BARCELONA
Items 2014
Turisme de Barcelona Passatge de la Concepció, 7-9 08008 Barcelona Tel. 93 368 97 00 Fax 93 368 97 01 www.barcelonaturisme.cat [email protected] Twitter: BarcelonaInfoEN
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Index
The Capital of the Mediterranean p. 3
An entire city for shopping p. 5
Barcelona, beaches and sea p. 8
A highly accessible city p. 12
Sustainable tourism destination p. 14
BCNShop, Barcelona in a click p. 16
The City’s Main Museums with the Barcelona Card p. 16
Barcelona opens the ‘Cathedral of Iron’ the Catalan Spirit p. 17
The Epic City of 1714 p. 17
Gaudi’s Bellesguard Tower p. 18
2 The Capital of the Mediterranean
For tourists, Barcelona is a secret known to everyone. Over the last decade the capital of Catalonia has been the star of European urban tourism, as visitor figures have doubled. With the impetus from the 1992 Olympic Games it entered the world club of cities and became a global reference for international urban tourism. With sixteen million overnight stays per year and around seven million tourists a year, Barcelona has been the great ‘discovery’ for holiday tourism in recent years. This is an acknowledgement that now complements the traditional activity of business tourism in the city, which itself continues to grow in size and prestige.
The Catalan capital has emerged as a major tourism destination. People from around the world choose it for their holidays and weekend breaks, due to its unique characteristics, as it brings together an intense and varied number of enticements and attractions in a city of human dimensions. The heritage bequeathed by Gaudi and the examples of Art-Nouveau (Modernist) architecture in the Eixample, the authenticity of the Gothic Quarter, the legacy of the city’s medieval past, the history and charm of its streets, the, offer of its museums, with the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, led by the area devoted to Picasso, its offer of services and restaurants, its nightlife, its Mediterranean feel, the range of shops, with a model unique to Barcelona, which combines large international brands with distinctive boutiques, lending character to the city; in short, a whole scope of possibilities that has won the hearts of visitors from all corners of the globe. In Barcelona new world heritage buildings await you, with an identity that confers it as the capital of Catalonia, with a language, culture and history of its very own. At the turn of the century, Barcelona had already established itself as the first cruise ship port of both Europe and the
Mediterranean, with over two million passengers a year, while it has become a leader in incentive travel and an emerging reference point for major trade fairs
3 and conferences. This year business tourism has consolidated its activity in the city with the hosting of major events, such as the Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile phone trade fair in the world and the EIBTM, the world’s largest meetings exhibition. These are just some events that strengthen the international position of the city, which in recent years has ranked as the fourth and fifth urban destination in Europe.
Barcelona lacks nothing in the way of heritage, dynamism or creativity. Over the last few years the city has committed itself to the promotion of cultural tourism.
As part of the ‘Barcelona is Culture’ campaign, the Catalan capital has offered the world events such as the 2002 International Gaudi Year and the 2004 Barcelona
Universal Forum of Cultures, while it acted as the host to the 2003 and 2013
World Swimming Championships, and offered the world its tables for the 2005-
2006 Year of Food, Cuisine and Gastronomy. Barcelona, your city on the
Mediterranean, is a lasting temptation. Don’t miss out!
4 An entire city for shopping
With its varied and distinct retail offering, Barcelona provides a wonderful opportunity for shopping in autumn and for Christmas
Just imagine you were given the opportunity to stroll among World Heritage landmarks, explore medieval streets that are steeped in history, and admire futuristic modern buildings while you stop off at an artisan’s workshop, drop by an artist’s studio, enjoy gourmet specialities, go into the most exclusive fashion boutiques or while away the time among the stalls of a bustling market. Well, you don’t have to imagine it; you can make it come true, because Barcelona is one of the few cities in the world that provides a vast retail offering to suit all tastes and pockets right by its main tourist attractions. And during the autumn and winter season the city looks even more spectacular as its streets are decked out with Christmas lights and decorations.
If you want to explore every aspect of the most modern Barcelona, which is also proudest of its traditions, take a map of the city and mark a point on La Rambla, the bustling central thoroughfare. This is the perfect place to start an itinerary combining culture and shopping, either on foot, using public transport or the
Barcelona Bus Turístic, which also stops in the city’s main shopping areas. On one side of this central boulevard, you’ll find the attractive retail offering of the
Portal de l’Àngel, one of the most exclusive shopping streets which also offers very competitive prices. It is lined with shops, shopping arcades and department stores selling leading brands from Spain and abroad, particularly clothes, footwear and accessories. A maze of narrow streets comes off the Portal de l’Àngel.
Steeped in history, they have attractive cafés, particularly on Carrer Petritxol, and centuries-old shops. All along the way, tourist attractions, including the church of El Pi, the cathedral and the Catalan government headquarters, the Palau de la Generalitat and the Jewish Quarter, accompany shoppers. If you explore
5 this side of La Rambla even further, you’ll come to the medieval district, the Born, which is crammed with palazzos and attractive museums, including the Museu
Picasso, and showcases a matchless array of designer shops which complement the traditional and distinctive shops around the Santa Caterina Market (an architectural wonder and the perfect place to enjoy local cuisine).
