Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar - Barcelona for 3 days in last week of March ??

Hi Folks,

We were planning to visit Barcelona for a couple of days in March end..Hopefully will manage to actually go but before that need some views

1. Is last week of March a decent time to go ??Am looking for that week since am getting acceptable airfares and also hopefully it will be hotter than in central europe :) April and May the airfares are nearly double ..

2. We will reach late on Fri nite and leave on Monday afternoon.. I guess 2.5 days in enough for Barcelona right ?? Any trip ideas ??

3. We plan to travel by Ryan air , so Girona airport it is.. maybe the last day we can spend going around Girona ??

Any thoughts and ideas appreciated..

Thanks
Abhi

1. Is last week of March a decent time to go ??Am looking for that week since am getting acceptable airfares and also hopefully it will be hotter than in central europe :) April and May the airfares are nearly double ..

Any time of the year (except August) is a decent time to visit Barcelona.

2. We will reach late on Fri nite and leave on Monday afternoon.. I guess 2.5 days in enough for Barcelona right ?? Any trip ideas ??

I think you don't need any extra trips if you want to stay only 2,5 days (2 days if you want to include Girona). But yes, you can get an idea of Barcelona in that time span.
Just one advice: resist the temptation to stay in the hotel when you arrive Friday night late. You'll only have 3 nights in Barcelona, so make the most of it. :)

3. We plan to travel by Ryan air , so Girona airport it is.. maybe the last day we can spend going around Girona ??

There are rumors that Ryanair actually flies to the real airport (BCN) these days... (I wouldn't know, I avoid them like the plague... :cool:)

Any time of the year (except August) is a decent time to visit Barcelona.



I think you don't need any extra trips if you want to stay only 2,5 days (2 days if you want to include Girona). But yes, you can get an idea of Barcelona in that time span.
Just one advice: resist the temptation to stay in the hotel when you arrive Friday night late. You'll only have 3 nights in Barcelona, so make the most of it. :)



There are rumors that Ryanair actually flies to the real airport (BCN) these days... (I wouldn't know, I avoid them like the plague... :cool:)

Thanks for ur reply..

I also avoud Ryan Air when I can, but I was getting tickets for Bratislava - Girona for 2 ppl for Eur 97 return all inclusive and this is a big difference than the next best availale option.. so could not resist :)

So u r saying, I should plan to go around Barcelona itself only.. thts ok for me.. though I will go thru TA, lonely planet etc any must see's u recommend..

Btw.. I booked the ryan air flt and mine still shows girona.. but i see in the site they hv also started to fly to barcelona so maybe they r flying to 2 airports there :confused:

So u r saying, I should plan to go around Barcelona itself only.. thts ok for me.. though I will go thru TA, lonely planet etc any must see's u recommend..

I'll leave that to Lonely Planet. I have been living here for 12 years, and I find it difficult to decide what a visitor should see. In any case, Barcelona is not a city with a long lists of "must sees" (like Paris for instance). For me it's rather the city itself that is the main attraction. (I mean walking around, enjoying the street life, the bars...)

The one thing that I always do when I have first time visitors is take them up to this bar (http://www.mirablaubcn.com/) around sunset. Always makes an impression... :p


Btw.. I booked the ryan air flt and mine still shows girona.. but i see in the site they hv also started to fly to barcelona so maybe they r flying to 2 airports there :confused:

:D Well, they actually have only just started flying to 1 airport here (in Barcelona). Girona is not Barcelona, and neither is it's airport... (But Ryanair has never been strong in geography. ;))

:D Well, they actually have only just started flying to 1 airport here (in Barcelona). Girona is not Barcelona, and neither is it's airport... (But Ryanair has never been strong in geography. ;))While waiting for my departing BA flight at BCN (El Prat) last October, our gate has a nice view of the runway being used for landings, and I definitely saw a Ryan Air plane come in for a landing.

Well, they actually have only just started flying to 1 airport here (in Barcelona). Girona is not Barcelona, and neither is it's airport... (But Ryanair has never been strong in geography. ;))

+1 :D

While waiting for my departing BA flight at BCN (El Prat) last October, our gate has a nice view of the runway being used for landings, and I definitely saw a Ryan Air plane come in for a landing.

