Smails
Someone just bumped the thread where I summarized my time in Barcelona last summer. I've been back once since for business as well so this is a touch outdated but here was my write up:
Ok
Here's the full report on Barcelona only for anyone interested. This is based on my experience there as well as the research I did, as well as some input from my uncle who was a tour guide in Europe for 40 years and spent 4 years living/leading tours in Barcelona.
(I'll type up Mallorca and Cartagena as well for anyone interested when I have some time)
Getting there: Whether you're coming in by boat, train, or plane...it's quite a ride to the heart of the city compared to other places I've been. Be prepared to spend 30-40 EURO's on a cab ride from either the ports, train station or airport. If you want to spend some time learning how the rail/subways systems work, go for it, but for reasons I'll explain later, I would avoid it. Don't worry about the availability of taxiss...they city has over 10,000 of them. All clearly marked, available at nearly every tourist stop, hotel, or transport station. If you can't find a taxi in Barcelona, you shouldn't travel internationally, ever.
Staying: Lots of great opinions here, and I don't disagree with any of them. I can only speak to my experience. I like to experience the city I'm staying in during the day, but when I'm sleeping or just looking for a quick bite and wanting some comfort, I prefer an experience that's close to home (cold AC and english speaking folks to help with recommendations/directions) so I chose the Hilton on Av. Diagonal. It's located right next to the big shopping mall L'Illa on the Western side of the city. If you're going to be there more than 3 days or so, I could totally see renting an apartment, but the rentals are massively expensive (as is everything in Barcelona)
If you stay near the area I suggested above. Be sure to check out the market/food court in the basement of L'Illa. It's more local people than it is tourists, and it's like a better version of a mall food court with fresh meats/fish/cheeses and lunches/dinners. Rules for a quick lunch when you have somewhere to be or something to see.
Speaking: As I said, I am fluent in Spanish, I don't say that to say "LOOK AT ME", I say that to make the point over how little it mattered in Barcelona. When chet made the comment in this thread "...you mean Barcelona, Catalonia" he wasn't being snotty. Most people I interacted with - cab drivers, waiters, staff at tourist spots, a few locals, bar owners preferred to speak to me in broken English as opposed to having a conversation in Spanish. Either, they didn't know Spanish any better than English, or they just refused to converse in it. I suppose a 3rd option is that they think Americans are dumb and feel like they have to speak to us like we're dumb since we likely suck at Spanish. If you're going to Barcelona and plan to practice or brush up on your Spanish, don't waste your time - just pick up a Catalan phrase book and practice that. Some words look completely Spanish, some words look completely French, some words are an amalgam. It's like they took a French and Spanish dictionary and put all the words in a bingo rolling machine and just picked out which word they would go with for Catalan. No criticism intended here either but rather a heads up to anyone headed to Barcelona thinking they could get by with conversational Spanish. I speak a few languages, but Catalan is jarringly weird to experience for the first time. It's not a dialect, it's a language. If you only know some Spanish conversationally or common phrases, you might as well speak Dothraki. I can't believe how wrong I was about being able to get around here with knowing Spanish.
People: Most of the stereotypes seemed actually true in my opinion. Although, to be fair, in 3 days, how much can you really learn? The folks who live here seem a little bit self-important. It was 90 degrees while I was there, and they were still walking/riding bikes wearing full 3 piece suits. The women were beautifully dressed in longer skirts some with sweaters. A lot of people were still wearing jackets during high noon! I don't even think they are necessarily stuck up, as much as they are just a classy and prideful group of people. If you want to go, I suggest you blend in as best you can to experience the city a bit more. Don't walk around in beach clothes, leave the shorts at home. If you are worried about wearing jeans when it's 90 degrees out, buy a pair of jeans in Barcelona - they are made out of much lighter material. I wore jeans I bought there and long sleeves all 3 days and I was more than fine. If you don't mind walking around looking like a tourist, by all means, wear your camera strapped around you and fanny pack and cargo shorts and enjoy the sites. When I travel, I like to at least attempt to get a real sense of the place beyond the tourist spots (shopping in actual markets, eating in less touristy places). Plus, there's the added bonus of not being targeted by pick pockets and scammers asBarcelona is the pickpocket capital of Europe. Best way to be left alone is to blend in, have a constitution about you when moving through the city so you at least look like you know where you are going. Save the stopping and looking at maps in the middle of La Rambla for your lunch table or hotel rooms only.
On the note of pickpocketing/scams. This is important. I know you hear this warnings about every foreign city you visit, but Barcelona, from what I can gather is the worst of the worst (this is from years of experience of my uncle). Stay away from the "pea under the cup game". It seems like common sense, but you might get caught up by the "marks" pretending to win money by guessing correctly. If you get something that looks and feels like bird crap flung on you, walk faster because someone is going to approach you offering to clean you up, while cleaning you up, your wallet will be gone before you know it. Watch out for hordes of local kids speaking loudly, yelling, laughing (or hordes of guys) walking towards you. They are trying to distract you as they walk into you and nick whatever's in your pockets. I know, no one needs a lecture about avoiding pick pockets when traveling to Europe, but even the most experienced and careful traveler can fall into some of the schemes in Barcelona. And Barcelona (especially La Rambla) is the worst. Do not talk to anyone unless you started the conversation is a good rule of thumb. I don't want to sound like a scared baby, but if you aren't given this lecture before you go, it's very easy to fall into a scam in Barcelona thinking it's like any other touristy city in Europe.
