Barcelona September 2017

[RedSox68]

Just a heads up.....

In planning for the WBTA next year, we are flying in several days pre-cruise to take advantage of Barcelona.

In doing research, I discovered the following event is taking place on Monday, 9/11 -- which is the day we were going to arrive. In case any of you are planning a visit to Barcelona pre or post cruise and it includes this date, thought I'd let you know:


September 11 – National Day of Catalonia

Celebrated annually on 11 September, this is a public holiday in the Catalan region of Spain. Barcelona is the principal city in the region. The day known as ‘Festa Nacional de Catalunya’ or ‘Diada’ marks the 11th of September 1714 when Catalan forces were defeated by King Philip the 5th of Spain. Demonstrations in support of independence for Catalonia are common, along with festivities celebrating traditional Catalan music and cuisine. Many shops and streets will be closed on this day and travel will be difficult within the city. We do not recommend that you make any plans for touring inside Barcelona on this day. If possible, plan to tour outside the city.


I sent emails to the transportation company we were going to use and they said travel around the city is almost impossible, as well as trying to get anywhere on foot during the height of the event. He suggested trying to get a taxi from the airport and hope for the best. Rather than chance it, we may just fly in a day earlier.

 

[disneyholic family]

i wonder if it spills into sept 10th..
DD's cruise ends on sept 10th (day after tomorrow), so she'll be in barcelona all day saturday until she gets on her red eye out (at 11 PM)

 

[RedSox68]

i wonder if it spills into sept 10th..
DD's cruise ends on sept 10th (day after tomorrow), so she'll be in barcelona all day saturday until she gets on her red eye out (at 11 PM)

From everything I have read, it is strictly a 9/11 event because that is the date of the actual historic incident. We are now thinking about taking a later flight out on Sunday night so that we get to Barcelona in the afternoon instead of the morning -- and hopefully some of it may have dispersed by then. Flying in on Saturday is proving to be a lot more expensive, and I don't want to fly in day after and lose a whole day there. If nothing else, I figure we can hang around the hotel and enjoy the apartment and get over our jet lag, but at least we'll be there.

 

[disneyholic family]

From everything I have read, it is strictly a 9/11 event because that is the date of the actual historic incident. We are now thinking about taking a later flight out on Sunday night so that we get to Barcelona in the afternoon instead of the morning -- and hopefully some of it may have dispersed by then. Flying in on Saturday is proving to be a lot more expensive, and I don't want to fly in day after and lose a whole day there. If nothing else, I figure we can hang around the hotel and enjoy the apartment and get over our jet lag, but at least we'll be there.

DD ended up coming in an entire day earlier than she'd planned because of the difference in airfare...
the flight was so much more expensive that even with paying for another night's accommodation, she still saved money coming in a day earlier..
their cruise started on a saturday...so instead of coming in on friday, she came in on thursday...
it was lucky as they ended up with a lot of travel delays, and because they had an additional day, they were totally calm about it all..

they weren't really that interested in barcelona - all they had on their must do list was camp nou....where they ended up spending 3 and a half hours!!
they did camp nou and the double decker hop on hop off bus...that was it..

 

[Mousesmom]

Thanks for this. Very good to know. We will make sure to arrive after the 11th.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Thanks for the info!!

 

[cheermom2four]

Good info. Guess I never thought about holidays over there affecting tourists. We fly in the thursday before our Sept 9th cruise over in Barcelona next year. Hoping nothing is going on during that time

 

[m3owbox]

We flew in on a Friday before our Sept 10th cruise this year and didn't even notice anything