Could be. That's probably around the time when they started flying into BCN.

[QUOTE=Koby;15807439]I'll leave that to Lonely Planet. I have been living here for 12 years, and I find it difficult to decide what a visitor should see. In any case, Barcelona is not a city with a long lists of "must sees" (like Paris for instance). For me it's rather the city itself that is the main attraction. (I mean walking around, enjoying the street life, the bars...)

The one thing that I always do when I have first time visitors is take them up to this bar (http://www.mirablaubcn.com/) around sunset. Always makes an impression... :p

--------

My wife and I will be making our first trip to BCN, arriving Dec 7th to catch a NCL cruise Dec 8th - 7 pm. We dock back on the 17th. We will have two days additional to see BCN. I have been going through all the FT posts and I find all of your contributions very helpful. Thanks.

We'll be in Barcelona three nights, arriving Friday late afternoon and leaving Monday early afternoon. We are staying in an apartment in the Gothic Quarter right behind the Post Office. Our "initial" list inclsudes:

Sagrada Familia (pre purchased tickets to avoid line)
Walk to beach
maybe bike along beach "boardwalk"
day trip to Montserrat
Parc Guell
Cable car across harbor to Montjuic
Magic fountain (Friday or Sat evening)
self guide walk about Gothic Quarter and El Born
Will spend some time walking Las Ramblas and hope to pick up Block of Discord while out and about


Insane? Reasonable? Missing a "must see" (we're not generally museum people; but, may go to the Catalunya Museum). We plan on hitting a few Tapas bars in our apartment's area:) .

Any thoughts on three of us buying a Barcelona Card versus T-10 strips as needed? We plan to use the Metro a bit to get around but not sure we're going enough places that have discounts on the Barcelons card to make it worth the extra cost. We will be organizing all of our own travel (0736 train from Espanya to Montserrat:eek:) if that makes any difference.

Thanks,
Greg

Missing a "must see"
Go out on a Friday night around 10PM-11PM and stay out for a few hours.
Any thoughts on three of us buying a Barcelona Card versus T-10 strips as needed?
Buy a single 10-trip card for the three of you (if you need more than 3 trips, buy another one). A Barcelona card is probably not worth it.[/QUOTE]

We're also planning 4 nights in Barcelona in the first week of March, would you mind sharing your apartment find if it's available for rental.

I'm trying to decide where to stay in Barcelona, we don't want to party all night so staying on Las Ramblas is not a major value, but we do want to be abale to get around easily to see the Modernists.

thanks for any advice


We'll be in Barcelona three nights, arriving Friday late afternoon and leaving Monday early afternoon. We are staying in an apartment in the Gothic Quarter right behind the Post Office. Our "initial" list inclsudes:

Sagrada Familia (pre purchased tickets to avoid line)
Walk to beach
maybe bike along beach "boardwalk"
day trip to Montserrat
Parc Guell
Cable car across harbor to Montjuic
Magic fountain (Friday or Sat evening)
self guide walk about Gothic Quarter and El Born
Will spend some time walking Las Ramblas and hope to pick up Block of Discord while out and about


Insane? Reasonable? Missing a "must see" (we're not generally museum people; but, may go to the Catalunya Museum). We plan on hitting a few Tapas bars in our apartment's area:) .

Any thoughts on three of us buying a Barcelona Card versus T-10 strips as needed? We plan to use the Metro a bit to get around but not sure we're going enough places that have discounts on the Barcelons card to make it worth the extra cost. We will be organizing all of our own travel (0736 train from Espanya to Montserrat:eek:) if that makes any difference.

Thanks,
Greg

Piggybacking on this thread as I plan to spend 5-6 days in Barcelona at the beginning of March -- is it generally safe for a woman alone? I don't take stupid chances (dark alleys, getting drunk solo or really at all), but I do like to explore and I'm not sure how much time I'll be spending with my friends, who are a bit older and not into nightlife. For reference, I navigated the Buenos Aires tango scene by myself and thrived; is Barcelona a comparable city when it comes to safety?

I'm glad to hear that the city itself is the main attraction! Of course I'll be sure to walk Las Ramblas and see La Sagrada Familia, but I love to fall in love with a city.