If you head back to La Rambla and cross over to the other side, you’ll find the up- and-coming neighbourhood of the Raval with its bustling street life and blend of multicultural shops, which have the Boqueria Market as their epicentre. The market is a real magnet for tourists and a gastronomic treasure trove featuring produce sourced locally and from around the world. The MACBA and the CCCB, two of the Catalan capital’s cutting-edge museums, are the second pole of attraction.
Around them, you’ll find a wide range of highly individual designer shops. Another of the city’s main shopping streets, the Carrer Pelai, is easy to get to from here.
It begins on the corner opposite the university buildings and is lined with top- range retail establishments selling leading brands. It ends in the Plaça de
Catalunya where the Turisme de Barcelona information office
(www.barcelonaturisme.cat ) offers a convenient VAT refund service for tourists from outside the EU.
This central plaza separates the old and more modern city, which begins with the famous Eixample district: a network of wide streets and modernista buildings which delight visitors. The world’s most glamorous boutiques, on the ground floors of Barcelona’s most majestic buildings, line the Passeig de Gràcia.
This boulevard is home to La Pedrera and other important landmarks by Gaudí and other modernista architects, some of them Unesco World Heritage Sites. Running parallel to the Passeig de Gràcia is the Rambla de Catalunya, another retail hub for shoppers in search of a high-end retail experience. The Rambla features a wider variety of brands and focuses more on products from Catalonia and the rest of
Spain. It is one of the best places to find the new arrivals on the market.
6 Throughout the area, clothes and footwear are the main attraction along with accessories and homeware. At the top of the Passeig de Gràcia and Rambla de
Catalunya you’ll find the Diagonal, one of Barcelona’s main avenues, which is another important retail showcase featuring shops from Spain and around the world. It connects the area around Plaça Francesc Macià and the Turó Park to the business district of Maria Cristina, close to the Futbol Club Barcelona stadium.
Barcelona has a wide variety of shopping areas. These are grouped together by neighbourhoods, each one with its own unique personality that ties in with its own retail tradition, is perfectly in tune with its surroundings and attests to the city’s broad appeal and large number of attractions. This route, from the bottom of La Rambla to the Diagonal, is part of the Barcelona Shopping Line, a 5-kilometre network that connects all the city centre’s shopping streets. It isn’t a shopping area with no life of its own; quite the contrary in fact. It organises activities throughout the year and awards prizes to the best shop window displays. During the Christmas season, this area of Barcelona shines both day and night. On 1st
December, the Passeig de Gràcia hosts Shopping Night Barcelona, a great opportunity to visit its shops by moonlight. The fact is, the Catalan capital is the best shop for everyone: for all pockets, for all tastes and even, for night owls.
www.barcelonashoppingline.com
7 Barcelona, beaches and sea
The Columbus Monument, one of Barcelona's iconic landmarks, points out to sea.
This is no coincidence, because the Catalan capital lives every day facing the
Mediterranean, to such an extent that it is the only major European metropolis with beaches that are part of its urban layout. Barcelona's seafront resembles a long promenade stretching for 4.5 kilometres, which is home to one of the most extensive leisure and recreational offerings in Southern Europe. You'll find de- luxe hotels with distinctive architecture, fish and seafood restaurants where you can sample a tasty paella, the popular beachfront bars, known as chiringuitos , cosmopolitan bars, the Grand Casino, cycle lanes, spacious green areas, shops and a sequence of top-quality sandy beaches which have been awarded Blue Flag status.
The people of Barcelona love their eight beaches and the bathing area at the
Forum, which is like a vast saltwater swimming pool. This is why it is no surprise that seven million bathers use them every year. Many of these are tourists who can reach the beaches conveniently on foot or by public transport from the city's main places of interest. The city's excellent climate means that you can enjoy the beaches all the year round. By the sea, you can soak up the genuine maritime atmosphere of the Barceloneta, the futurism of Diagonal Mar and the most sophisticated Mediterranean flavour of the Olympic Marina. A combination that is the very essence of Barcelona.
The maritime atmosphere par excellence
There are two beaches that hold a special place for the people of Barcelona:
Barceloneta, which abuts onto to the fishing district, and Sant Sebastià, which is arguably its most iconic. The first seems to emerge from the narrow, Said streets that lead to the sea, like the prow of a fishing boat which has been turned into sand and saltwater. The Fac. is, Barceloneta beach, along with the Somorrostro which stretches for more than 1 kilometre, captivates everyone who feels the sand between their toes, before or after they have sampled the classic fish and
8 seafood dishes and tapas in the neighbouring restaurants. This is certainly one of the most popular beaches on the Catalan coast and one of its great pearls. The
Barcelonesa offers a wide range of services and activities, from sports to a beach library where you can borrow a good book.
Next to Barceloneta beach, we find Sant Sebastià beach, which could almost be its twin. This is the longest-established beach on the entire Barcelona coastline.
It is a favourite with many bathers, but particularly with older people and members of the swimming club. Here you can enjoy water sports and other leisure activities associated with the sea. The beach, which is also over 1 kilometre long, is very popular with tourists, as it is the closest one to the Passeig de Colom, La
Rambla and the Port Vell, where you can find a wide range of restaurants, leisure attractions and shops: proof that you can do everything without straying far from the beach.
