- Barcelona
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Spain
This is a bar that I would dearly love to have just down the road at home!
Small, cosy and intimate, playing great music from Joy Division, The Smiths, Bowie, The Sex Pistols, etc.. An indie mecca for music.
Friendly bar staff, cheap prices and never that concerned about closing! I left there at gone 2am and there was no sign of people leaving, in fact others were still coming in!
Do yourself a favour and discover this little gem!
This is a lovely, clean, airy apartment around 5-10 minutes from Las Ramblas.
It sleeps 2-4 people comfortably and has very good facilities and is also very secure.
The nearest Metro station is Liceu.
There are numerous places to eat in close proximity to the apartment, all of which are excellent and outstanding value.
Ramon, the owner of the property, was a lovely guy and a real pleasure to do business with.
I fully intend on staying at this apartment again when I next visit Barcelona and cannot think of a reason why I would want to stay anywhere else!
www.nicestay.net/ktht/public/pubUnitViewPage.asp?idTemplate=Te189&idEntity=De13
A friendly, bohemian cafe-bar in the Gothic quarter, just off Carrer de Ferran. Expect to be sitting alongside writers and artists - writing and drawing, no less - during your stay. Food is reasonably priced (eg soup and a main - the 'combi of the day' - for 6 euros). Plus the staff all seem to know English, but avoid speaking it if possible - usually a good sign.
5 Calle de Arai
Fabulous array of fresh food of every kind, also wine and other drinks, something for everyone. Definitely the place to shop if self catering, but some very good cheap vegetarian hot food outlets associated with the market. On a budget, or want to treat yourself, this is the place! The place buzzes, and is particularly atmospheric after dark. A little art nouveau as well! Open till 8.30pm, closed Sundays.
La Rambla 91 Nearest metro: Liceu
Barcelona can be pretty expensive for tourists, so when you go there I can give you a good tip: buy a discount card; it saves you a lot of money! I bought one, named the Go and Connect discount card, which was only 12 euros. With this card I was able to go out for almost nothing. I got discounts in a lot of shops, restaurants, clubs, transport rentals and more!
If you are interested you can check out their site to see where you can get the card and where you can get discounts - I think it is a must in an expensive but amazing city like Barcelona.
So-called restaurant in Placa Reial. Rude service, hardly any Spanish staff or proper food, below-average food quality (pork undercooked, veg swimming in grease), not worth the minimum 40-minute wait. Such a shame as a great location. Avoid this place if you want service with a smile and decent Spanish/Catalan food. Never before not left a tip anywhere. Here was a very sad first, but well-deserved.
6 Placa Reial, Barri Gotic
I went with wife and teenage son by train to Barcelona.
We drove to Lille via Eurotunnel and stayed at a budget hotel, leaving the car there the next morning when we took the nearby metro to Lille Flandres station.
This was because Eurostar and the train from home in Gloucestershire would together have been the most expensive part of the trip, and we could also bring back a decent quantity of wine!
Lille to Paris by TGV then Paris to Perpignan by TGV and a night there in a hotel near the station.
Lovely, intriguing chat with fellow travellers and a chance to explore a French Catalan city that evening.
Train next morning to Barcelona, which I think had come from Switzerland.
After a week's stay we reversed the trip and didn't feel the slightest bit travel-weary when we got home. We had to juggle around with train times on the SNCF web site to get best fares, but being accompanied by our young son seemed to give us cheaper fares than if we had only been a couple.
Roll on St Pancras to Barcelona without a change!
Renting an apartment is cheap in Barcelona because of the euro and low Spanish salaries.
Instead of staying in stuffy, outdated hotels or even stuffier, sweaty hostels, get a designer pad of your own, in the centre, near the beach, it's about 20-30 euro each per night and well worth it.
With this company we got a huge and very cool, new place just off the Ramblas to come and go as we pleased. Ace!
A charming little pension (budget hotel), run by two sisters, located just on the edge of the El Born district. A great option if you're on a budget.
Rooms - some ensuite, some shared facilities - are bright and airy, basic, but clean and comfortable. Rooms with balconies benefit from plenty of natural light but little noise, considering how close it is to the bustling Born bars and cafes.
Due to the age of the building, there is no lift, so it's a walk up about four flights of stairs to the Pension, which takes up the top two floors. Works of the tapas though!
Carrer de Rera Palau 4 - corner of Placa Olles and a 2 minute walk from Port Vell.
Tel: +34 93 3 19 03 76
Metro: Barceloneta
We were looking for a nice and affordable place in Barcelona to stay there for one week. We wanted something special, relaxing to enjoy our stay. We finally found our place via the website of Nicestay. As we were really pleased with everthing we promised those excellent guys to leave some recommendations here and there. And that's what it's all about.
