Rick Steves Barcelona

This is a nice guide to Barcelona. It's written in very conversational manner. What I like are the walking tour routes. They are marked out with the city's key attractions and information. You can cover the whole of Barcelona with these routes depending on the number of days you have. Besides tourist spots, the book also includes info on accommodation, food, shopping, night life and day trips from Barcelona. All these are provided with maps and places marked out. It's a very helpful guide book. ABOUT THE KINDLE EDITION: The maps are small. The road names are just barely visible if you scrutinize the map. You can still see the black location markers so I guess that's enough. The Metro map in the book is unreadable in Kindle format as it's too small. Grab the physical maps at the Metro station. I've also checked out Lonely Planet Barcelona and the words on their maps are even smaller. Publishers should make their maps bigger for Kindle, even if they have to be printed section by section across a few pages. They are more helpful than a map you can barely see.

We had 2 full days in Barcelona at the end of a European vacation, and we used Rick Steves' Barcelona to determine the best places to go, things to see, and ways to get around during that time. What differentiates Steves' approach is that, while being interested in conveying the history and context of the important parts of the city, he focuses on things directly applicable and useful to the traveler, in the moment, while they are there. Things like "where are the bathrooms" and "can I buy tickets for this online and skip the line" and "is this museum really worth it". All of this makes Rick Steves' Barcelona a worthwhile digital guide to load on your tablet or phone and use while making your way around the city.

We found a nice little restaurant (Las Palmerias) using this guide, It was a nice small (20 tables or so) restaurant, where the owner was also your waiter. For the big tourist attractions, this guide is less helpful. A trip to Montserrat, for example, was not helped much by this guide. We were shocked that Steve failed to find the tiny restaurant behind the train station (at the cable car station) that served a nice Sangria and tapas. Considering the food offerings at Montserrat were horrific (avoid the dining room, worse than Disney) it was a bit of an oversight. But I think this is because this book doesn't concentrate on the big tourist attractions (which often are a big disappointment, anyway, unless you really enjoy standing in line and being jammed in with crowds of sweaty tourists). If you like more of "off the beaten path" then this guide is useful.

This book was a huge help in planning our limited time in Barcelona. It helped us decide the things we most wanted to see and in what order we should see them. We also chose our lodging based on this book and it turned out to be a very good choice for us. We were able to make the very best use of our time by using this resource which we passed on to a family member who is now planning his Barcelona trip. Also, one of the great things about Rick Steves' books is that they contain references to so many additional resources. You can't go wrong with this one.

He's got the right approach. His suggestions for day breakdowns are good. How to get to Montserrat was exactly right & easy to follow. It contains mini-tours for popular museums & attractions (Sagrada Familia). Restaurant suggestions were reliable. I found it indispensable for our trip & will buy his guide for any place I go.

We purchased Rick Steves Barcelona and Paris for a trip to Europe last summer, and I wished I had started reading them sooner. We got so much out of our trip. Yes, our friends teased us a bit for being nerdy tourists, but these books provide shortcuts that only locals would know. We ended up avoiding lines, getting great deals, and having a historical background one everything we visited, so the experience was so much more enriching. We're going to Istanbul this summer and have already bought our Rick Steves for Turkey!

The book is organized in a very comfortable way. Makes it easy to plan and travel Barcelona. Explore all the main attraction with detailed explanation and enjoy also many special spots that only Rick Steve takes you to by including them in his suggested walks. The only reason I am not giving 5 starts is that the time table for the first day in the 3 days plan was a bit too tight. Still, this is the book I recommend to anyone traveling to Barcelona,

We went to Barcelona July 2013 and this book did not disappoint us. We have used 4 Rick Steves books before and they have always been tremendously helpful. I find that his travel books are so much more complete and personal with down to earth advise, not just dry listings. He has helped us find specific room #'s in hotels for wonderful rooms that we would have otherwise never found. Barcelona was a fun and beautiful place but oh so hot when we went in July - be prepared!

I was recommended to use this author by my son. The guide was informative and we used it to get around the city using public transport. Easy to use. I would recommend.

Decent little guide. Most of his choices are a little plain, as far as drinks/dining are concerned. Nevertheless, I like these books. Handy indeed.

Very helpful for travelling to Barcelona. Saves a lot of time. Also saves money in some instances, but the recommendations for accomodations and restaurants are generaly on pricier side, there are some cheaper alternatives (in my view).

Without this, our trip to Barcelona, Spain would have been dull and boring. We had lots of fun...thank you Rick Steve!

So American not in the least bit useful to UK traveller very disappointed!! Will need to purchase another guide before my trip!