Barcelona hotel question

[Uncleromulus]

We're staying at the Rennisaince in Barcelona the day before the cruise. Flight arrives at 7:45 AM and even after we get to the hotel that leaves a large part of the day before we can even check in. Anyone know of a reputable firm that might offer a 3-4 hour tour of the City?? OR if the hotel concierge might know of something once we arrive??

And--do these hotels require a special adaptor for electronic recharging and such??

 

[Little c Travel]

Check out With Locals. https://www.withlocals.com/

We did several tours with this company in Barcelona and Madrid on our trip to Spain a few weeks back. Every tour was awesome. They are all private tours and we felt like our guide was an old friend or relative taking us around the city they had moved too.

 

[Little c Travel]

Oh, you can also do one of the two Hop On / Hop Off tour companies. They give a nice over of the city in a short period of time.

 

[RedSox68]

When we did this a few years ago, we arrived around 10 a.m. and our taxi driver gave us a brief tour of the city before dropping us at the hotel. We knew we had to keep moving, so we checked in, got a quick lunch at McD's (it was Holiday and no places were open) and then walked around the Gothic Baria area until about 6 p.m. Had a quick dinner at a Tapas bar. It was an extraordinary experience and we loved it. Jet lag knocked us down by then and we couldn't walk back to the hotel so hailed a cab.

 

[StarSeven7]

And--do these hotels require a special adaptor for electronic recharging and such??

Yes, you will need an adapter (part that plugs into the wall) that fits European outlets. You may or may not also need a power converter, depending on what you’re planning to plug in and if it’s dual voltage or not. Make sure you check because you’ll fry your electronics if they’re not dual
Voltage and you plug them in without a power converter.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Yes, you will need an adapter (part that plugs into the wall) that fits European outlets. You may or may not also need a power converter, depending on what you’re planning to plug in and if it’s dual voltage or not. Make sure you check because you’ll fry your electronics if they’re not dual
Voltage and you plug them in without a power converter.

I was afraid of this. Now I have to figure out what dual voltage and a power adaptor are!!!

 

[kaseyC]

We've done a number of arrival day tours with Barcelona Day Tours. They pick you up at the airport, take you touring then drop you at your hotel or apartment at the end of the tour. We've done the Barcelona city tour with them and also the Montserrat tour. It's was fantastic and it kept all of us up and engaged which helped our bodies adjust to jet lag. https://barcelonadaytours.com/tour-from-airport/

You will need a power adapter. We have a few that have multiple plug options so they work in a number of different countries. We have few of these: https://www.amazon.com/Unidapt-Universal-European-Worldwide-International/dp/B077XRXRZR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OKE9ZG2SK7V7&keywords=multi+converter+universal+travel+wall+charger+adapter+power+plug&qid=1555949088&s=gateway&sprefix=multi+plug+power+travel+adapter,aps,184&sr=8-1

Most electronics indicate on a little tag or stamp whether they are dual voltage or not.

 

[Dug720]

You may not be able to get into your room, but I have never stayed at a hotel that won’t at least store your luggage until your room is available. (And honestly, every time I have flown to Europe, I have been able to get into my room when I got to the hotel.)

 

[OKW Lover]

We're staying at the Rennisaince in Barcelona the day before the cruise. Flight arrives at 7:45 AM and even after we get to the hotel that leaves a large part of the day before we can even check in. Anyone know of a reputable firm that might offer a 3-4 hour tour of the City?? OR if the hotel concierge might know of something once we arrive??

And--do these hotels require a special adaptor for electronic recharging and such??

Not familiar with that particular hotel as we stayed at Le Meridian when we were in Barcelona before our Med cruise so can't comment about that. Your hotel concierge will certainly arrange a car and english speaking driver to show you around the city. Basically you would want a 2-hour tour leaving you off at La Sagrada Familia (tickets needed). After you get done with the cathedral, just grab a cab/uber back to the hotel.

Yes, you'll need an adapter. In fact, you might need two if you are spending any time in a hotel in Italy at the end of the cruise. In Barcelona, the sockets are configured to take a plug with two round prongs. In Italy, there is a mix of the 2 prong style and a 3 prong style that is very similar, but different. Keep in mind that the voltage is 220 in Europe so most current electronic chargers will work just fine once you've conquered the adapter issue.

 

[GuardMusic]

Which cruise are you on? (We're on the May 25!) We land at 9am on the 24th and had a similar situation. We were very specific about the time - having enough time to get to a tour, but not too late that we'd be falling asleep. Many on our sailing are using Barcelona Day Tours, but the only way to get that pick-up at the airport was to book a private tour. For 2 of us it was more than what we wanted to spend.

Currently we are booked for a noon adventure with Barcelona Chocolate Tours!

