A few additional questions on Barcelona.
1. We will arrive on the December 30th after visiting Girona/Besalu. It occurred to me that the places we'd like to visit may be impacted by the New Year's holiday. Could you offer some advise in terms of main tourist sites that will be closed or closed early on 12/31 and 1/1 and possibly suggestions on what we can do? We do plan a day to go to Montserrat. If much is closed in Barcelona on 1/1, might that be a good day for Montserrat? Can you recommend a "more family friendly" New year's eve activity?
2. As bad as I am at learning languages, I try to learn the handful of "polite" words/phrases. We do know a small amount of Spanish. Should we try to learn some Catalan? Is Spanish appreciated or are we just as good with English?
3. Is there any kind of museum and/or transportation pass? I am travel with my two college aged daughters. Do student IDs offer any discount?
4. In January, for what tourist attractions should we prepurchase tickets?
Thank you
Juli
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
Articket is good value if you are planning a lot of museums. http://articketbcn.org
T10 tickets on the metro are my choice - ten rides at a discounted price.
These are all best prebooked, regardless of the time of year....
Picasso Museum
Sagrada Familia
Park Guell
Palau de la Musica Catalana
Posted by
Barcelona (Catalonia)
2942 posts
Hi Juli
1.) January 1st is a public holiday and you'll find many sites closed. It's one of two or three days during the year in which most everything is closed, including many museums and similar. A few of the most popular sites though are open... but you need to check their individual websites to confirm as I don't know them by heart!
2.) It is always advised. In the Barcelona metro area -where we have many migrants from Spanish-speaking regions and countries as well as from elsewhere-, a myriad of languages are spoken, but elsewhere is mostly Catalan for the majority of people (albeit Spanish is also spoken and English also to a certain point), but also out of respect as Catalan is the local language in Catalonia -including in its capital Barcelona. Despite you might (or might not!) go by with another language, whenever one's visiting someone else's home, a few words/sentences in the local language are always appreciated, at least it shows your acknowledgement that you're a guest and that you're making the effort. No one expects you to master Catalan or any other language, but simple sentences like good morning, thank you or hello will put a smile in many locals and their response towards you will be much warmer, of course (ie. making the effort to try to "understand" you if you speak in a "foreign" language). Try http://wikitravel.org/en/Catalan_phrasebook ... and if you're curious how Catalan sounds, check here... choose the "language" tab and scroll down to the section with the Rolling Stone tongue-out sticker, you'll find several examples. Besides, Catalan is another Romance language, much like French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, so if you already know a bit of any of the above, you'll find learning a few sentences in Catalan very easy.
3.) Not for museums or similar. In Barcelona alone, there are 150+ sites worthwhile visiting but most are privately run therefore each one has its own rules/discounts, etc. There's something called BarcelonaCard with discounts to certain places, but in practical terms, it's not value-for-money for most visitors. Do your math. Also the above mentioned ArtTicket, but it merely covers a handful of museums related to art (duh!). There is, however, some discounts for students in many sites. Check the individual sites for further info, but in most cases, it only requires a valid Student Card -from university, high school... Yet some sites will accept only the International Student Identity Card.
As per transportation, you'll realise soon enough you are bound to walk much more than you probably expect, thus all-day unlimited travel passes are hardly worthwhile either. Take a look at the T-10 travelcard, and get one -you can share with your family, no need of one for each.
4.) For the most popular, namely Casa Balló, Casa Milà, Sagrada Família, Park Güell.... you better do... damn tourists are always pouring into the city and these and other sites tend to be busy all the time, LOL!
Sorry for the brevity, I'm on the move!
Enjoy.
Posted by
Washington DC
27188 posts
I suggest hot-footing it to the tourist office under Pl. Catalunya as soon as you can upon your arrival on Dec. 30. When I visited during August, it had a very handy single sheet of paper showing the days and times some sites (not usually the commercially operated ones) were free. Normally there are a lot of free options on the first Sunday of the month, which will be January 1. But perhaps there will be free-entry opportunities on December 31 or January 2 for the sites that are closed on New Year's Day. I'd definitely check. I would also verify which sites are expected to be open, in case something has changed since the information I'm citing was posted on the websites.
That tourist office has quite a variety of English-language brochures on display. One of you can stand in line while the others browse the take-away offerings for interesting possibilities. I also recommend the walking tours organized by the T.O. The Barri Gotic one gives a good bit of historical context.
There are other tourist offices, including one at Sants Station, but I don't know what you'll find in the way of hand-outs at the smaller locations, so I recommend going to Pl. Catalunya if possible. It also has longer hours and is not far from Casa Batllo or the edge of the Barri Gotic that's farthest from the port.
The Palau de la Musica Catalana can be visited only on a tour or by attending a performance there, so it would be best not to leave that arrangement till the last minute if it's a site you want to visit. January 1 has a flamenco performance at 5 PM and a Strauss concert at 9. During your visit tours seem to be operating only on January 1 (English at 11 AM, noon, 1 PM) and January 3 (10, 11, noon, 1, 3).
I did some Googling and found this information on the official websites (but I can't guarantee its accuracy):
Parc Guell is open from 8:30 AM to 6:15 PM (last entry 5:30 PM) every day in winter, including January 1. Outdoors; watch weather.
The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya is free after 3 PM on Saturday, December 31, but is closed on January 1. Otherwise it is open 10 to 6. Fine museum.
The Picasso Museum closes at 2PM on December 31 and is totally closed on January 1.
Sant Pau will be closed on January 1. Open other days 10-4:30
Palau Guell is closed on January 1 and otherwise open 10 - 5:30. Last entry is at 4:30 PM. I believe you see the rooftop here, as well.
Casa Batllo is selling Jan 1 tickets for entry between 9 AM and 7:45 PM. This site sells a lot of tickets with seemingly little regard for how crowded it can get. I suggest paying attention to the information about ticket availability displayed on the website. You may be able to select a time that will be a bit less crowded. You do see the roof on your visit, so it's best to go on a day when the weather is OK.
Casa Mila (La Pedrera) will be open on Jan 1 and is selling admissions between 11 AM and 8 PM.
For your other days the site opens at 9 AM. This is another site where you go up on the roof. I see that there is a small student discount.
La Sagrada Familia will be open from 9 AM to 2 PM on Jan 1. Last entry is at 1:15 PM (not enough time, really). On your other days the hours are 9 to 6. Be careful about your ticket selection; there are a number of options, the cheapest of which does not include the audio guide or a guided tour. Going up one of the tours is a more expensive ticket.
Note about cost: The modernista sights tend to be quite expensive, in the area of 20 euros (or more) each. I loved them, but if you're not sure about your level of interest, don't go crazy and spend a lot of money on advance-purchase tickets; wait and see how you respond to the first place you see. You can monitor a lot of the websites and see whether they still have a lot of slots available on a day-by-day basis.