During our recent Barcelona vlog, there were a number of thoughts I wasn’t able to share.
Practical tips like what’s the best travel card, which attractions should you book buy
online, where should you stay, why you should think twice about buying attraction tickets
from third party sites, the best food we didn’t show and more. And you better believe I’m
going into more detail than the average YouTube Barcelona video, because this time, I’m
bringing spreadsheets.
If you’re new here, we make travel videos from around the world, hoping you might just
find your next holiday inspiration.
This, is Suitcase Monkey, with 14 tips on getting the most from Barcelona.
We had 4 days and 3 nights in Barcelona which I think was about right. You could however,
visit the city over 2 nights, assuming you arrived early morning. So, I not only wanted
to list all the attractions we did here, but put them in order from what is absolutely
“must do”, to what is “do it if you have time”. For the itinerary of what we
got up to, check out our 3 Full Days in Barcelona video which I’ll link below.
Sitting firmly in the Must Do camp, is Park Guell. For this, I would highly recommend
you buy your ticket online, in advance. And, for a few reasons. Now, most of the park itself
is free to access but, for only €10, you get access to one of THE Barcelona views,
the impressive serpentine bench covered in intricate mosaic tiles and you’ll get a
nice clean, empty photo of the worlds most famous salamander. If people of course, would
just get out of the way!
(CAMERA CLICKS)
There we go…
The €10 ticket also includes a shuttle bus which runs from the Alfons X metro station,
so it’s also the quickest way to reach the actual park. The other reason why you should
pre book is this: We purchased our tickets at 9:30 for a 13:30 entry to the restricted
area. When we arrived at midday, this was the queue to purchase tickets and the next
available slot was 5pm.
If you are just visiting to wander around the free area, there is still easily 90 minutes
of exploring to do so its still worth a trip. The closest metro or bus lines are on the
screen and then its a 10 to 20 minute walk from there.
While we’re on the subject of buying tickets online, be aware of third party ticketing
websites or Google sponsored results. When trying to book Park Guell, I clicked onto
a site that seemed official enough, coming up top. BUT, this site added a €3 per ticket
service fee. Even Barcelona.com which you would assume was semi official wanted to add
a whopping €4 cost per ticket, which is 40% for all you mathematicians out there.
And here for the Sagrada Familia with a €7 surplus charge per ticket. Now I’m sure
there are reputable third party sites out there but my point is, just be aware of add
on fees.
In terms of choosing a good location for accommodation, anywhere here will have most attractions within
walking distance. The 3 areas that are good central districts are El Born, The Gothic
Quarter and where we stayed in Eixample. Here, our hotel was a 10 minute walk to Casa Batllo
and 15 minutes to Sagrada Familiar and only a few minutes from the L3, 4 and 5 metro lines.
It also meant we had 1 simple direct train on the R2 Nord from the airport.
The area is known for its stylish boutiques, bars and restaurants and we had a great breakfast
nearby which I’ll cover later. The hotel itself was funky, quiet, affordable, modern
and friendly. For example, we had an issue where our safe would tell us with some sarcasm
that our piles were open, and it just wouldn’t lock. They quickly fixed this, left a charming
note and some sugary goodness for the trouble. Again, I’ll leave a link in the description
for those wanting to check it out. And you’ll be supporting this channel if you click it,
even if you book a different hotel, in a different country at no extra cost to you, so thank
you in advance.
If you’ve seen our accompanying video, you’ll know how much I was in awe of the Sagrada
Familia. One thing I wish we’d done, was to go up one of its two towers. This will
give you a unique and close up view of the structure, as well as one of the highest viewpoints
in the city. There are 2 towers to choose from, named Passion and Nativity. Since you
have to choose one when booking, the Nativity side seems to be the better choice, and for
3 main reasons. One is that Gaudi himself oversaw the building of this Tower before
his death, Two; the sculptures on this side are said to be much more decorative and thirdly;
It’s the only Tower that features an outside bridge, letting you cross one from tower to
the next. These tower trips WILL sell out so definitely book in advance for the relatively
inexpensive 7 Euros.
And as a last tip here, you can also get a hefty 50% discount if you are below 30, and
visit on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday during the last two hours of opening. Which, if my
YouTube analytics are correct, will make about 30% of you very happy, you crazy kids.
Now, for a few general Barcelona tips that are useful to know. In regards to tipping,
it’s not considered customary to give gratuity here. However, it seems to be the general
consensus that if you wish, 5% is appropriate for good service and 10 for great. Anecdotally
speaking however, we found that service rarely went beyond as expected, and was one area
here that was just ok. Still, would you rather spend 0% to receive the bear minimum of acceptable
service or 20% for outstanding? Actually, I don’t know…
It is safe to drink from the taps here. One tip, is that if you’ve finished a water
bottle, kept a hold of it. There are hundreds of free public drinking fountains all over
the city so keep your eyes out for a free top up.
While wandering around, even at night, we found Barcelona to be a very safe city. That
said, it has unfortunately been called the pick pocket capital of the world. We didn’t
have any trouble, or see any trouble during our time here but just always keep your valuables
in sight and attached to yourself.
