Barcelona

Introduction

shutters and balconies

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The Roman Empire founded "Barcino" in the 1st century BC and the city has been a meeting point for different cultures ever since. Barcelona saw the rise and fall of the Visigoths, Moors and Franks, eventually becoming a part of Castile in 1714. Franko's authoritarian dictatorship in the 20th century restrained Barcelona's potential, but the last few decades have witnessed the evolution of Barcelona into a vibrant and modern city. Barcelona is a major centre of business, design and fashion, and its rich history has gifted it with countless pieces of the finest architecture, some of which are now included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Neighbourhoods

Barcelona is divided into 10 districts, each consisting of a few neighbourhoods. These districts are:

Ciutat Vella (Old Town)

Ciutat Vella (or Old Town) is where you'll find the oldest buildings and constructions of the city, such as the Town Hall, St. James Square, the Cathedral, Palace of the Generalitat, Palace of the Catalan Music and las Ramblas, with Liceu Theatre and Boqueria Market.

L'Eixample (New town)

Designed in 1860 by Ildefons Cerdà, L'Eixample (New Town) is where countless modernist buildings can be found, the most important of which is Sagrada Família, the biggest project from Antoni Gaudí. Passeig de Gràcia is a very long street in which other important modernist buildings can be found, such as Casa Milà (La Pedrera) and Casa Batlló, both works of Antoni Gaudí.

Other Districts

Montjuic fountains, Barcelona

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• Raval (Old Chinatown, now a perfect match between old city and fashion places)
• Sants-Montjüic
• Les Corts
• Sarrià-St. Gervasi
• Gràcia
• Horta-Guinardó
• Nou Barris
• St. Andreu
• St. Martí

Sights and Activities

Barcelona is a vibrant city with a never ending list of things to do; from nightclubs to tours of the Old Town and its pubs, to family-orientated fun-parks, museums, windsurf lessons and more. Art and architecture are a major draw card for the city, in particular the stunning works of Barcelona's most famous architectural son - Antoni Gaudi.

Barcelona Beaches

Barceloneta beach

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Barcelona is listed number one in the top 10 list of beach cities, according to National Geographic. Barcelona has no less than seven beaches, totalling 4.5 kilometres. Sant Sebastià and Barceloneta beaches are the most popular ones and also the biggest at around 1,100 metres in length. These two beaches are separated by The Olympic Port from the five other city beaches: Nova Icària, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. These beaches average around 500 metres and were opened as a result of the city restructuring to host the 1992 Summer Olympics. Barceloneta Beach was voted in 2005 as the best urban beach in the world and the third best beach overall, according to the docu-film "Worlds Best Beaches" by Discovery Channel. It's located in the Barceloneta neighbourhood, also famous for its many restaurants and nightclubs along the boardwalk.

Museums

• Joan Miró Museum (Fundacio Joan Miró): Joan Miró was a Catalan artist from the early 20th century. Paintings by the artist are displayed, as well as other art collections from all over the world. Located on Montjuic.
• Antoni Tàpies Museum is a museum dedicated to the life and work of Antoni Tàpies, a Catalan abstract expressionist artist.
• Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) mainly has 20th century, predominantly from Catalan, pieces of art on display in this museum.
• National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC) features one of the biggest collections of Romanesque art in the world.
• Picasso Museum features a significant collection of paintings from Picasso's youth. Located in Old Town.
• CosmoCaixa is the city's Science Museum and one of Europe's best. Located at Isaac Newton 26 near Avinguda del Tibidabo. Phone: 932 126 050.

Park Güell

Parc Güell or Park Güell (Güell Park): The Count of Güell ordered Antoni Gaudí to construct a zone where the high class families of Barcelona would live. Gaudi's stunning work in this park was considered worthy of inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984. It has now become the city's most visited tourist attraction. Situated in the park is the Casa Museu Gaudí, a small Gaudi Museum.

Parks

• Parc de la Ciutadella (Ciutadella Park) is where the 1888 universal exposition was held. It currently is a place where locals, as well as tourists, go when they want to get away from the busy city life.

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

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It might be strange that a not even finished building is among the most famous buildings in the world, but the Sagrada Familia belongs in the list for a couple of good reasons. It is a masterpiece in progress, and one of Spains most visited tourist sites. It's a design by Antoni Gaudi, who worked on this project for almost 40 years, until his death in 1926. Construction on the cathedral began in 1882 and still has not finished yet. It will have 18 towers, of which the central tower of Jesus wil be the tallest of them all with 170 metres. When finished this will be the pièce the résistance of an artist who already left a huge artistic footprint in Barcelona.

