Barcelona Card and Hop On Hop Off

Have you considered going on a walking tour rather than listening to recorded voice on a bus as you whiz past sights? Usually cheaper, certainly more green, and far more memorable. A live guide can answer your questions, give you tips for other places to go visit, events that are happening, or recommend museums. All things a HOHO bus will never be able to do.

I hadn't thought of that but an idea worth considering. Thank you!

You have 3.5 days at your disposal - more than enough time to do things on your own.
No need to rush through the sights with a HOHO Bus.
Buy the very economical T10 ticket for the very easy to use metro.

Day 1
Passeig de Gracia - Casa Mila - Casa Batllo - Park Guell
Day 2
Palau de la Musica Catalana - Ramblas - Bari Gotico - Picasso Museum - Barceloneta
Day 3
MNAC - Miro Foundation - Olympic Ring - Montjuic
Half Day
Sagrada Familia - Hospital Sant Pau

Just a thought in between DIY and hoho: a free walking tour. There are several companies in BCN offering them, but one of the most popular and (to me) better ones is http://www.runnerbeantours.com/tours

The HOHO buses can be a good visual orientation to the city if you just stay on the bus and ride the entire loop. There are a few different companies offering them in Barcelona. If you do decide you want to do it, I would suggest early morning. Then you have the rest of the day to explore the city and just use the HOHO to go from point to point if you wanted to.

The bus does give you a sense of the city and from the upper level it's an enjoyable ride through the different neighborhoods of the city. So if you put it in that context (which we did) I'd recommend it. However, I wouldn't rely on the audio on those HOHO buses or the disposable earbuds they give you. Most of the time the quality is horrible and even if you can hear it, not very informative - but it does dive some basics. Anyway, bring your own earbuds if you want to at least hear the commentary.

I found the commentary on the HOHO bus to be quite good, considering, and I didn't have a problem with the earbuds. As we rode around, I began to notice that everything they talked about on the commentary was "the biggest in the world", or "the best", or "the tallest", or "the first" or "the fastest". Strange coincidence that Barcelona could be home to the finest example of just about anything you can name. Even the Columbus memorial was "clearly the best" of all Columbus memorials in the world, even though he is pointing in the wrong direction to find the New World. But it was entertaining and took us all over.

I agree with Enric. I have done several walking tours over the years with both Runner Bean and the Barcelona Tourist office. They were all excellent!

Yes Nancy, that's a "sin" that every city commits... I've suffered in hohos in NY, Washington, Berlin, Moscow, London, Paris... you name it, but they are clearly all wrong, it's just a marketing gimmick (except for those in my city, of course, LOL!)

We will be in Barcelona in a couple of weeks and have signed up for several Runner Bean Tours, a Fat Tire bike tour and a tour by Hidden City Tours. If you have a minute I'd suggest you check out the Hidden City website. It sounds like a very unique company and definitely a one-of-a-kind walking tour. I ran across it through an article in the Guardian. While we haven't yet experienced any of these tour companies, we have taken walking tours pretty well everywhere we have ever travelled and have never regretted a single one. The commentary is personal and very much 'in the moment' plus you have the opportunity to ask questions. In my experience walking tours are very interactive and very informative and always money well spent.

Just for fun I checked the Trip Advisor listings for Barcelona. There are 404 tours listed of all different kinds, walking, bike, food, Wine, Jewish, ebike, boats, free, just show up, private, bus, limo, etc. The HOHO bus is listed at #129, which says a lot I think.