate your input. Spent 3 days in Barcelona last October and just love the city.

... for those just joining the conversation: in post #13 I obviously meant that they open the calendar just for the next two or three months for pre-booking online in advance. :)

I would like to add that's important to understand that for some sites is very advisable to pre-book in advance because, albeit in weeks with fewer visitors in the city queues can be manageable, or even inexistent at certain moments, this is not a guarantee... I've seen queues on and off all year round. Therefore it's advisable to pre-book so as not to waste any time queuing, should there be one when you get there.

Some of the sites that you should pre-book online in advance are Sagrada Família, Park Güell, Palau de la Música Catalana, Casa Batlló and Casa Milà (aka La Pedrera) among other. Also Museu Dalí in Figueres and some of its satellites (ie. the castle in Pubol, etc).

EricM --- we've been to Barcelona many, many times and saw that you mentioned visiting City Hall. But it looks like it is only open on Sundays - is that the case????

Enjoyed reading all your posts/responses - thanks

Marianne

Yep, it's partially open Sunday morning, if I'm not mistaken from 10 to 1pm. Free entrance. http://guia.barcelona.cat/en/detall/visites-a-l-ajuntament-de-barcelona_96208101011.html The visit can be DIYed but there are also guided tours (in English as well), if you can, join it, your visit will be far richer.

Sharing an anecdote... a couple of years ago a Canadian acquaintance of mine visited the city and I proposed a visit to the City Hall on a Sunday. She did love it, yet afterward, she shared a confidence with me that made us laugh our asses off. She said that when I initially suggested visiting the City Hall she thought: "what the heck are we going to do to an office building? what's special about that?". It was later she realized in some of our cities here in Europe, the "administrative" part of the city halls is indeed often in modern buildings but the heart of our city halls is located in historical buildings, often the location that has been used for centuries.

This is the case in Barcelona, our city hall has two buildings, one close to the other, in one (an ugly 10 storey office building) all the services and departments are located, however, the offices of the Mayor, the Assembly, and other main halls and important offices are located in the old building, which has hosted the government of the city uninterruptedly since the 13th century -albeit the current façade is new, from 1847. This is the hall of Saló de Cent (Hall of the 100), which constituted one of the first parliaments in Europe, dating from 1238 AD: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Salo_de_Cent.jpg -it's one of the halls that can be visited. The walls are decorated with the colours of the flag of our little nation, Catalonia: https://www.barcelonaesturismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/catalan1.jpg

Enjoy!

EnricM Am I missing something? If I go to the buy tickets online, there is nothing in November - 16th in particular.

Tickets become available 2 months in advance. You should be OK to book next week