When would you arrive or do in Barcelona from east coast USA

[Harratine]

Have a trip this July 3rd on Epic departing from Barcelona (180 days away!).
 

Leaving from IAD and wanted to see if anyone head any feedback on typical arrival time as we are seriously considering arriving day or two earlier to beat the jet lag.  Can anyone provide feedback? Previous trips to Europe (via Paris and Belgium) arrived in the AM and wasn’t sure what Spain would be (guessing same, but no real data on my part). 
 

Also what would one do if you had a day in Barcelona?

[ECCruise]

9 minutes ago, Harratine said:

Have a trip this July 3rd on Epic departing from Barcelona (180 days away!).
 

Leaving from IAD and wanted to see if anyone head any feedback on typical arrival time as we are seriously considering arriving day or two earlier to beat the jet lag.  Can anyone provide feedback? Previous trips to Europe (via Paris and Belgium) arrived in the AM and wasn’t sure what Spain would be (guessing same, but no real data on my part). 
 

Also what would one do if you had a day in Barcelona?

Almost certainly you will arrive in the morning.

 

We've been to Barcelona at least 2 dozen times (including twice in the last 60 days) and never lack for things to do.  It really depends on your interests.  Architecture?  Food?  Museums?  Nature?  Plenty to do for a day (or a week, honestly).

[ColeThornton]

17 minutes ago, Harratine said:

Also what would one do if you had a day in Barcelona?

 

 

Check out the Spain port of call forum.  Lots of great info on things to do and see.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/465-spain-ports/

[CarolinaMamma]

I’d spend a couple of days there and definitely  visit the Sagrada Familia. It’s amazing! When we did a cruise out of Barcelona we stayed in a hotel on the Ramblas and used the Rick Steves European cruise ports book as a guide. He had a simple self-guided chocolate tour and we also hit the market, had some tapas and the really, really good ham. Super easy cab ride from the Ramblas to the ship. His book may have good advice for your other ports as well. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by CarolinaMamma

[GeezerCouple]

34 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

Almost certainly you will arrive in the morning.

 

We've been to Barcelona at least 2 dozen times (including twice in the last 60 days) and never lack for things to do.  It really depends on your interests.  Architecture?  Food?  Museums?  Nature?  Plenty to do for a day (or a week, honestly).

This is what we were going to do about 3-4 years ago.  We had great plans for several days pre-cruise in Barcelona, and then planned to spend 2 weeks in Italy.

That cruise (on Oceania) had a really special itinerary, nothing we had seen/noticed before and not since.

 

We love seeing museums and other local special places.

 

Alas, MIL got critically ill a few days before our planned flight to Barcelona.
We always get travel insurance, and that was one of our two largest claims.  (At least she did recover, and made it until late 2020, when she passed about 5 weeks before her 100th!)

 

GC

[BennyBrun]

You should typically arrive in the morning if you are flying US carriers.  Highly recommend arriving a day before and resist the urge to sleep when you get there.  We were running on adrenaline in September for our EPIC cruise but we marched on.  We took the rail line and went to the market and walked around Ramblas it was so much fun that we forgot we were tired.  We stayed at a hotel on the rail line close to the cruise port but not near Ramblas because of price.  The Hilton Diagnoal was a 1/3 of the price for some of the hotels near Ramblas and was an excellent choice.  It was newer, nicer and the staff were very gracious.  It’s also across the street from the mall so lots of local food options as well.

[Sailing12Away]

We're booked on a trip this coming May leaving out of Barcelona. When we were there the first time as a stop on our Mediterranean cruise we were there on a Sunday - so didn't get a good feel for the city itself. This cruise we're flying in a day early and have a paella cooking class booked for that night, and plan on wandering to see the sights the day we arrive and the morning before we head to the ship.

 

If you've never been, definitely come in a day early. Even if you have - for international flights it's always risky to attempt to come in the day of. Too many things that can go wrong and you miss your trip.