Barcelona, much like the rest of Europe uses the 2 pin round connectors for its sockets.
If you are looking for the ultimate travel adapter to be used all over the world, then
look no further than this videos sponsor, Ceptics. This is literally the grandaddy of
world wide travel adapters and goes way beyond the average travel plug.
Firstly, it can handle an impressive 5 devices from one outlet since it fits not only your
traditional plug, but also 3 USB and 2 USB C slots. This is really convenient when you’re
in a hotel room that only has 1 or 2 outlets and you end up having to share plugs for all
your devices. It’s suitable for your mobile phone, laptop, battery chargers, tablets and
most other things you’ll likely have with you when travelling. It’s high 33 watts
of power mean it will charge your devices much faster than a normal travel adapter so
even a quick 45 minute blast should see you through the day when you’ll be taking lots
of photos.
It’s feels lightweight, yet well built and sturdy, and holds even heavy plugs like the
beast that is my MacBook Pro 16inch power brick without falling out the wall.
The travel adapter also includes surge protection, to protect you and your devices from external
shock and short circuit when charging.
I’ll leave a link in the description if you want to check it out and I’ll also place
a 10% coupon code if you’re interested. Thank you to Ceptics for supporting this channel.
Next is when is the best time to Visit Barcelona and this is the bit you’ve all been waiting
for, that’s right, we’ve got a spreadsheet coming! From the bucket load of destinations
that makes up our to-go list, one of the reasons that made us choose Barcelona was that we
were travelling in November. Barcelona has some of the best winter months when it comes
to Europe and temperature. As our spreadsheet here demonstrates, lets call him Steve, November
can experience a high of 18 degrees. We wanted to travel in the winter, have a short, cheap
flight AND not be freezing cold. Which we got with it being around 14 degrees. If being
able to sunbathe on the beach isn’t important to you, you’ll also benefit from a relatively
quiet city.
But the main point I’d like to make, is that there isn’t really a bad time to visit.
Steves cousin here, Larry has kindly broken down the 12 months for you so feel free to
pause and have a look.
Now lets talk public transport and how to get the best from your money. There are a
number of different options here and it can be a bit overwhelming. After landing at Barcelonas
El Prat airport, a popular way into the city is the Aerobus which is a €10.20 return.
This goes from both Terminals, and takes approximately 20 minutes into the centre, making it the
quickest option. From then onwards, single metro and public buses are €2.40 each. If
you’ll be travelling more, it works out cheaper to get the TEE CAZWELL T-Casual. Priced
at €11.35, this gives you 10 bus and metro tickets, paying for itself from the fifth
journey. We actually opted for the Hola Barcelona travel card. This gives unlimited travel,
from 2 to 5 days starting at €15. Although Barcelona is very much a walking city and
fairly compact we found this gave us the freedom to zip around without feeling the need to
keep tabs on our remaining tickets. There are a few more finer details with this so
Larrys sister, Denise, has kindly put this table together for those who want a bit more
info.
Originating in the 1920s, the Magic Fountain gained popularity once it was given a new
lease on life during the Olympic Games. If you are to visit, here’s a few things that
are useful to know. Firstly, it happens as little as 3 times a week so check in advance
what days it’s actually running. There are a couple other sites nearby so allow at least
45 minutes to wander around before show time. In the summer months, if you really want a
close up view, it’s generally suggested to arrive about an hour before. Since we visited
off peak, we easily got our place at the front 15 minutes before. Alternatively however,
just arrive late, have no concept with the existence of other people and push pass everyone
to get to the front. Much like these 2 massive knob heads. And for extra brownie points,
take a note of the wind direction before you find a spot. I did notice some people getting
pretty wet and moving once they realised they were in the spray zone. Overall though, this
20 minute mixture of pop music and jets is a great climax to end your first or last evening
in the city.
Next, lets talk all the cafes and restaurants I’d recommend you mark on your Map. I only
covered some in our Travel vlog so wanted to give a shout out to those I missed. To
give a quick recap from our previous vlog, the number one I would suggest is El Quim
in La Boqueria Market. Don’t stress if its too busy though, there are so many good food
options here, you’ll easily find something. We did actually come back another time to
sample smaller bite sized treats and its fun just searching around for food and picking
things up as you go.
Then in the Gothic Quarter was Tasca El Corral which had this amazing assortment of chorizo,
cheese and bread. Somewhere I didn’t show in the vlog was Caelum. Also in the Gothic
Quarter, this pastry cafe was perfect for a quick coffee and sugar rush to get us through
the day. And if you’re in this area looking for tapas, you can’t go wrong with a stop
at Bar del Pla.
Finally, if you are staying in the area we were, a really good breakfast option is the
Ganja Petibo… No sorry. Granja Petitbo. Pancakes, eggs, Muesli, all good stuff!
Check out our full 3 Day Itinerary in Barcelona for the full picture of what we got up to,
and subscribe for more guides and vlogs around the world. We already have London, Santorini,
Malta, Japan, Marrakesh, Kenya, Tuscany, Rome, The Maldives and much more coming, so we hope
to see you in the next one. Thanks for watching Suitcase Monkey.