Other Sights and Activities

• Casa Mila (La Pedrera) - Casa Mila's undulating roof line is one of Barcelona's most iconic images. A visit to this Art Nouveau Gaudi masterpiece is essential for any visitor to Barcelona.
• Montjüic is where the Montjüic Castle is located on top, as well as the Olympic Stadium and other Olympic games buildings and Palau St. Jordi, a concert/sports hall designed by the prestigious architect Arata Izosaki for the Olympic Games.
• Port Olímpic (The Olympic Port) was built for 1992 Olympic Games, and has now become a place with many of the finest restaurants in the city, fashionable bars and plenty of discos.

UNESCO World Heritage List

The following are all on the UNESCO World Heritage List:

• Casa Milà, or La Pedrera;
• Hospital de Sant Pau ( St. Paul's Hospital);
• Palau Güell (Güell Palace);
• Parc Güell (Park Güell);
• Casa Vicens;
• Casa Batlló;
• Sagrada Família;
• Palau de la Música Catalana (Palace of the Catalan Music).

Events and Festivals

As mentioned above, Barcelona is a city full of life and consequently, plenty of festivals are organised every year.
It would be pointless to name all of them as there are many, but they are mainly about music, theatre and cinema.

In September the city gets ready for "la Merce" when the whole city celebrates for a whole week. During this period people from various neighbourhoods decorate the streets of the city and many concerts (most of them free concerts) take place in different districts. Check the Festes de la Merce website for more information about activities.

There are dozens of other events and festivals though, including:

• Primavera Sound.
• Dia de Sant Jordi - Ramblas becomes flower market and book stall.
• Festival de Sonar - Advanced music and multimedia art in June.
• Festival de Sant Joan - start of summer festival late June, with beachfires etc.
• Grec Art Festival - June to August, music dance and theatre all over the city.
• Festa Major de Gracia - in the Gracia neighbourhood, music and fireworks.
• La Diada

Weather

Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate, with very dry, sunny and warm summers from June to September. Rainfall is predominantly during the wintermonths of November to March, though showers are possible yearround. July and August are the hottest months of the year, but due to the influence of the Mediterranean sea it doesn't get as hot as in the inner regions of the country where there is no sea-breeze. Still, humidity is a little higher here, so daytime temperatures of around 30 °C feel pretty oppressive as well. Winters are mild, also due to the moderating influence of the Mediterranean sea. The coldest months of the year are December and January, but temperatures are still well above zero at night, with 12-14 °C during the day.

Getting there

By Plane

1. Barcelona Airport (BCN) is the second biggest airport in Spain and the 9th biggest airport in Europe. It handles over 30 million of passengers every year and it is perfectly connected to the other main European airports by direct flights operated by either low cost airlines or regular ones.

To/from the airport

• Rail: It is located a few kilometres away from the city, but it is easy to reach by train with RENFE. The trip lasts 30 minutes and it costs around €2. Trains leave from Terminal 2 and run from the Maçanet-Massanes station, with major stops at Barcelona Sants railway station and the fairly central Passeig de Gràcia railway station to provide transfer to the Barcelona Metro system. Passengers for Terminal 1 must take a connecting bus from the train station to T1. As part of the major expansion above, a new railway station will be built nearby, connecting the airport to the Spanish AVE network, and Line 9 of the Barcelona Metro.
• Bus: The Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) public bus on line 46 runs every 16 minutes from Plaça Espanya. A scheduled private bus line (Aerobús) from Plaça Catalunya, stops at Urgell and Plaça d'Espanya.
• Car/Taxi: Another alternative are taxis, which tend to be more expensive. If you leave from Sants Station the trip will last 20 minutes and cost around €22. Taxi stops are available at each terminal. The C-32B highway connects the airport to a main traffic interchange between Barcelona's Ronda de Dalt beltway and major motorways. There are around 25,000 parking spaces available, equally divided among both terminals.

2. Reus International Airport (REU) is a good alternative and is located near Reus and Tarragona. It's particularly good when you want to travel with low-cost airlines.
3. The Girona-Costa Brava Airport (international code: GRO) near Girona is another favorite and is getting more and more popular as a start of a trip in the region as there are quite a few lowcostairlines serving the airport. |Ryanair serves dozens of cities in Europe, including London (Stansted), Brussels (Charleroi) and Rome. A few others include Jetairfly, Transavia and Star1, Thomson Airlines and Thomascook, which serve both or one of the airports at least.

By Car

Spain has a dense road system. Getting to Barcelona by car shouldn't be regarded as a problem. If you come from Europe, the AP-7 runs from Lyon and all the way down to Barcelona, passing near Perpignan (the largest French city before the Spanish border). In France it is known as A-7 between Lyon and Orange, and A-9 between Orange and the spanish border. From inside Spain the A-7 runs from the most southern tip of Spain all along the coast to Barcelona, connecting cities like Málaga, Almeria, Murcia, Alicante and Valencia with Barcelona. From Madrid and Zaragoza you can reach Barcelona if you follow the A-2.

