It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time in Barcelona on vacation, or if you’re going to Barcelona every year to watch a match. Avoiding these mistakes will make your trip much more enjoyable. Moreover, it might also save you precious time, and money.
Plan your dates and prepare for schedule changes
This tip is for the fans that plan their vacation in advance. For example, if I know that I’m going to the Barca- Villarreal match on November, I should plan my weekend trip at least until Monday. Furthermore, I would also arrive on Thursday, for bigger margin for errors.
Why is that? Let’s say that I want to book a hotel and buy tickets in advance. If I’d buy tickets from now, there isn’t a final schedule for this match. Therefore, the match could take place on Sunday evening, and If I’d book my flight for that evening I might miss it. Although the chances for that are slim, there’s still a chance the match could take place on Friday.
Moreover, buying a ticket for the morning of Saturday might also be a problem, if there would be any delays or changes. Therefore, I wouldn’t take that risk.
Mind the hotel’s location
It doesn’t matter if you’re a bunch of friends who need a dorm room, or a couple looking for the honeymoon suite. Barcelona has one of the best Metro rails in Europe, and finding your way in the City is pretty easy.
However, in Barcelona there are 8 different Metro routes, plus bus and Tram routes. Therefore, it recommended that you make sure that your hotel is close to a relevant Metro station. You wouldn’t want to change rails everytime you go on a trip in the city.
The Camp nou, La Rambla, Placa Catalunya, Place Espana, Sagrada Familia and many more are closer to the route L3 of the Metro. Therefore, my trip is to find a hotel that is close to one of the stations on that route. Of course, staying near Place Catalunya or La Rambla is great, but it’s up to you and your budget.
Don’t eat in the ‘visitor traps’ in ‘La Rambla’
‘La Rambla’ boulevard is probably the most famous in Barcelona, and most tourists are walking on that boulevard at least once a day. However, no matter how hungry you are, never settle for one of the restaurants in the middle of the boulevard!
How can you recognize those ‘visitor traps’? Most times you will see those restaurants in the middle of the walk, with big pictures of dishes and a person inviting you in.
The food in those restaurants is mediocre, overpriced and many times just not tasty. It’s a waste of time to spend your money on those restaurants, when there are much much better places to eat! Where? Stay tuned for future article about it.
Plan your visit to the Camp nou tour and museum, not on matchday
Although visiting the Camp Nou on match days IS possible until about a hour before the match, I won’t recommend it. The reason is that many of the tourists who visit the stadium are going to the tour on matchdays, and the place is crowded.
If you visit the area on days without matches, the place is a lot less crowded. You will have plenty of room to take pictures and have fun!
So I would recommend planning 2 visits to the Camp nou on your Barcelona vacation. One should be for a match, and other for visiting the stadium and the museum for several hours.
There are several “packages” availiable for the Camp nou tour. However, we recommend the basic “museum + tour” package, which is more than enough to have a great experience. Tourists pay about 26 euros for admission to the museum + tour. Click here to order – Buy at the checkout price, receive the ticket directly to the email, show the ticket at the entrance and skip all the mountains of tourists waiting for checkout.
Don’t carry all your cash in the pockets
Barcelona is a very friendly city, that will make you feel comfortable for your whole vacation. However, as other popular and crowded cities, there are some pickpockets and thieves in the city.
Although I don’t think that you should stay on alert like you’re at war, you should be aware to that. Therefore, we recommend walking on the streets without your whole cash in your pocket.
Just be aware to everything that is around you, keep your cash in several places, and keep your wallets near. The rest of your energy should be spent on having fun!
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