Eat: You can find plenty of good places to eat in the city and don't need much advice from me. But if you want to try some paella or pan y tomato, the best place I ate at was La Arroseria Xativa on Carrer de Bordeus. Awesome, classic paella that takes 50 minutes to make and is served right out of the pan with a wooden spoon to eat it. Try the tomato bread wherever you go though. It will be served everywhere, and it's awesome. They essentially take stale bread and rub/smush a way over ripened tomato onto it, drizzle with oil and salt and it tastes better than any other "bread" I've had at a restaurant before. I loved this stuff.
Get Around: Seriously, I might get laughed at for this one, but I can't stress enough. Just get yourself a 2 day pass to the Hop on Hop off Bus. You can buy passes at any stop, but the easiest location to start is La Placa Catalunya. I know it's especially funny since I just advocated not looking like a tourist , but this was the most efficient way to see the sites. The busses are EVERYWHERE. I was never waiting at a stop for more than 10 minutes. I simply grabbed a cab for any times after tour hours and walked to the restaurants. I didn't want to be crammed on a bus with tourists either and look like another schlep, but you only look like a schlep while ON the bus. It brings you to every single part of the city. You can get off and distance yourself quickly when you get there Also has free Wi Fi on board to check FBG in between stops! For reasons stated above (pick pockets and scams), I avoid the public transportation system. Barcelona is supposed to have an awesome public transportation system, and I believe it. But if you're dressed up in cargo shorts and a Yankees t shirt, you are going to be like a chicken walking through a fox den in Barcelona on the subway.
See: I couldn't get to everything obviously but these were my experiences with each of the major tourist places
There's going to be a theme here that will save you HOURS, and I'm not over exaggerating. BUY YOUR TICKETS FOR ANY SITES YOU WANT TO SEE BEFORE YOU GET TO BARCELONA
1. La Sagrada Familia:
Time needed: 60-120 minutes TOTAL (if done as laid out below)
Do you want to take a cab or bus down to the site and sit in line for over an hour just to see what time you will be allowed to visit? Or worse yet, wait in line for 2 hours and then be told you have to come back the next day? No. Buy your tickets in the US before you leave for the trip. Print them out and have them on you. Show up on the time stated (or within 30 minutes) and walk in, see, walk out in the time it takes to get a ticket to the place. If you want to ride the elevator to the top of Nativity Towers (and believe me you do), pay for your tickets before you leave for the trip and have that lined up too. Of all the things mentioned, this is a MUST. You can see the crypt between 9 and 10 AM - so get you ticket for 10 AM is an even bigger shark move because you show up, see the crypt, and by the time you are done, you are ready to go inside. There was service going on while I was at the crypt - it was really cool. Guadi is buried here.
I went up the nativity tower via elevator. Since I already arranged a time to go, the wait was <5 minutes. Very cool. You can see everything from here. Must do.
The inside is awesome and a great place for reflection or prayer if you are religious. Dress as nicely as you can while still being comfortable - lose the shorts (if you're with a woman, make sure their shoulders are covered). You may be denied access if not. If you aren't denied access, you may get quite a few ugly looks.
I would NOT go up the Nativity tower if you are claustrophobic. There is only one way down: the stairs. The stairs are barely wide enough for one person to fit through.
Very cool site. One of the coolest in Europe. Must see. Pre-plan it and win!
2. Montjuic/West side of city -
Time needed: At least a half day
There's so much going on on Montjuic and around it that I could have spent 2 days exploring it all. Firstly, the views of the city were GREAT from here. Even better than Park Guell. That was the biggest selling point for me. Great picture opportunities like nowhere else in the city.
Ride the cable cars if you have time and heights don't bother you, see the light show at the fountain at night, visit the museum of ethnology and botanical gardens and the museum of archaeology, visit the Fortress. There's just a million things to do on MontJuic. While none of them are the BEST thing about Barcelona, there's just so much to offer here and it's a little slower paced than the downtown tourist stops. I really enjoyed it. Also, if you're traveling with just a significant other, it's likely the most romantic place in the city.
3. Park Guell:
Time needed: 60-as long as you want to stay/enjoy
Buy your tickets ahead of time here as well. Also, after La Ramblas, this is the place where you'll find most of the scams/pick pockets (at least from what I could tell). It's a public park until you get inside the actual Park Guell. If you're there in the summer, dress as cooly as you can. There is no shade here, and it's at a high point in the city. Also, I know I advocated for taking the tourist buses everywhere, but they can't get up the hill to drop you off here. If you aren't in good shape, you might as well just hop a cab to this spot as they can drop you off right in front of the gates. Take your time here and see it all. It's Gaudi architecture at it's finest. Another great place to spend some time with family/significant other. Can be as peaceful and slow paced as you want it to be. Also, great picture opportunities at Park Guell as well.
The vendors/locals are only outside of the park here. Once you've gained admittance to main the part, it's one of the safest/most serene parts I visited in the city.
Another place where you need tickets ahead of time. They only allow "x" number of people in per day in order to keep it preserved.
There's so many great photo opps here. Worth the visit.
Ok...I went to a few other big places but need to take a rest from typing and finish later.
I'm sure many will find much to disagree with above, please note: this is just my personal experience as someone traveling without family. I learn so much from FBGs about various things that I like to pay it back whenever I can so I was probably a bit too thorough.
for bender's recommendations - never been to Spain and your thoughts are appreciated. TIA ... seriously. 
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