 

[anricat]

We used Barcelona Day Tours for a tour while in Barcelona and they were lovely. I was really impressed and we had a great tour with them. We actually used them embarkation day. They picked us up at our hotel and took us on a half day tour and then dropped us off at the port. It was perfect because we were able to kill two birds with one stone (hotel->port transport + tour) so as another poster commented above, you could do that between airport and hotel. Just wanted to add a second endorsement for them.

 

[Dug720]

If you're open, Rainbow Barcelona ( https://rainbowgaytours.com/en/destinations/barcelona/tours/ ) is AWESOME and 100% personalized, private service. Just know that you're working with an LGBTQ business.

 

[GPaLarry]

We got there three days in advance in order to see as much of Barcelona as possible (still not enough time) and we stayed at that same hotel. It is a Disney one with a DCL desk in the lobby, if you want to check on transportation to the ship, luggage, etc. The staff there was great and helped us book tickets into Parc Gruell. Now, you might check Rick Steves' books on Med. cruise stops, look at all there is to see and prioritize. We booked two activities on the internet, through Trip Advisor, before we flew over...one was a self-guided tour of Gaudi's Familia Sagrada with elevator ride to top of one spire (you walk down). Dan Brown's last book, ORIGIN, takes place in several of Gaudi's structures, La Pedrera (which we walked through) and the cathedral. Read it on the plane over. We walked to both of these buildings from the hotel and the old town (the subway and bus systems are good, too. The other booked tour was of the Old Town (Gothic Quarter) which was great. We took a cab there from Parc Gruell then walked back to our hotel by way of dinner at the 4 Cats restaurant that Picasso visited often (pointed out by guide on the tour). This walking tour included Old Town and Picasso's museum. Parc Gruell is a great place to visit, too...looks like Whoville.
This city is awesome. It was part of our B2B Med./WBTA, so we saved La Rambla for our between day, which worked out great. Again, Rick Steves has videos that show many of the sites...hard to pick which ones to see first or with limited time. Also, beware of pickpockets...I got nailed in a gift shop across from Parc Gruell...only lost about $20 in day spending money in my cargo pants pocket...I wore a money belt under my shirt with the serious stuff. You might have to come back to Barcelona again to get in everything you want to see...cruise on...

 

[tlprice]

We were supposed to have 2 days in Barcelona before our cruise, but got stuck in Montreal for a day so had to rearrange all of our Barcelona plans at the last minute. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel and dropped our luggage. We grabbed another taxi to Park Guell (we had bought tickets online ahead of time). It was nice to walk around the park out in the fresh air to help with the jet lag. We took a taxi back to the hotel and took a nap. After our nap we took another taxi to La Sagrada Familia (we had bought tickets online ahead of time). We were feeling much more refreshed for this after our nap. We hadn't planned on having to do both in one day, but fortunately after our flight issues, we were still able to squeeze in what we really wanted to see. I didn't feel like taxis were very expensive in Barcelona so that worked well for us. (Our hotel was right off of La Rambla so we saw plenty of that too).

 

[smmco]

I will also recommend Barcelona Day tours.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Barcelona Day Tours all the way.

As far as electronics. Most if not all phone chargers today are dual voltage using USB and all you would need is a European Adapter to plug in your phones, tablets, camera chargers, etc. The only item that I had to actually use an AC plug for was a curling iron. I ended up buying a dual voltage curling iron from Amazon. It worked great with just an adapter, no power converter needed.

 

[tankin]

Figuring out dual voltage or not is pretty easy... If what ever you want too plug in has a straight plug (like a lamp), its probably not dual voltage. If the plug has a box attached (like a cell phone charger or a laptop ... etc) look on the box for the words input 100-240V that let's you know its dual voltage.

If you have something that's dual voltage you need an adapter like this https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Worldwide-Universal-Adaptor-Charging/dp/B01DJ140LQ (Note I don't own this one but something like it). If not, you need something like this https://www.amazon.com/TryAce-Converter-Straightener-Transformer-Exclusive/dp/B07FTFG5GT/

 

[Gilland18]

We stayed at the Renaissance twice with DCL. One time our room was ready, the other it wasn't. Bell services kept our bags in a secure area while we explored and ate. The hotel has some adapters but they were all in use when we checked in. Since DH was convinced we didn't need to pack one, he walked to the big department store at the top of Ramblas to buy what we needed. We explored the immediate area on foot the morning we arrived. Casa Batllo and La Piedra are within easy walking distance.

 

[Dizney73]

Another one for Barcelona Day Tours! We have done many over our last 2 trips to Barcelona! They are wonderful!

 

[oufpat]

Another recommendation for Barcelona Day Tours, we had a nice 4 hour tour, including time at La Familia Sagrada. It was worth every penny!