Barcelon questions

[LoveMickey]

Hello Fellow cruisers.

Planning (really early) for our next years cruise to Barcelona.

What are the Disney Hotels that they recommend?

Will have 2 days to explore prior to cruise, what are the must sees?

All opinions welcome.

Thx

 

[o&smom]

Hello Fellow cruisers.

Planning (really early) for our next years cruise to Barcelona.

What are the Disney Hotels that they recommend?

Will have 2 days to explore prior to cruise, what are the must sees?

All opinions welcome.

Thx

Many things to see and do in and around Barcelona! My second favorite city to visit! Who is in your travel party, and what are some of your interests when you travel?

 

[LoveMickey]

Travel Party is 4 adults, 2 teenagers. I don't know anything about Barcelona. We like to visit city sites. We are good at walking, so we won't have a car.

Any suggestions would be helpful

 

[Cheburashka]

We spent a few days in Barcelona in 2019, and I strongly recommend visiting (inside, not just outside) La Sagrada Familia. It has a striking exterior, but the interior is even more beautiful, due to the effect of the multicolored stained glass windows when the sunlight streams through. If you're visiting on a Sunday and are a Christian, you might enjoy celebrating Mass there. We did so, and it was a very special experience.

Parc Guell is beautiful, and Casa Mila and Casa Battlo are also worth visiting. Montjuic Castle is very nice, too, especially since it offers a panoramic view of the city.

Las Ramblas is overrated, imo. The famed human statues were few and far between when we were there, having been mostly replaced by cheap trinket stalls. It's fine if you need to walk through it on your way somewhere else (it's interesting to see the Christopher Columbus statue at the base of Las Ramblas, for example), but it isn't a significant destination of its own, except to be able to say you've been there.

Be very careful about pickpockets in Barcelona, and ignore beggars. We were careful, and never lost anything. But many less cautious tourists get ripped off, so be careful.

 

[I_love_Cruising]

Sagrada Familia is a must see for me, I'm not religious at all, but that building is a masterpiece. I got an audioguide and it made such a difference in understand the design. https://sagradafamilia.org/en/tickets-individuals
Parc Guell was very nice to see too. https://parkguell.barcelona/en
For both I would recommend to buy tickets in advance. When we visited in 2016 there were many tourists turned away at the entrance because it was sold out.

Than at least a short visit and snacks at the La Boqueria Market. http://www.boqueria.barcelona/home

There are also other art museums, the Picasso Museum, the Joan Miro Foundation.

The subway system is easy to use. We stayed close to the La Rambla street and really liked it, it was close to restaurants and not that far from the port.

 

[LoveMickey]

Thank you all. This gives me a good starting point.

 

[braysmommy]

We love Barcelona and agree with previous ideas. If you are a fan of soccer Camp Nou, Barcelona FC's stadium, is incredible. I would also recommend as a family taking a look on Trip Advisor and checking out the top 20 to get more ideas on what your family wants to see.

 

[mama&me]

Mom and I stayed at the Hilton Diagonal Mar a few years ago before our Mediterranean cruise. We did not book with Disney but they did offer transportation to the port from there.
It was a little ways from the attractions but we loved our room.
Besides La Sagrada Familia which we loved and the other attractions already suggested, we also did side tours. We did a half day tour to Monserrat and a day tour to Girona. I am a Game of Thrones fan and season six was filmed there.
I also took Mom to a dinner/flamenco show one night.

 

[o&smom]

Travel Party is 4 adults, 2 teenagers. I don't know anything about Barcelona. We like to visit city sites. We are good at walking, so we won't have a car.

Any suggestions would be helpful

We always stay in an apartment through VRBO. We use taxis or walk. I see people have mentioned La Sagrada Familia. It is a must see! Make sure you prebuy tickets and look into the tower climb add on. You actually take an elevator up and then walk down to the main floor of the cathedral. Parc Guell is mixed for us now. They have separated it into two parts, one of which requires a reservation and I forget if a small fee is now involved. It did not have the same feel to us as when we first visited, but there was also a lot of construction happening the last time. Worth looking into. Thibidabo is an amusement park outside of Barcelona that overlooks the city. We had a great day there with our two kids. DS turned 16 the next day and DD was 9. We took a taxi to get there. There is a great hands on science center called Cosmo Caixa. Our DS wanted to spend his 16th birthday there when given the choice of that or the amusement park! We have still never made it to the beach...one of theses visits! Lots of amazing food. Do not miss the churros and chocolate. We have also gone to see the dancing fountains. Very popular. Barcelona is a very walkable city. You will all have a great time! Recommend Mont Serrat for a day trip, too.

 

[Cheburashka]

Cotton House Hotel is very nice and well-located, but expensive. I don't believe it's offered via DCL. We weren't cruising during our Europe trip.

