Directory A–Z

Addresses

The main address abbreviations are Av. (for Avinguda, avenue), C/ (Carrer, street), Pg. (Passeig, boulevard/street), Bxda. (Baixada, alley), Ptge. (Passatge, passage) and Pl. (Plaça, square). The address "C/Picasso 2, 4°" means: Picasso street, number two, fourth floor.

Crime

Take all the usual precautions and be on guard when on public transport or on the crowded Ramblas and the medieval streets to either side. Easiest place to report a crime is the Gùardia Urbana (municipal police) for each district (092, bcn.cat/guardiaurbana; 24hr, English spoken). For a police report for your insurance go to C/Nou de la Rambla 80, El Raval (Paral.lel English speaking line 902 102 112, inside Spain 092).

Electricity

The electricity supply is 220v and plugs come with two round pins – bring an adapter (and transformer) to use UK and US mobile phone chargers etc.

Embassies and consulates

Australia, Av. Diagonal 433, Eixample, Diagonal 933 623 792,spain.embassy.gov.au; UK, Av. Diagonal 477, Eixample, Hospital Clínic 902 109 356, or from outside Spain 913 342 194,ukinspain.fco.gov.uk; Canada, Pl. Catalunya 9, Catalunya 934 127 263, canadainternational.gc.ca; Republic of Ireland, Gran Via Carlos III 94, Les Corts, Maria Cristina/Les Corts 934 915 021, dfa.ie; New Zealand, Trav. de Gràcia 64, Gràcia, FGC Gràcia, 932 095 048, nzembassy.com; USA, Pg. de la Reina Elisenda 23, Sarrià, FGC Reina Elisenda, 932 802 227,es.usembassy.gov.

Health

The following central hospitals have 24hr accident and emergency services: Centre Perecamps, Av. Drassanes 13–15, El Raval, Drassanes 934 410 600; Hospital Clínic i Provincial, C/Villaroel 170, Eixample, Hospital Clínic 932 275 400. EU citizens receive free or reduced cost treatment if they bring their EHIC card and passport.

Usual pharmacy hours are 9am to 1pm and 4 to 8pm. At least one in each neighbourhood is open 24hr (and marked as such).

GBTQ travellers

Epicentre of the gay scene is the so-called Gaixample, an area of a few blocks near the university in the Esquerra de l’Eixample. The annual Pride festival runs for ten days in June (pridebarcelona.org). General listings magazine Guia del Ocio can put you on the right track for bars and clubs. The single best English-language website is 60by80.com/Barcelona. For other information, contact the lesbian and gay city telephone hotline on 900 601 601 (daily 6–10pm only).

Lost property

Anything recovered by police, or left on public transport, is sent to the Oficina de Troballes (municipal lost property office) at Pl. Carles Pi Sunyer 8–10, Barri Gòtic Jaume I/Catalunya (Mon–Fri 9am–2pm; 010). You could also try the transport office at Universitat.

Money

Spain’s currency is the euro (€), with notes issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros, and coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents, and 1 and 2 euros. Normal banking hours are Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 2pm, and there are out-of-hours exchange offices down the Ramblas, as well as at the airport, Barcelona Sants station and the Pl. de Catalunya tourist office. ATMs are available all over the city, and you can usually withdraw up to €300 a day.

Museums and passes

Many museums and galleries offer free admission on the first or last Sunday of the month, and most museums are free on the saints’ days of February 12, April 23 and September 24, plus May 18 (International Museum Day). The useful Barcelona Card (3 days €45, 4 days €55 or 5 days €60; barcelonaturisme.com) offers free public transport, plus museum and attraction discounts. The Articket (€30; valid three months; articketbcn.org) covers free admission into six major art galleries, while the Ruta del Modernisme (€12; valid one year;rutadelmodernisme.com) is an excellent English-language guidebook and discount-voucher package that covers 116 modernista buildings, plus other benefits.

Opening hours

Basic working hours are Monday to Saturday 9.30 or 10am to 1.30pm and 4.30 to 8 or 9pm, though many offices and shops don’t open on Saturday afternoons. Local cafés, bars and markets open from around 7am, while shopping centres, major stores and large supermarkets tend to open all day from 10am to 9pm, with some even open on Sunday. Museums and galleries often have restricted Sunday and public holiday hours, while on Mondays most are closed all day.

Phones

Public telephones accept coins, credit cards and phone cards (the latter available in various denominations in tobacconists, newsagents and post offices). The cheapest way to make an international call is to go to a locutorio (phone centre); these are scattered throughout the old city, particularly in the Raval and Ribera. You’ll be assigned a cabin to make your calls, and afterwards you pay in cash.

Post

The main post office (Correus) is on Pl. d’Antoni López, at the eastern end of Pg. de Colom, in the Barri Gòtic (Mon–Fri 8.30am–9.30pm, Sat 8.30am–2pm; Barceloneta/Jaume I). For stamps it’s easier to visit a tobacconist (look for the brown-and-yellow tabac sign), found on virtually every street.

