Thetownend.com

Right, planning a stag do to Barcelona, and need to know where are the best places to get off my rocker. I have been before, but barely explored the city, so have no ideas.

I have found some good hotels, but want to make sure we aren't far from a recommended area of bars.

Any help/tips mucho appreciated. Danke.

There's shit loads of the usual ex-pat bars which are alright but if you want some local flair the one place I remember going to was El Monestario which had local bands on, loads of hispanic fitties and, in the middle of Barca, Peroni on tap.

All I can tell you was that this was out towards the sea front and there was some weird monument across the square.

Don't want to go on Barry but just asked one of the blokes I went with, apparantly we all went to a club called La Mojhitos (sp?) on our second night and apparantly that's a good night out.

Regrettably all I can recall from the Sunday was banging through half a bottle of sambuca before we went to the football.  :?

Barry I will find out, had a top weekend in the city 3 years ago.  Although we ended up in a gay club being scared and leaving on last night

has anyone else seen the fountains which go to music and lights? personally i thought they were massively overrated, avoid. seemed popular with the other tourists though. nou camp worth a visit if you're into football.

stfctownenda will throw in the 'don't get mugged' option for your 'what to do in Barcelona' thread.  :hide:

The slots  :wink:  :mrgreen:

The zoo is ace - but probably not for a stag weekend  :D   Def do the Nou Camp tour though, unless you don't like heights.

Problem with the Nou Camp is that its a little bit far out of the centre, so you'll need to pay to get there.

We visited the bit Cathedral thing (Gaudi?), and it was impressive from the outisde, just don't pay to go inside! Its basically a building site.

Have to take a walk down Las Ramblas, lots of bars and stuff down there. We also ended up in the worlds dodgiest strip bar on the Saturday night, but only because it had been such a damp squib.

Best place to go for the night is down to the beach. Loads of good clubs down there, and people generally stay up all night, and then kip on the beach til sunrise (the clubs are literally right by the beach, as in you come out the door, and step onto the sand).

Patrick Kluivert owns (or used to own) a club there, and this is where we went. Expensive, but we managed to get our own VIP area for the price of a couple of bottles of Absolut Vodka, with free mixers all night. Also, there areas seem to be a honey pot for the ladies, so could be well worth it.

Sagrida Familia or something like that would be the Cathedral I think.

The fountains are probably from Placa D'Espagna which leads up to the Olympic Stadium.  If you are into views then it's worth going up the top to the old Diving Pool which has spot on views of the whole City, but the fountains weren't on both times I was there.

Camp Nou is worth a visit, think it's near a Metro station from memory so it's easy to get to.

Gaudi's Park I suppose, just to think why someone would spend so much time tiling.  It's not much fun doing a kitchen with big tiles, let alone a whole park with baby sized ones.

There are plenty of bars off the main roads which often lead to little tucked away squares.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: Tis very true young spaniard bastards always try to prey on tourists when there wrecked so try and stay alert.  Me and a mate were out there for Rangers v Barca game end of last year, these kiddies came up and started singing and dancing with us couple of hours after the game and pick pocketed my mate stealing 130 euros and I caught one trying to pick pocket me luckily they got nothing from me, we chased them and my mate kicked one of them but unfortunately in our drunken state couldn't catch them.  Had a fantastic couple of nights out there though and on the whole the locals were very friendly just look on the web before and make sure you avoid certain areas.  For the best night life its best to head towards the port etc.

Oh, and to echo townendas post, One of our guys got his wallet snatched from his pocket in a bar whilse we were there.

Unecessary hassle.

Thanks people. I've done the Gaudi Cathedral before, (which is unbelievable, even from the inside and up those towers!), just didn't know where was 'happening'.

Beach and port sound good, and i'll look up those places you mention DMR. Any more suggestions welcomed. ;)

La Rambla and old bit of town (can't remember the proper name) is quite good for a wander down early evening and there's a small square off it that had a load of bars and stuff in it. We didn't have any trouble anywhere but we went in March so not exactly tourist peak season. Sure that helps.

Just go fighting at La Rambla.
Nuff said.

The bus tours are good to do they show you round the city - and they even go to Camp Nou (do the stadium & museum) which is fantastic and you can get on and off when you want, they run until late evening.

Beware of some of the "street performers" on the Ramblas they try and con you into playing their 'games' for money and have freinds there theta whisper to you you can't lose and offer to help you and you end up losing any money you put down.

I did one of those bus tours on a day trip from Salou. The Nou Camp was quite impressive although it was being prepared for a 3 tenners concert.

The Gaudi cathedral is quite a sight as well, especially from up in the mountain/hill side, there is some kind of rock ledge that they call "The balcony" or something from which you can look over the whole city.

They also took us to the olympic village, and whilst there I manged to slip badly twisting my ankle causing it to swell up to the size of a large orange. I was pretty much out of action for the rest of my holiday which didn't stop me from drinking heavilly whilst sat by the pool with me dodgy ankle up.

It was OK all in all, Barcelona has some well impressive architecture, in particualy The Gaudi and colinial buildings.

Just a shame the Spaniards where a bunch of cunt's. I found the whole thing very similar to Paris myself only with beaches and hotter.

I'm off to Barcelona in May, going for 3 days and on the Saturday going to Camp Nou for Barca v Mallorca. Prior to that, 3 days in Madrid including 'El Derbi'

This weeks Travellers Tree on Radio 4 was on today and about Barcelona. I had it on the background, probably had lots of handy things to do. Maybe not so much for the drinking crowd though.

You can listen again somewhere...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/travellerstree/

there you go.

Oh, a tip.

Should, for whatever reason you find yourself in a food market place. Don't touch the fruit to check it for ripeness, cos they go FUCKING BALLISTIC if you do. Trust me, I speak from experience.

You have been forewarned.

Besides you won't wanna go there anyway because I saw things like skinned rabbit's on ice that where still breathhing, as I said before the Spaniards were proper cunts.

Cheers fB, I'll have a listen, although i've had my fill of planning this trip and have decided enough is enough. This is going to be the Hotel (http://www.alpharooms.com/barcelona_princess_in_barcelona.aspx?search=true), which seems plenty good enough for some working class yobs, especially as it has a free minibar. And we're flying by Easyjet. In total it's £160 ish per person . Good enough in my eyes. And thanks for the tip BR.

Stay near las ramblas in the gothic area, nice and near the sea, and stuff worth seeing - and spot on for the impressive umnderground system.  The aquarium is ace, maybe try it with some mushrooms as my mate did with the sea life centre a few years ago, he was proper freaked out.

barri gotic - that was the name of the place i was on about.

Fuck a whore. Only around 40 euros for a suck and fuck