With over 16 million tourists visiting every year, it\u2019s fair to say that Barcelona is one of the most touristic cities in the world, famed for intricate architecture from Antoni Gaudi, long sandy beaches and mountains both in and at the back of the city. This week though, it\u2019s all about MotoGP but how can you maximise your time in one of Europe\u2019s great destinations?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the beaches and the vibe you can experience down there; Barceloneta beach may well be the most well known but head north and you\u2019ll find the vast expanse of Bogatell in the trendy Poble Nou district whilst south and out of the city, take a pitstop in Castelldefels, with calm waters and long, natural sandy beaches inviting enough for everyone. Then, where Spain excels everywhere along the coast is the atmosphere \u2013 chiringuitos are beachfront bars that offer a chance to soak up the sun whilst enjoying the atmosphere and this part of Spain has them in pretty much every beach. Whilst we race here in May, June onwards is where you can guarantee the ideal experience.<\/p>\n
Then, if beaches are (somehow) not your thing but architecture is, Barcelona has it covered. We can\u2019t start anywhere else other than the Sagrada Familia, one of Gaudi\u2019s many wonders in the Catalan capital, along with Casa Batllo and Casa Mila \u2013 the latter of which is known as \u2018La Pedrera\u2019 and still houses one tenant even now. Parc Guell is another must visit on the Gaudi trail, along with Palau Guell and Casa Vicens (Gaudi\u2019s first house). However, it\u2019s worth noting that there\u2019s PLENTY of buildings to look at across the city, whether that\u2019s the Arc de Triumf, Montjuic Castle or the old bullfighting arenas of Arenas (Placa Espanya) and La Monumental (Gran Via, Carrer Marina).<\/p>\n
Intertwining architecture and modern living, let\u2019s give you a few neighbourhoods to visit too. Ciutat Vella, El Gotico, El Born and Raval are some of the trendiest spots in the city, packed full of old bars next to new imaginations, high class restaurants adjacent to traditional tapas bars and fusion food. Out of the city centre, Poble Nou hosts a variety of beaches with tree-lined boulevards just a few blocks behind. Then, back into the main part of the city, the entirety of Eixample and Sant Antoni pack a punch with interesting vermuterias, brunch spots, coffee points and bakeries.<\/p>\n
Gracia is one of the more traditional \u2013 yet trendy, hedonistic and plush \u2013 neighbourhoods whilst Sants (home to the city\u2019s main train station) really is an up and coming area for residents and tourists, the ideal place for a tapas route or to enjoy \u2018la hora de Vermut\u2019. One other place to mention is Les Cortes, not just because it has a lot in common with Sants and Eixample but because it\u2019s home to FC Barcelona\u2019s Camp Nou.<\/p>\n
Barcelona really needs no introduction but perhaps you need to be introduced to it. It\u2019s a diverse city that welcomes all but you have to get down with the locals and do what Spain as a whole does best: get out into the districts. Tick off the tourist trails and queue for the classic pics but Barcelona is a city best served with something cold, someone local and with something tasty.<\/p>\n
How do you get to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya I hear you cry, well \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of way. The easiest and greenest is public transport; you can take the train from either the airport if you\u2019re arriving straight in or Barcelona Sants station all the way to Montmelo, where you can then take a bus, a shuttle or walk 30 mins and join the 1000s of fans on foot to the track.<\/p>\n
However you arrive, it\u2019ll be 100% worth it; one of the great tracks on the calendar in one of the great cities of the world, MotoGP embraces its coolness when we\u2019re in Barcelona for the Grand Prix of Catalonia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With over 16 million tourists visiting every year, it\u2019s fair to say that Barcelona is one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-442860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}