Jump to content

Realistic 2 day itinerary in Barcelona


C-breeze

Recommended Posts

My husband and I (50's) and our adult daughter are arriving in Barcelona early saturday morning in early June, after a long flight. We are staying 2 pre-cruise nights. Our cruise departs early evening on monday. I was just wondering what a 2 day itinerary would look like with as many "must sees" as realistically possible. We do not want to whirlwind through what we can see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really depends on what you are into. You can dedicate a full day of just looking at Gaudi's work - Sagrada de Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Batllo, etc.

 

Suggest getting a good guidebook. I used the DK eyewitness guide, and it really pointed us in the right direction (well, it also helped that we befriended a local who gave us so many suggestions).

 

Here are just some of the must sees, IMHO: La Boqueria, Las Ramblas, Barri Gotic, Montjuic, Santa Maria del Mar, Catedral Basílica de Barcelona (AKA La Seu).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband and I (50's) and our adult daughter are arriving in Barcelona early saturday morning in early June, after a long flight. We are staying 2 pre-cruise nights. Our cruise departs early evening on monday. I was just wondering what a 2 day itinerary would look like with as many "must sees" as realistically possible. We do not want to whirlwind through what we can see.

 

You can see a lot in that amount of time. In fact, that is the exact time that I (the "adult daughter") and my mother (50s) had in April.

 

I would recommend the following:

Day 1 - head to the hotel to drop off your luggage (do not stay for a nap!), then go to La Boqueria to explore and snack, walk down Las Ramblas, wander the Barri Gotic with quick stops in the cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar church (30 minutes each is probably sufficient unless you have a huge interest in old churches) and perhaps tour Palau de la Musica if you have interest

Day 2 - do the Gaudi loop, including Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, and Casa Battlo

Day 3 - head up Montjuic or visit Barceloneta pre-cruise (you should have until 2 or 3pm to tour if you are interested)

 

If you have time, I also recommend the Picasso Museum and City History Museum, but that will depend on how much time you like for shopping, dining, and just wandering.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One way to get an overview of the city is the tourist “Hop on-Hop off” bus. Details for this can be found at

http://www.tmb.net/en_US/turistes/busturistic/busturistic.jsp

Two good websites about Barcelona are

www.aboutbarcelona.com

and

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com

 

In the evening you you go and see the Magic Fountains. This is a light, water and music show near Plaza de Espana. I think the first show is about 9pm.

Also, Sunday around noon, if you are in the area, go to the square outside the Cathedral where you can see people dancing the Sardana - a typical Catalan dance.

Of course, also during the evening, there are many Flamenco shows. Some with dinner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband and I (50's) and our adult daughter are arriving in Barcelona early saturday morning in early June, after a long flight. We are staying 2 pre-cruise nights. Our cruise departs early evening on monday. I was just wondering what a 2 day itinerary would look like with as many "must sees" as realistically possible. We do not want to whirlwind through what we can see.

 

C-breeze: We are arriving early Friday morning, 9/11, for our 9/13 cruise. We'll either check-in or drop bags at Hotel Jazz, and head out to sightsee. Have already purchased 2-day HO-HO tickets online. We figure we can use that to eyeball most everything, and hop off at the points we are really interested in spending time at(Cathedral/Gothic Qtr, Picasso, Sagrada, etc.). Boqueria is relatively easy walk from hotel, so we are planning on doing that Sat. morning, grab some breakfast, and then stroll up to Placa Catalunya to hop bus fro the "Gaudi" leg of our touring. Have a great time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all for the "must sees" to do in 2 days. It is hard to try and coordinate all the sights you want to see when you don't know how long lines, traffic, etc will take. Do you think the lines will be long in early June?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all for the "must sees" to do in 2 days. It is hard to try and coordinate all the sights you want to see when you don't know how long lines, traffic, etc will take. Do you think the lines will be long in early June?

 

Yes, the lines will probably be long. They were very long when we went a few months ago in "shoulder" season and you will be going at an even more popular time of year.

 

Some attractions (Sagrada Familia, for example) offer pre-purchase of tickets online. I would recommend buying tickets ahead of time for as many attractions as you KNOW you want to go to (and have time for) so you can avoid the lines.

 

Another tip is to get to the busiest attractions as soon as they open. Tourists are not always early risers so museums, etc. tend to be less busy at 9am than noon. Less crowds and less lines if you can force yourself to wake up early!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bqkali thanks for the tip to buy tickets in advance online. Do you know if any of the Guadi

sights have online tickets?

 

I'm not sure offhand. Check the websites - all attractions have English versions (a lot of websites will have a UK flag in one of the top corners to click on and switch to English) and it would be easy to find out if you can purchase tickets ahead of time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...