Barcelona

[jeanmonti]

Does anyone have any Barcelona tours to recommend? We're flying in a few days before our TA cruise and would love to hear about must see tours or activities. We don't have a lot of time so want to make the most of it.
Thanks!

 

[ldo]

We have done Fat Tire Bike tour 2X and loved it. It's a great way to get an active overview of the city. Easy 3 speed cruiser bikes. FWIW--my 12 yr old was a bit nervous riding thru the city. So, I would recommend for 14+.

 

[Terapin]

We landed in Barcelona before our WBTA in 2010. We didn't use a tour operator, but found it was really easy to navigate the city, even with 3 kids and my mom with us. The first day we used the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus which picks up at about 15 stops in a continuous loop, and there are two loops. You got a really good sense of the city, and it was easy to see what things we wanted to return to another day. We visited Park Guell and found it a lot of fun. There was a lot to explore, but getting there was a good walk from the closest bus stop and a bit of an uphill hike. There was an ice cream shop in the park for a nice break.

We also went to the Aquarium Barcelona on a rainy day and that was fun. It was near a mall that had a fair amount of choices for food. The highlight of that excursion was the security guard who let my kids ride his Segway! We also visited Sagrada Familia, and the Picasso Museum which was really interesting. We also went for tapas, and just milled around different neighbourhoods.

It is a city with a lot of purse snatchings I was warned, so I bought a PackSafe Bag and kept it close. We had no problems, but pick-pocketing is very common.

Barcelona was interesting, visually beautiful, and a wonderful city to visit. We stayed at the Hotel Praktik Rambla - it was clean and functional, and very IKEA-inspired on the inside, and full gothic vintage on the outside.

Hope that helps!

 

[jeanmonti]

We have done Fat Tire Bike tour 2X and loved it.

Thank you, Ido and Terapin! Bike ride sounds fantastic and so does just taking the day as it comes via bus.

Wondering Terapin....did you have to book two rooms at the Praktik? We have two kids and the site actually will only let me enter is one child.

 

[rhinodadz]

We did 2 days post-cruise last summer on our own. I'd recommend one of Rick Steves' guides. The Gaudi houses are spectacular (La Pedrera and Casa Batllo) and Sagrada Familia is breathtaking. The Olympic paric is also worth seeing. We got unlimited subway passes to get around the city. We found the subway very efficient and safe.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Not trying to Hijack this thread but can anyone recommend a hotel there also?

 

[Terapin]

I mentioned the hotel we stayed in in my previous post, Club Disney Chandler.

We travelled as a family of 7: we had a 3 year old and a 12 year old in our room plus 2 adults. It was a deluxe room that had one queen and a double futon. It was fine for the two brothers. The other room had a queen and a futon but was smaller, and housed my mom and my niece who was 16. We emailed the hotel and they said as long as my boys were ok sharing the bed they were fine to book us, but they wouldn't supply extra beds. We had a large corner room with a balcony on Ramblas.

Hope that helps!

 

[Angie_Ohio]

I would also recommend the Hop on Hop off bus. You can get a 2 day pass for a discount. They have two routes. We loved Parc Guel and Sagrad Familia. We stayed at Hotel Marina on one trip and Novotel on the other. Both were great. My sons play soccer so Camp Nou was a must. Ate in an open air restaurant on the beach. Beautiful city!

 

[adamwiz]

We stayed in Barcelona a full week prior to our sailing. We used Barcelona Day Tours for two private trips. Even for two of us, well worth it.

First was an orientation tour of the city. Included major sites and entry to Park Guell (our least favorite place).A few days later, did private tour to Monserrat, then a local farm to table restaurant, then finished at Freixenet winery for the Cava tour. Best all day adventure we've had in our lives. Our local guide, Ivo, belongs in touring hall of fame.

We also did a cooking class one day overlooking Las Ramblas, went to the open air market almost everyday. Picasso museum was great and spent afternoon one day at the huge Catalonian art museum.

I travel a ton for work and am partial to Marriotts. We Stayed at Renaissance and actually found out Disney uses it when one day all the cruise line stuff was in lobby. Would not pay rack rate however for the hotel. Great location for walking (a block off passeig de gracia with the Gaudi houses and high end shops. Also very walkable to plaza Cataluna for the hop on bus tours.

 

[socababy]

We will also be using Barcelona Day Tours this summer! Looking forward to it!

