Guest Post By: Margie Miklas
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Barcelona, Spain is a huge city, with a population of around 1.6 million and five million people live in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. The city is definitely worthy of three days or more to visit the main sights. I only had part of a day here in a recent cruise port stop, so I opted to take the Barcelona City Tour by way of a hop-on hop-off bus.
This turned out to be a very effective and economical way for me to get a glimpse of the city's highlights and learn a little about it at the same time. I definitely plan to return one day when I can spend at least several days here.
Prices
The Barcelona City Tour is one of the most practical things to do in Barcelona. You can pre-book online and the price listed is 21.60 euros, but I bought the ticket on the bus and it was 19 euros. Actually I got a discount on top of that since i had saved my ticket from a bus tour in another city. The company gives you a 10 percent discount up to a year if you keep the ticket so it is a good deal.
At any rate I rode the bus for the entire route, then got home and back on another bus for the other route. The whole tour lasted over four hours, which is not a bad deal at all.
The routes have a few overlapping stops, where you are able to switch to the other route if you like. Since Barcelona is so big there are quite a few buses which stop every ten to twenty minutes, making it easy to travel to different locations in the city. You can get off at one stop and get back on at any stop as often as you like within a 24 hour period.
Stops
On the west route stops include all the famous landmarks in Barcelona beginning with Placa Catalunya, the hub of the city and the beginning of the pedestrian walkway, La Rambla. The next stop is in the Gothic district, followed by Paseo Colon, the large avenue connecting the city to the sea. The bus heads toward the World Trade Center at the port and then to beautiful Miramar Gardens with a panorama view of the coastline.
There are 18 stops on this route including the Olympic Stadium, the MNAC, former World's Fair Pavilion, Plaza Espana, the Barcelona train station, the soccer stadium, shopping areas, and the famous Gaudi buildings, Casa Mila, and Casa Battlo.
On the eastern route the 16 stops include Placa Cataluña, the Gothic Cathedral, Port Vell and the Sea Palace, the maritime district and the beaches, the Olympic Village, Ciutadella Park, the modern glass building of the National Theatre, some of the more modern architectural sights and the technological district, the hospital, Garden City, Tibidabo, and of course the very famous unfinished work of Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia.
I would recommend the sightseeing bus as an overview for a first-time visitor to Barcelona and then you have an idea of what you would like to see in more detail. Have fun.
Guest Post By: Margie Miklas
Follow Margie on her blog at margieinitaly.wordpress.com