By Train

Spain may not have the best trains in the continent, however it's not a problem to get to Barcelona by train. The main station of the city is Sants Station and it is perfectly connected to the city centre by either underground or bus.

If you come from Europe you will probably need to change trains in Portbou (the first Spanish town after the border) from where a direct trains runs to Barcelona. The estimated trip time is 3 hours. You can also travel from Paris on the overnight Hoteltrain without having to change trains. It takes about 11 hours.

Getting there from other parts of Spain is quite easy: there are several trains every day between Barcelona and main Spanish cities such as Valencia, Madrid or Bilbao. Between Madrid and Barcelona you can take the AVE, which can take you between the two cities within 3 hours. Check the RENFE website, Spain's national railway company for timetables and reservations. Reservations for the AVE are in general much cheaper than buying them at the station.

By Bus

Buses to and from Barcelona are mainly used to smaller places within the region. A number of bus companies have services from Estacia del Nord (northern bus station). Destinations include Girona (including the airport), Figueres and many smaller towns both inland and along the Costa Brava.
Long-distance buses go to Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza, Burgos, Santiago de Compostela and Seville, but in many occasions taking the train or plane is a better idea.
Eurolines has many buses both to the northern parts of Europe as well as Morocco.

By Boat

Italy

• Grimaldi Ferries between Civitavecchia and Barcelona.
• GNV between Genoa and Barcelona.

Morocco

• GNV operates services from Barcelona to Tangier.

Algeria

• Chan Maghreb Lines (website under construction) has boats between Barcelona and Oran and Algiers.

Balearic Islands
Acciona Trasmediterránea is the main ferry operator with boats from Barcelona to the Balearic Islands. Other ferry operators include Balearia between Barcelona and the Balearic islands of Menorca, Mallorca and Ibiza. Iscomar offers roughly the same connections as well.

Getting around

By Car

By Public Transport

Barcelona area is divided in 6 fare zones. Zone 1 include all Barcelona city and some of the suburbs (from Castelldefels to Montgat, and from the sea to Tibidabo). You only need to buy multizone tickets if you want to go to places as Sitges, Calella or Montserrat Abbey.

The Underground and the buses have several kinds of passes. One single journey ticket doesn't allow to make any change. But a 10-journey card ('T-10') and all other passes allow free change of mean of transportation (from metro to bus, bus to metro, bus to bus - but different bus line) during 75 minutes after the first validation. There are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 30 days travelcards, valid for unlimited number of journeys in N consecutive days. T-10 allows 10 combined journeys in any means of transport. T 50-30 allows 50 combined journeys in 30 consecutive days.

The easiest way to get around the city is either the underground (consisting of 8 lines, 5 from TMB -Transports Municipals de Barcelona- and 3 from FGC -Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya-) or buses. The underground has different schedules for different days of the week: from Monday to Thursday they run every 2-10 minutes between 5:00am and midnight. On Friday, Sunday and bank holidays they run every 2-10 minutes between 5:00am and 2:00am, while on Saturday besides running during daytime they also do for the whole night.

Buses are also quite reliable but however slower than the underground. There are a few lines of night buses starting at different parts of the city and covering diverse districts.

From 2004, the city has two branches of tramway, Trambaix (connecting Barcelona-Plaça de Francesc Macià and Baix Llobregat area) and Trambesòs (connecting Barcelona Zoo, in Vila Olímpica neigbourhood, Glòries and Fòrum area).

The more touristy Tranvia Blau is an old-style tramway. It's a short ride, about 10 minutes, connecting Av. Tibidabo underground station and Tibidabo funicular. Tranvia Blau uses an special ticket, bought on board.

There are also two companies running tourist buses: TMB's 'Bus Turístic' (the 'official', managed by the public company that runs city buses and metro), and Barcelona Tours (the 'unofficial', managed by two coach companies). Both buses go to the same sights, and you can go in and go out as often as you want during the validity of the ticket. Currently, Bus Turístic has three lines and Barcelona Tours just one.

By Foot

Many parts of Barcelona can easily be explored on foot. Wandering down Las Ramblas is one of the main attractions of a trip to Barcelona. And visiting the narrow streets Old Town is certainly much easier done on foot than by other means.

By Bike

Barcelona is a relatively bike friendly city with quite a few dedicated lanes and some nice routes along the beach and around the harbour.

There are several rental companies that will hire you a bike by the hour, day or week.