Mastering the transport system early in a stay is a necessity to avoid too much foot-slogging. The Metro here appears, from the map, to have nearly as many lines and stations as the London underground. As with most cities a Tourist Card can be bought. Five days, about £15 and well worth it as it entitles you to free travel on all transport and discounts for museums etc.
But the Metro here is an aggressive one. Not the smoothness of Paris, nor the quaintness of Prague or Budapest, but instead, a hostile machine that only seconds before the doors close, sounds a peremptory signal. If by chance the safety device is triggered by a late-comer, the doors jerk open again with an angry hiss of hydraulics. There are no straps to hang onto and these trains stop and start violently.
It’s bad enough being in a crowded Metro in temperatures of 30 plus, but it’s your very worst nightmare come true when it grinds to a halt in the tunnel. Not an experience to be repeated. But it could happen in any Metro, London, Glasgow, Paris…
This market just off La Rambla is under an enormous lofty wrought iron roof resembling a Victorian railway station. Here can be bought just about every fruit and vegetable that can be thought of – and more. And everything fresh, every day – and unbelievably cheap. A kilo of tomatoes, ripe and bursting with flavour, for 39 cents.
Being a Mediterranean port, this is where fish reigns supreme. Every sort of fish – whole, gutted, filleted, dried, smoked, cooked, salted. Fresh and glistening in beds of glittering ice. From the lowly mackerel and sardine – unbelievable grilled over a hot barbecue, to octopus and langoustine. There can be no smell that is more evocative of the Mediterranean than that of shells of giant prawns roasting over charcoal. This gigantic market of food covers an area the size of a football pitch and is packed every day with shoppers till early evening.
This is a hotel in Barcelona with a great location and a friendly staff. My room had a balcony, was clean, and I had a good time there.
A lovely Indian/Pakistani restaurant located next to the Poble Nou metro station. They specialise in Tandoori, but for spicy food lovers the good news is that their dishes are prepared as they would be in Ireland or the UK, and not made mild for the locals!
Prices are very reasonable, if not downright cheap.
Nearest metro: Poble Nou.
Wonderful restaurant, serving gorgeous food at ludicrously affordable prices, it's deservedly popular, although be prepared to queue with locals and tourists alike (well worth it and the queue moves very swiftly) you almost feel sorry for the surrounding eateries whilst in that 50 yard long queue. Plaça Reial is a popular haunt with some of Barcelona's more "colourful" characters, which only adds to the restaurant's charm.
Plaça Reial, Barcelona. tel: 93 317 3075.
A very large modern tapas bar popular with locals. Excellent place for a group to go out for a meal/night out. The best thing about it is the prices, second best is the staff - great craic. You can sit at the bar for a casual bite and a beer, pointing out what you want from the huge array of appetising Tapas on display on the bar, or sit down and order off the menu. A group of four of us sat down for a meal at about 9.30.
We left after 2am (last out of the place), with plenty of beers and about three-four tapa each on board. The cost was an astonishing 30 euro each including a tip on top of the included service charge, as the waiter was such a laugh. Highly recommended for a cheap and utterly cheerful night out. You may have to wait a little while for a table, but people are constantly coming and going, so don’t be put off by a queue.
Rambla Catalunya, 18; tel: 93 318 1997
II found renting an apartment is a good-value option for a Barcelona city break. You pay about the same per night as for a standard double room in the cheaper hotels and get the benefits of self-catering facilities and more space. We rented a self-contained apartment just off the marina through Freestanza: clean, designer chic and about 70 euros per night. The beach, Gothic quarter, Ramblas and Borne all walkable. We felt we were living in Barcelona.
Cheap seafood tapas bar with a cool and quiet terrace.
Ginebra 13; tel: 93 319 50 02
A party palace of a hostel with clean, modern bathrooms located in the gorgeous (though rowdy by night) Placa Reial just off Las Ramblas. Lots of fun with organised pub crawls and a rooftop bar, Kabul can be noisy at night but is never boring. Good-sized lockers by each bunk and a vending machine selling one-euro beers in the bar. Ace.
A fab, simple tapas bar at the lower end of the Barri Gotic quarter. It has a horseshoe-shaped bar, on top of which is displayed a wide array of tapas. If you're uncertain in the Spanish language you can easily just point. Very friendly owners and frequented mainly by locals. They serve cava by the glass or why not try the white wine served in the strange little ceramic dishes? There are tables but it's much more fun to perch high on stools around the bar. From here you can listen to the chat and watch the fun. Try it and I bet it will become a firm favourite.
c/de la Mercè 16. Lower end of the Barri Gotic. If you're at the bottom end of the Ramblas, strike off right from the Statue of Christopher Columbus as you look up the Ramblas.
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