 

[Joel0917]

i stayed a couple years ago in a VBRO. way cheaper than the Disney hotels and it was super easy to get a taxi and to the port. I would suggest staying in the heart of Barcelona. It is truly a walking city.
Get a guidebook and visit the cathedrals and historical spots. or take the city bus 1/2 day tour and see what you want to see.
Eating is interesting. Lunch is the bigger meal, lots of restaurants then close like 230 or 3 until 6. Then it's all Tapas mostly at night, which is wonderful and so good!
Its a great city. I think Barcelona was the best part of our Disney week! Well Rome was great too!

 

[LPinFL]

Problem Espanyol is a must-see in my opinion. I can’t do justice to describing it, so I recommend a quick Google search. I also agree with the suggestion of the Picasso museum.

 

[Dug720]

Problem Espanyol is a must-see in my opinion

All I see when I google Problem Espanyol is stuff about soccer teams - Barcelona and Catalan or something like that. Nothing tourist-related. I'm very confused.

 

[jrabbit]

our first trip to BCN we got a multi day ticket to the Turistic Hop on/off bus. back then there were 3 different routes (with some overlap). Automated narration in several languages. Great overview of the city and one of the ways to get around. The last time we were there we used the subway ... worked really well.

La Sagrada Familia is amazing. Parc Guell is our number 2 destination. We took the Tram Blue and the Finicular up to the top of Tibadabo. Did NOT go to the amusement park, instead went into the cathedral up there. It has some amazing art work. And the views over the city and Med are spectacular! We did the old town walking tour through the tourist office ... we met at Placa Catalyuna (at the top of Las Rambles). Very informative. Loved the Picasso museum and close by is the Chocolate Museum ... it's fun with interesting chocolate sculptures.

Really, there is tons to see and do in BCN. Good luck with your planning and have a great trip.

 

[anjuan]

I agree with a lot of what people have said. Also make sure you try some of the local food. We went to Xiringuito Escriba which was on the beach and had the most amazing Paella!! It was a highlight of the trip.

I found a great hotel from recommendations on the locations portion of another cruise message board. (Sorry but I don't remember the name of it.)

 

[Dug720]

I stayed at the Acta Atrium Palace when I was in Barcelona and really loved it. Sadly the tour company I used (Rainbow Barcelona) is no more as the owner is doing other travel-related stuff now.

 

[Gilland18]

We’ve done the WBTA twice. Both times stayed at the Disney official hotel the Renaissance. It is well placed for walking to many of the sites already mentioned. We walked everywhere except a taxi when exhausted. Love Barcelona and hope to return some day.

 

[starvenger]

When i went to Barcelona we got an Airbnb and tried to live like locals. Well, as much as Asian people in Spain can live like locals, anyway. We weren't able to get into La Sagrada Familia - fully booked by the time I started looking - but did many of the other sites. Montserrat was my favourite but I enjoyed Montjuic castle and Parc Guell as well.

La Bouqueria is kind of touristy like many of these central markets in cities are now but I still love going to them, as there is still a lot of local flavour as you go deeper into the market.

 

[soniam]

The food market/cafeteria at the top of El Corte Ingles department store has the most amazing view. The food is decent, not great, reasonably priced, and serves early dinner. Great when you get in jet lagged and need to eat dinner before hitting bed at a reasonable time. A lot of the tapas places are open and don't really have set food hours. Don't miss out on the churros con chocolate (Granja M Viader), Basque tapas (Irati Taverna Basca), cidre, chocolate (Sampaco). Chok has good desserts and donuts. We also like the kitsch and drinks at the Obama bar. If you love the Jungle Cruise or Adventureland, you will like this place. Sagrada Familia is a must. Most of the food places I have recommended are on side streets off of Ramblas. It's just a fun place to walk around and people watch. The chocolate museums aren't worth it. Anything Gaudi is great, even just walking the Eixample. Barcelona and the surrounding coast are my favorite place in the world, even over Disney parks. Hoping to own a home on the coast south of Barcelona one day. Rick Steves has a really good guide for Barcelona and explains how the tapas/pintxos places work.

 

[ahhhcrap]

My family and I stayed in a 4 bedroom at the Erik Vokel Boutique apartments in the city center and it was perfect for our party of 8. It was in a great location and was large for a European hotel. It was nice to have the full kitchen with dining and living rooms. We visited and enjoyed the La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and the Joan Miro Foundation museum the morning we got to Barcelona after our cruise. Highly recommend doing the guided tour of the La Sagrada Familia cathredral. It's an amazing city with lots of great food. We received lots of good restaurant recommendations from the hotel so getting help from the locals is a must.