• Barceloneta Bikes is one of the city's most affordable options and is located right near the harbor and beaches.
• Biking in Barcelona is a co-operative promoting cycling in Barcelona. They offer tours as well as rentals.
• Budget Bikes provides good quality bikes and offers good reductions when you hire as a group.
• Fat Tire Bike Tours offers tours as well as bike hire.
• Bicing (Website in Spanish only) is a large bike hire scheme, but unfortunately it is only really targetted at residents. If you are going to be in Barcelona for a while, it might be a good option.

Eat

In the first place, and despite popular belief, you should take into consideration that paella is not originally from Barcelona, but rather from the Valencia region.

Barcelona has a wide range of choices: from the finest and most expensive restaurants, passing through a middle point, to the cheapest ones. Eating out could be quite expensive in the city centre, but if you have the time to wander around you can find very decent places for a very decent price, either in the city centre or in the outskirts.

The main dish from this part of Spain (Catalonia) consists of bread with tomato rubbed on it, with olive oil and salt. This is usually accompanied with different types of sausage (made of pork) such as fuet or llonganissa or Spanish ham.

While some restaurants consider it a main dish, others might just bring it to you as an accompaniment.

Drink

Barcelona is well-known by foreigners when it comes to drink. The main purpose of some people who go there is to get drunk. The reality is that it's not as cheap as it used to be, so unless you have some money in your pocket, getting drunk in Barcelona could be quite expensive.
Many pubs are located in the Old Town but some of them have abusive prices, so it would be a good idea to get away from the city centre.

• McCarthys Irish Bar Barcelona - Via Laietana, 44 - This is a genuine Irish owned pub with a great atmosphere and good prices. Located on a very busy and safe street in the centre of the Ciutat Vella.
• Tarantos - Plaça Reial 17 - A good place to experience flamenco shows at a very low price. Even though the place is rather small it allows you to be closer to the artists. Only open during the evening. Located near the very busy "Las Ramblas" street.

Sleep

There are some great hotels, hostels and homestays in which to stay in Barcelona but for a bit of independence and some good locations, renting an apartment is a great option. Depending on the size and location it can be an quite cheap, particularly if you are staying for more than a few days. Supermarkets are pretty good value and you can pick up fresh produce in the famous Boqueria market and cook up some Spanish inspired treats. Apartments also mean that you get more of a feel for the city as you will probably be living side by side with the locals!

There are some great apartments in the older areas, like El Borne although if they are in old buildings they can be quite small and don't always have a lift. First impressions can be misleading too, especially in the traditional buildings whose entrance ways may not have seen a lick of paint in decades and which often have narrow and dark stone stairways. Look beyond that though and many have been well restored and modernised inside!

Work

Learn

• Open University of Catalonia
• Autonomous University of Barcelona
• Polytechnic University of Barcelona
• Ramon Llull University
• Pompeu Fabra University
• IESE Business School
• ESADE Business School

Keep Connected

Internet

High speed internet is available in the most parts of the city. Most of the hotels and restaurants offer free Wi-Fi to their guests.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Telefonica is the main telephone provider of Spain and is responsible for installation and maintenance of telephone lines as well as offering internet, television and other value added services. Telefonica has monopoly in the rural areas whereas in Barcelona and other urban areas there are other service providers such as Orange, ya.com and tele2, having offers of cheaper calls to certain countries. Despite the stiff competition, Telefonica remains the preferred service provide due to superior customer service and prompt response to problems. The most central Telefonica stores can be found in Barcelona at Catalunya,16 and Gran de Garcia,143.

Post

The central post office in Barcelona is situated at Pz Antonio Lopez-Sots-Tinent Navarro, 34 and remains open till 9:30pm from Monday to Fridays and is open on Saturdays until 2:00pm. Apart from the postal services, most of the post offices also act as an agent of Deutsche Bank offering a range of Banking services and money can be transferred internationally via Western Union.
If you want to post a card, you can head to the post office (Correos). The Spanish post is not yet as efficient as colleagues in other countries so receiving a card can take a bit longer than the number of days that it should take. On the website of Correos, you can find the locations of nearby post offices.
When posting a letter, look for a yellow box and, if possible, post at the post office itself where there will also be divisions for local, national and international mail. Be prepared for long queues at the post office. This is why tobacco shops sell stamps and many will also have the facility to weigh packages. Standard letters/postcards of up to 20 grams sent within Spain are €0.34. However, non-standard letters/postcards of up to 20g are €0.39. Letters/postcards of 20 to 50 grams are €0.45. In the case of international shipping, the price is €0.64 to most countries within Europe for standard envelopes (letters/postcards) up to 20g, for a few European countries and outside Europe it is €0.78.

External Links

• Official Website
• Offical Municipal Transport Website
• Tourism Guide