Barcelona tour suggestion

[Timithee]

We will be sailing on the Ruby Princess on Sept. 25 and are flying into Barcelona on the 24th arrving at 8:55 am. We are staying at the Hotel Condes de Barcelona. Has anyone stayed at this hotel and do they offer tours from the hotel? I do not know if the hotel is within walking distance of highlights of Barcelona. Any suggestions for touring Barcelona would be most appreciative. Timithee

[Rustynail]

I would get a single day or two day pass on the hop-on and hop-off bus. There are three different routes the bus takes (all included in the one fare) and it's fabulous because it takes you to or close by almost every single spot you'd want to see.

By far one of the best values we've even done when it comes to touring around a city.

Enjoy Barcelona is AMAZING!

Dan

[sillysailor 1955]

Originally Posted by Rustynail

I would get a single day or two day pass on the hop-on and hop-off bus. There are three different routes the bus takes (all included in the one fare) and it's fabulous because it takes you to or close by almost every single spot you'd want to see.

By far one of the best values we've even done when it comes to touring around a city.

Enjoy Barcelona is AMAZING!

Dan

Please allow me to second the HOHO bus - it really gives you a great overview of Barcelona (which is FABULOUS). If you are staying a day post cruise may I suggest a trip to Montserrat (a really beautiful Monastery built into the side a mountain) - we did this post cruise on the NCL Jade thru them it was really lovely. Have fun on your trip (I'm a little jealous)

[chipmaster]

Originally Posted by Timithee

We will be sailing on the Ruby Princess on Sept. 25 and are flying into Barcelona on the 24th arrving at 8:55 am. We are staying at the Hotel Condes de Barcelona. Has anyone stayed at this hotel and do they offer tours from the hotel? I do not know if the hotel is within walking distance of highlights of Barcelona. Any suggestions for touring Barcelona would be most appreciative. Timithee

The HO HO as others suggested is a great simple way to see all of the city. The only downside is you need to pick one of the two routes and then see the city on their fixed route. You can get on and off at any stop but you do have to take the whole circular route. Its great to see the city but less so in my opinoin to get out and explore closely.

If time is tight I might suggest the following:

See two of Gaudi's most famous places, La Sagrada and Le Pedrera. Cas Mila is another thing to at least drive by if not stop. If you choose to go into either or both figure that will likely be between 1-3 hours. That would leave little time to also include the HoHo circuit. These two attractions are about a 7 Euro taxi ride from Las Ramblas.

Then in the afternoon if Jetlag hasn't gotten you down hit Las Ramblas for a stroll to see the street performancers and stores. The place comes alive during the late afternoon to early evening. Do be careful there as it is a packed place. Do make the effort to walk down to the center of the area where they have a large market area worth a look and to get a bite to eat too!

You can read up on some of Barcelona's big attractions here: http://www.europeportreviews.com/BarcelonaSpain.htm


Enjoy Barcelona

[Queen of the Queen]

Thank you for the link, it was filled with very worthwhile information.
Lorraine

[Budget Queen]

Originally Posted by chipmaster

The HO HO as others suggested is a great simple way to see all of the city. The only downside is you need to pick one of the two routes and then see the city on their fixed route. You can get on and off at any stop but you do have to take the whole circular route. Its great to see the city but less so in my opinoin to get out and explore closely.

If time is tight I might suggest the following:

See two of Gaudi's most famous places, La Sagrada and Le Pedrera. Cas Mila is another thing to at least drive by if not stop. If you choose to go into either or both figure that will likely be between 1-3 hours. That would leave little time to also include the HoHo circuit. These two attractions are about a 7 Euro taxi ride from Las Ramblas.

Then in the afternoon if Jetlag hasn't gotten you down hit Las Ramblas for a stroll to see the street performancers and stores. The place comes alive during the late afternoon to early evening. Do be careful there as it is a packed place. Do make the effort to walk down to the center of the area where they have a large market area worth a look and to get a bite to eat too!

You can read up on some of Barcelona's big attractions here: http://www.europeportreviews.com/BarcelonaSpain.htm


Enjoy Barcelona

I am a first time visitor here, arrriving via cruiseship 6pm overnighting leaving 5pm next day. I don't know the language, and like walking tours etc. Would like a general look at the city highlights- would the HOHO bus, be accessable to me and would this be a good choice with my interests?? Thank you for your time.

[chipmaster]

Originally Posted by Budget Queen

I am a first time visitor here, arrriving via cruiseship 6pm overnighting leaving 5pm next day. I don't know the language, and like walking tours etc. Would like a general look at the city highlights- would the HOHO bus, be accessable to me and would this be a good choice with my interests?? Thank you for your time.