Public holidays

Official holidays are: Jan 1 (Cap d’Any, New Year’s Day); Jan 6 (Epifanía, Epiphany); Good Friday & Easter Monday; May 1 (Dia del Treball, May Day/Labour Day); June 24 (Dia de Sant Joan, St John’s Day); Aug 15 (L’Assumpció, Assumption of the Virgin); Sept 11 (Diada Nacional, Catalan National Day); Sept 24 (Festa de la Mercè, Our Lady of Mercy, Barcelona’s patron saint); Oct 12 (Dia de la Hispanidad, Spanish National Day); Nov 1 (Tots Sants, All Saints’ Day); Dec 6 (Dia de la Constitució, Constitution Day); Dec 8 (La Imaculada, Immaculate Conception); Dec 25 (Nadal, Christmas Day); Dec 26 (Sant Esteve, St Stephen’s Day).

Tickets

You can buy concert, sporting and exhibition tickets with a credit card using the ServiCaixa (servicaixa.com) automatic dispensing machines in branches of La Caixa savings bank. You can also order tickets online through ServiCaixa or TelEntrada (telentrada.com). For advance tickets for all city council (Ajuntament) sponsored concerts visit the Palau de la Virreina, Ramblas 99.

Time

Barcelona is one hour ahead of the UK, six hours ahead of New York and Toronto, nine hours ahead of Los Angeles, nine hours behind Sydney and eleven hours behind Auckland. This applies except for brief periods during the change-overs to and from daylight saving (in Spain the clocks go forward in the last week in March, back again in the last week of Oct).

Tipping

Locals leave only a few cents or round up the change for a coffee or drink, and a euro or two for most meals, though fancier restaurants will expect ten to fifteen percent. Taxi drivers normally get around five percent.

Tourist information

The city’s tourist board, Turisme de Barcelona (807 117 222 from within Spain, 932 853 834 from abroad,barcelonaturisme.com), has its main office in Plaça de Catalunya (daily 9.30am–9.30pm; Catalunya), down the steps in the southeast corner of the square, where there’s a tours service and accommodation desk. There’s also an office in the Barri Gòtic at Plaça de Sant Jaume, entrance at C/Ciutat 2 (Mon–Fri 8.30am–8.30pm, Sat 9am–7pm, Sun & hols 9am–2pm; Jaume I), and staffed information booths dotted across the city. The city’s 010 telephone enquiries service (available 24hr; some English-speaking staff available) can help with questions about transport, public services and other matters. The city hall (Ajuntament; bcn.cat) and regional government (Generalitat; gencat.cat) websites are also mines of information about every aspect of cultural, social and working life in Barcelona. Concerts, exhibitions and festivals are covered in full at the walk-in office of the Institut de Cultura at the Palau de la Virreina, Ramblas 99, Liceu (933 161 000, bcn.cat/cultura; daily 10am–8.30pm). The most useful listings magazine is the Spanish-language Guia del Ocio (out every Thursday; guiadelociobcn.es), available at any newspaper kiosk.

Travelling with children

Taking your children to Barcelona doesn’t pose insurmountable travel problems. There’s plenty to do, whether it’s a day at the beach or a daredevil cable-car ride, while if you coincide with one of Barcelona’s festivals, you’ll be able to join in with the local celebrations, from sweet-tossing and puppet shows to fireworks and human castles. For ideas, check out the English-language resource and support site kidsinbarcelona.com, which is packed with information on everything from safe play areas to babysitting services. Most establishments are baby-friendly in the sense that you’ll be made very welcome if you turn up with a child in tow. Many museum cloakrooms, for example, will be happy to look after your pushchair as you carry your child around the building, while restaurants will make a fuss of your little one. However, specific facilities are not as widespread as they are in the UK or US. Baby-changing areas are relatively rare, except in department stores and shopping centres, and even where they do exist they are not always up to scratch. By far the best is at El Corte Inglés, though most major shopping centres now have pull-down changing tables in their public toilets. Local restaurants tend not to offer children’s menus (though they will try to accommodate specific requests), highchairs are rarely provided and restaurants open relatively late for lunch and dinner. Despite best intentions, you might find yourself eating in one of the international franchise restaurants, which tend to be open throughout the day. You’ll pay from around €15–25/hr for babysitting if arranged through your hotel; or contact Barcelona Babysitter (from €20/hr; enquiries Mon–Sat 9am–9pm; 622 511 675, bcnbabysitter.com), who can provide English-speaking nannies and babysitters.

Travellers with disabilities

Barcelona’s airport and Aerobús are fully accessible to travellers in wheelchairs. On the metro lines 2, 9, 10 and 11 are fully accessible and others are being adapted, with elevators at major stations (including Pl. de Catalunya, Universitat, Pg. de Gràcia and Sagrada Família) from the street to the platforms. However, all city buses have been adapted for wheelchair use, while the city information line – 010 – has accessibility information for museums, galleries, hotels, restaurants, museums, bars and stores. Many Old Town attractions have steps, cobbles or other impediments to access.

Celebrating Catalan-style

Central to any traditional Barcelona festival is the parade of gegants, five-metre-high giants with papier-mâché or fibreglass heads. Also typically Catalan is the correfoc (“fire-running”), where drummers, dragons and demons cavort in the streets. Meanwhile, teams of castellers – “castle-makers” – pile person upon person to see who can construct the highest tower.

Water

Water from the tap is safe to drink, but generally doesn’t taste very nice. You’ll be given bottled mineral water in a bar or restaurant.