 

[DisneySisters]

We stayed at the Gran Hotel La Florida, and I am still dreaming about it. Regarding tours, we only had a day, we did the hop off hop on, and found it perfect.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We used and were very pleased with Barcelona Day tours. We did a tour of the city, and a whole day tour of Montserrat and the wine country.

 

[pillow]

Another vote for the hop-on hop-off bus. Cheap and easy to navigate! We stayed here - http://www.hispanos7suiza.com/es/

We chose that hotel since they have suite style rooms that easily held the 4 of us. Nice location near the Sagrada Familia.

Jodie

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Hotel Jazz central one block off Placa Catalunya, where HOHO starts and transport hub is, and it is a 4 star but nearly a five star has a roof pool often has breakfast included if you book early. Fantastic modern and new rooms. Photos on MickeyMed ( google it).

I booked three things with Barcelona day tours in 2014.
(1) On time, no issues.
(2) Did Not show up, I had to speak to them on the phone 40 minutes, they did refund.
(3) Tour post ship agreed start time 8.30am showed up 9.15am, no contact but on bus said was picking up in town. -Good tour but late.

 

[clareyfairymouse]

We stayed at Hotel Jazz last year before the WBTA and we really liked it. Great location as mentioned above but also slightly tucked away so we had a great nights sleep. Taxi's weren't too expensive either between the hotel and the airport and the hotel and the cruise port.
Hop on hope off bus was create to familiarise yourself with the city but if you want to do the Sagrada Familia I suggest you book as the stand by line/queue is massive. That goes for some of the other attractions in peak season too.

Really nice city, plenty to see and do

 

[DVC-Don]

We also did the Hop on Hop off bus tour. Highly recommend it.

 

[rachelsmom97]

We used and were very pleased with Barcelona Day tours. We did a tour of the city, and a whole day tour of Montserrat and the wine country.

This is good to know. We have booked the full day private tour of Montserret and the Wine Country for the day we get off the ship.

Another vote for the hop-on hop-off bus. Cheap and easy to navigate! We stayed here - http://www.hispanos7suiza.com/es/

We chose that hotel since they have suite style rooms that easily held the 4 of us. Nice location near the Sagrada Familia.

Jodie

Thanks Jodie for posting this. We are booked to stay here in August. Did you get the hop-on hop-off bus at the Sagrada Familia. That looks like the closest pick up point from the hotel. After 3 nights in London and 12 nights on the Magic we decided we may need a bit of space for our last 3 nights in Barcelona so we chose the Hispanos Suiza.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

We used the Hop On Hop off bus and enjoyed it for a view of the City.

We took the Gaudi in Context small group walking tour from Context Travel, which was excellent. We booked it through Get Your Guide.

We took the self guided audio tour of La Sagrada Familia ( booked admission online the day before for an early entry). We also booked online for admission to Parc Guell.

We stayed at LeMeridian on Las Ramblas using Starwood points.

We really enjoyed our stay in Barcelona and plan to return in the future. -- Suzanne

 

[pillow]

Thanks Jodie for posting this. We are booked to stay here in August. Did you get the hop-on hop-off bus at the Sagrada Familia. That looks like the closest pick up point from the hotel. After 3 nights in London and 12 nights on the Magic we decided we may need a bit of space for our last 3 nights in Barcelona so we chose the Hispanos Suiza.

One thing . . . we did hear some road noise from our hotel room. You might want to ask for a Courtyard room as opposed to exterior. It was so long ago (2007), I can't remember where we caught the bus. But we did walk over to Sagrada Familia, so it probably was there. We really enjoyed the time on our own wandering around the city. Have fun!

Jodie

 

[bearette]

I took my 18 month olds twins ( at the time) and we did everything ourselves. The city is easily walkable or simple to use the public transit. Even though all the trains didn't have elevators for strollers the people were extremely friendly and helpful. I had several people go out of their way to help us carry our double stroller up and down stairs.

On our own we visited the Sagrada Famalia ( book tickets online in advance). We took them up the funicular and then the buckets ( gosh cannot have think of the name) to the top of the hill. It had a great view of the port and after letting them run around the castle we headed towards the fountains, which was closed at the time because of winter hours. There is a nice park up there so only by a one way ticket to the top and a bus near the top will take you almost right to the fountains.

If we had more time you can take a train to a theme style park outside the city or Monterssat. I haven't done it but I heard they were easy to do by train on your own. I hate doing guided tours with my kids because they don't really care and then you can leave whenever you want. If you go the tour route do private and if it is too expensive download an app and do it on your own.

Have fun!