[marazul]

If at all possible fly in two days earlier, so as to spend two nights in Barcelona.  That gives you an almost full, jet-lagged day after arriving in the morning, and full day the next day. 

You should also plan some sightseeing the morning of embarkation.  The hotel will give you a late checkout or hold your bags, and the pier is a short taxi ride away.

[Harratine]

On 1/4/2022 at 7:54 PM, ECCruise said:

Almost certainly you will arrive in the morning.

 

We've been to Barcelona at least 2 dozen times (including twice in the last 60 days) and never lack for things to do.  It really depends on your interests.  Architecture?  Food?  Museums?  Nature?  Plenty to do for a day (or a week, honestly).

Architecture and museums would be cool,,, and food is always a thing. Gotta eat right.

[Harratine]

Thank you everyone’s comments.  Your input was very helpful.

[mskaufman]

The best we ever did was to arrive in Barcelona mid morning on a non-stop from the U.S.  The worst trip was from Toronto that was several hours late arriving mid afternoon to find that there was an impromptu work action by baggage handlers and we waited two hours for luggage.  We were there a couple of days before the cruise (we love Barcelona) but people flying for a cruise that day were really stressing.

[BklynBorn47]

Personal Experience of our 3 generation family (11 people ages 17 – 74) traveling on our own

From my website

http://www.brigs.us/2019-June-Europe/index.htm

Smart to arrive early and not just for the sites.  Our flight was cancelled and we lost an entire day and our luggage ended up in Madrid not Barcelona.  Took 4 days for them to deliver it and only because the manager of the apt we rented called the Madrid airport and found it.

Our transatlantic NYC to Rome in May has a stop in Barcelona so we booked an excursion to Monserrat, the only site our flight in 2019 caused us to miss. 

[Harratine]

4 hours ago, BklynBorn47 said:

Personal Experience of our 3 generation family (11 people ages 17 – 74) traveling on our own

From my website

http://www.brigs.us/2019-June-Europe/index.htm

Smart to arrive early and not just for the sites.  Our flight was cancelled and we lost an entire day and our luggage ended up in Madrid not Barcelona.  Took 4 days for them to deliver it and only because the manager of the apt we rented called the Madrid airport and found it.

Our transatlantic NYC to Rome in May has a stop in Barcelona so we booked an excursion to Monserrat, the only site our flight in 2019 caused us to miss. 

Sorry to hear you had bag issues

[erby2283]

We flew from Charlotte (via Toronto) and arrived around 7am local time.  Our hotel let us drop our bags in lockers they had and we set out to just walk around. We also had a hotel on Las Ramblas (Hotel Arc La Rambla - had their 509 duplex room which was two floors and a HUGE balcony and cost under $400 USD for 3 nights).  We walked around and got some food and then went back and checked in.  Then headed back out and took a harbor boat tour and then walked around some more, got some dinner, and then crashed for about 14 hours.  Like everyone says, fight the urge to sleep and stay up that whole first day.

 

The next day we had a city tour / Monserrat tour with Barcelona Day Tours.  WELL worth the money and had a wonderful time. The architecture (and I'm not even into architecture) is just stunning in that city.

 

The 3 day was our boarding day, but I went ahead and got us early morning tickets to Sagrada Familia. Simple enough to take the trains to get there. Sagrada Familia is literally one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  It's so hard to take it all in. Make sure you buy your tickets well in advance as they do sell out. Plenty of tips on these boards if you just search. 🙂 

 

Have a wonderful time.  Even though I went on my first Mediterranean cruise back in 2019, I literally just ordered 800 prints yesterday online so I could make a photo album.  Make me want to go back so badly but I really need to save up for another couple of years. So jealous......

[mskaufman]

We also flew through Toronto.  Probably not something we would not do again.  Always like to arrive in Europe in the morning. It lets us get the whole day in.

[caripoo]

Your choice really.......Depending on your flights from the US...as early as 6am, all the way till about noon or so......