If overall view with a few stops to hike on your own HOHO is a great option.

We only had roughly a day in Barcelona. As such we choose not to do the HoHo and simply took cab rides. At each stop we got out walked around between 20' to hours. There are cabs everywhere for hire. I found them all safe, clean and easy to use. We don't speak Spanish nor found that any of our cabbies spoke English but they all understood enough to these big attractions. We found this much more efficient then the HoHo.

Port to Las Ramblas/Hotel ~ 30 Euros 20' ride
Las Ramblas to La Sagrada ~ 7 Euros and 10' ride
La Sagrada to La Pedrera ~ 7 Euros and 10' ride
La Pedrera to Las Ramblas/Hotel ~ 7 Euros 10' ride
Las Ramblas/Hotel to Airport ~ 35 Euros 30' ride

Not saying HoHo isn't a good option, but study the route and schedule for doing a full round trip. My recollection is that it would have been a whole day affair and included stops at things that weren't on our must do. We really enjoyed the alternative where we got to spending lots of time at Las Ramblas, La Pedrera and La Sagrada versus less time there and spending more time driving by and seeing more, YMMV.

Happy planning.

[PenelopeCorelli]

We're renting bicycles for our first day. It's a tour with a guide that takes you all over Barcelona. Very reasonable and a lot of fun. Then we're going to go back to a couple of the places we like best and see them more thoroughly. Just another option!

[Drink-in-Hand/Toes-in-Sand]

We also had one day in Barcelona and didn't want to be tied to someone else's schedule. We found the cabs to be very expensive. A great option for us was the Barcelona GoCar. I had a list of things I counted as "must sees" and they were all on the tour. It was tons of fun once you got out of the crowded area around La Sagrada Familia--and only a little hairy there because of the congested traffic. It's a GPS-guided tour and you choose where you want to stop and how long to stay. We loved it! And gathered so much attention, I don't think I've ever waved and smiled so much. Strangers took our picture and families that didn't speak any English were trying desperately to ask questions. I'm assuming they wanted to know (1) if we were crazy, and (2) where to get this fun ride!

We saw everything we wanted to see and even had time left over to explore areas that turned out to be more than a pleasant surprise. I'd be sure to make a reservation before I arrived in Barcelona as they didn't appear to have an abundance of the little yellow buggy. Check it out: http://www.gocartours.es/

[janoma]

Good grief! Glad to know there's someone out there who is crazier than I am! That thing scares me to death! [But it does look like fun!]

[Drink-in-Hand/Toes-in-Sand]

It was tons of fun. But an adventuresome spirit is required. My hubby said it was the best cure for jet lag he'd ever seen.

[STLPilot]

In re: tours. Well it's fair to say that in some cities around the globe the hop-on hop-off bus is a waste of time and energy. However in Barcelona it's a must. The city is huge and the price is more than fair. I suggest to anyone to take it.

[STLPilot]

The HO HO as others suggested is a great simple way to see all of the city. The only downside is you need to pick one of the two routes and then see the city on their fixed route. You can get on and off at any stop but you do have to take the whole circular route. Its great to see the city but less so in my opinoin to get out and explore closely.

The HOHO bus has 3 routes in Barce. Green, red and blue and 1 ticket gets them all. If you start stop at Plaza Catalunya then there is only a few blocks of crossover between the red/blue lines. For the green line, hoho at El Centre Dela Villa, off the red or blue (bus map). Also there is hardly anything the bus misses worth seeing. The route it covers is huge. All 3 buses takes about 5-6 hours, (not including hoho's) as we took all 3 routes, only Barce was our last stop on the cruise and we had 3 full days.. There are a ton of busses and you never wait more than a few minutes at any 1 location. The green line is the line to miss if you need more time hopping.

BIG TIP - Plan your hoho's ahead of time. You don't want to take the route a second time to see an attraction you missed. However if that's the case, simply take the subway or bus.

Cabs are a waste of money in Barcelona. That city has one of, if not the best, public transportation system on the planet. Their city planning and urban development team makes NYC look like a bunch of clowns.

[tomko2]

The Go-Car looks very interesting. Do they deliver it to your hotel?
Kathy

[Cruiser_Damo]

Thanks guys i just found this thread even though I posted a similar question earlier somewhere else. I'll definitely try the GoCar when I'm there it looks like so much fun...
I emailed (http://www.gocartours.es/nc/barcelona/contact/) them and asked about getting it to my hotel and they can do it, there is an extra charge of €30 (which seems to be about the same price as a taxi) so I´ll be getting one delivered.