Girls First Trip to Barcelona, need help planning for a few days!

Each person is a world in itself and we all have our preferences, expectations, tastes and oddities.

Thus, in order not to be uselessly shooting in the dark, it's best if you first have a look at the myriad of possibilities that Barcelona has to offer and prepare your own 'bucket list'.

Here a few sites to get you started:

http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/
http://www.infocatalonia.eu/
http://www.timeout.com/barcelona
http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en
http://www.barcelonaesmoltmes.cat/en/inici

Once you have a rough itinerary, it's far easier to advise and provide tips.

Enjoy! :)))

Where you stay depends in part, maybe in large part, on your budget. I stayed close to Plaza de Catalunya, good transportation options and very central. Many attractions are in walking distance between it and the seashore. It's about 20-25 minute walk (or a couple stops on the inexpensive metro) from the plaza to the shore, but I don't know where exactly the beaches are (my visits have been in winter). There's plenty of night life and you'll be safe, just take normal precautions against pickpockets.

Like Enric said, we have no idea what floats your boat. I can tell you that Barcelona has lots and lots for every taste. If you want to see the top Gaudi sights, you need to buy tickets in advance.

Friday pm
•El Born - Picasso Museum & Basilica Santa Maria del Mar
•Parc de la Ciutadella
•Barceloneta

Saturday
•Palau de la Musica Catalana
•Ramblas - La Boqueria & Placa Real
•Bari Gotico - Cathedral

Sunday
•Sagrada Familia
•Park Guell
•Passeig de Gracia - Casa Mila & Casa Batllo

Monday am
•Montjuic - MNAC & Miro Museum

You can see my post under jlkwinone.

As the others said, do some research first...Two of my favorite bars where Dry Martini and the speakeasy Paradiso / Pastrami Bar. You walk through a small sandwich shop to get into the bar...It is also really close walking distance to maybe the best Tapas bar in Barcelona - Cal Pep - small and reservations highly suggested...

We traveled with both of my daughters - 26 & 30 (and her husband also 30). In fact my 26 yr old daughter's friend joined us half way between her trip of traveling alone. Her friend stayed in some of the hostels in France and did not have a good experience.

We stayed in the Eixample district of Barcelona. It has the more modern feel and vibe. Great restaurants and bars. My daughter and friend stayed out later at the bars but did not go to the clubs. Clubs open after the bars close.

If you don't have much time I'd would do a hop on hop off tour...I'm normally not a fan but if you take the right route you'll cover a lot and then decide what you want to go see afterwards. I think its about $35. just ask which is the best route (old city would be good)

We went to 2-3 bars a night and all seemed friendly. Usually, someone on the waitstaff spoke English at the bars but not all. As always, be aware and keep your purse on you. Use your instincts. Have fun

Thank you for all the advice, tips, and websites to look at, very helpful.
@djp_syd Your itinerary was exactly what I was looking for, all the major places to see for a first-time in Barcelona. I will use yours as a base, thank you!

Anyone reading for their own Barcelona trip, I have another Spain post under my name I had placed in the wrong section but ended up with a lot of specific suggestions for places to see!

The Barcelona hop-on/hop-off buses are sometimes subject to long lines and delays. Public transportation in the city is very good, and I have my doubts about the value of HOHOs there, especially for travelers who don't have a lot of time. I recommend not spending that money and keeping the funds in reserve in case you get into a bind somewhere and need to take a taxi.

Where to stay in Eixample? Or is there a better location? We will be in Barcelona for 4 days. We are reluctant to rent an apartment since we do not speak the language and might need the assistance of a hotel staff. We typically stay at small boutique hotels. Thx!

I just returned from a trip with a friend and we had 4 nights in Barcelona. We rented a vrbo - but be careful that they have a license... our first airbnb was canceled I think because there was a crackdown. We rented from Jose, he has a lot of apartments, and he was great! He met us at arrival and departure, no problems at all. Language no issue, he spoke english, and really we had no problems in Barcelona at all getting by with very limited high school Spanish.

This is the one we stayed in, but looks taken - email him for others. /www.vrbo.com/241486 We just got back 2 days ago! :) I would look for a place with air conditioning because it was HOT. He was SUPER nice and helpful!

As for the beach, we had planned to go but we walked down there to check it out the night before and it was not our scene (I am 45, she is an older-soul 32)... in your 20s maybe you will like it. It was definitely a Miami South Beach vibe, very different to the rest of Barcelona, so we skipped it. But the young people looked to be having fun! :)

Book tickets in advance or you will not get into the major sites. We booked Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Picasso museum (we booked these day of to avoid the line) - if you want to visit the insides of the Gaudi houses you should book those too. We saw a couple Flamenco shows (one at Tablao Flamenco Cordobes and one at the Palau de la Musica). We ate a lot of awesome food too!

I have a lot of details in my travel blog if you want to check it out... look for the ones "Physics in Europe 2017" (we are both science teachers...). Still have to go back and add photos to my other trips... I had to change websites. I think I named all of the restaurants in there.

https://onatangentweb.wordpress.com/

Have a good trip!
Kim

Oh and it is totally safe at night... Barcelona is active until very late... just use good common sense.

Kim: thanks for the link. Did you think it was better to stay in that neighborhood? Was it fairly easy to get to all the attractions you listed? We usually are so tired after a day of sight seeing... we like to have dinner close to where we are staying. Would that be possible with the apartment you stayed at? thx, again!

I think there are probably a number of boutique hotels in the Eixample. It's a very large area, so it's important to look at addresses of potential lodgings on Google Maps or the equivalent. You want to be near a Metro staton. If you're fairly close to Placa Catalunya, you'll have a pretty easy walk to the Barri Gotic, El Born and El Raval. As a bonus, the airport bus terminus is on Pl. Catalunya.

I spent a good bit of time walking through the central part of the Eixample last August, and there were definitely restaurants scattered around. It's a residential area with many middle- and upper-middle-class apartment buildings. I figure there should be lots of good, non-touristy options there, though the highest density of restaurants seemed to be in the historic (touristy) neighborhoods closer to the port.

It was a nice area and had many restaurants - we sometimes ate there and sometimes more Bari Gotic area... then walked home (20 minutes or so) or took a cab a couple of times. They were very easily to hail, honest and easy. Under 10 euro every time we took one! We took the metro a couple times too. Get a T-10 ticket and share it - it's only like 10 euro and will give you 5 rides together.

The Las Ramblas, Bari Gotic area is active like 24/7... we liked to be able to retreat to a quieter place in the afternoons and at night. You might like to be closer to the action.... but beware things do not stop early in Barcelona.

I liked where we stayed because it was a little closer to Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell - 2 places we were going to visit.
Just depends on what you want.. or honestly, where you can even find a good place because you waited very long to book something... at this point I would find what you can that has air conditioning! You guys might be ok in a single hotel room -- we wanted more space.

But do get your tickets for the sites - one of our students was there just before us and said they could not get tickets to Sagrada Familia (what a shame). And then day we got to Parc Guell for our pre-reserved 10am time slot, they were selling tickets that day for 5:30pm.

Have fun!

Also are you planning Louvre and Eiffel Tower? You might not get Eiffel tower tickets now, so if you want that I would plan to arrive very early... The Louvre line was insane as well, so I would get pre-tickets for that too.