The Olympic spirit
The area around Nova Icària beach prompts memories of the summer of 1992 when Barcelona’s seafront was fully immersed in the spirit of the Olympic Games.
Stretching for just 400 metres, Nova Icària forms the centre of the city’s beachfront area. It is the most peaceful beach and a favourite meeting place for friends and families where bathers spend the longest amount of time. Nova Icària is located right by the Olympic Marina and is the best equipped of all the city’s beaches. Next to it is Bogatell beach, which is known as the Olympic beach because it was created for the 1992 Games. It stretches for 600 metres and is popular with older bathers. The opposite is true of Mar Bella, which attracts a younger and larger crowd. It even has an area for naturists. Although a relative newcomer to the Barcelona seafront, it has won over youngsters and become popular with local residents. At just 500 metres long it was also created during the urban redevelopment of 1992. It soon became so popular that it resulted in
Nova Mar Bella, a similar-sized beach which is a favourite with women who account for 60% of its users.
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New horizons
The Llevant is Barcelona's newest beach. It was created in 2006, as part of the new state-of-the-art Diagonal Mar neighbourhood. From here, the city skyline seems to have changed due to a spectacular row of skyscrapers, many of them hotels boasting privileged views of the sea. The beach stretches for 380 metres and this makes it the smallest of all Barcelona's beaches and one of its quietest.
However, it is becoming increasingly popular, not just with the local residents from this new district of the city, but with tourists as well. The fact is, not far away from its fine, comforting sand, there is a wealth of leisure activities, restaurants and bars, and one of Barcelona's most architecturally attractive shopping centres.
The Barcelona coastline ends at the bathing area in the Parc del Fòrum. This is a new concept of beach, because it has no sand but semi-enclosed, shallow areas of sea which act as saltwater swimming pools. This unusual beach is the result of the city's hosting of the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures, which marked the urban renewal of this area of the city and led to the construction of the Parc del Fòrum, a large green area which plays host to a wide range of activities, including large- scale concerts. Nearby, you'll find some of the Catalan capital's new futuristic buildings, such as the triangular Forum Building, and the giant photovoltaic cell.
This area will soon be home to the maritime zoo, making the bathing area, which is ideal for families and popular among tourists, even more interesting to visitors.
Within easy reach
Barcelona's beaches are within easy reach of the rest of the city because they are part of it, and have no boundaries. There are several metro stations nearby which are easily identified by the name of the beach, such as Barcelonesa or
Bogatell. The tram, known as Trambesòs in this part of the city, takes bathers right to the beach in the Forum area. You can also get to the beaches by train, from the Estació de França, which is located at the entrance to the Barceloneta,
10 or by car (there are a wide range of car parks in the vicinity), by taxi, by bike
(there are bike docks for the Bicing scheme, the public transport on two wheels) or on foot. And the Barcelona Bus Turístic stops at several places near the beach.
The fact is, everything is within easy reach.
A wide range of services
It is impossible to get bored on Barcelona's beaches. If you don't want to swim, you can sunbathe, or if you don't want to borrow a book from the beach library, you can have a pre-lunch snack at one of the beachfront bars. The entire
Barcelona coastline is well guarded by the network of Red Cross lifeguards. The local police continuously patrol the area, there are lockers where you can leave your belongings, information points, showers, public toilets, loungers, parasols, drinks and ice cream kiosks, bicycle parking, boat rental points, changing rooms and a varied cultural, culinary and retail offering, as well as all kinds of facilities so you can take part in sports on the sand and in the sea.
11 A highly accessible city
Turisme de Barcelona has stepped up its promotion of accessibility. The consortium has launched a new website detailing the city’s accessible tourist attractions ( www.barcelona-access.cat ) and it has published its first leaflet in
Braille describing the Catalan capital. In this way, the consortium is expanding in this line of work, begun three years ago, designed to provide practical and contrasted information on Barcelona for special needs visitors.
www.barcelona-acces.cat is the new Turisme de Barcelona website carrying information on accessibility in the city of Barcelona. The website compiles information on museums adapted for the blind, hotels without barriers, accessible beaches and guided visits in sign language, among other interesting options for disabled people.
The website takes into account four types of disability (motor, audio, visual and mental) and it uses search engines to filter information for each group. It is aimed both at future visitors to the city as well as the inhabitants of Barcelona themselves, who can find information quickly and efficiently on accessible culture and leisure activities in the city, as well as other services of interest. The site is linked to the general Turisme de Barcelona website (www.barcelonaturisme.cat ), and shares a structure consisting of four sections:
What to visit: a search engine organized by types of disability, with information on
46 places of interest that offer accessible areas, adapted visits with elements such as models, texts in Braille, specialized visits, etc.
Getting around the city : with a description of the airport, railway stations and port facilities, and the section Moving around Barcelona , where the accessibility
12 of the Metro, the Bus, the Tram and leisure transports, among others, are detailed.
Useful information about Barcelona : with information on the services offered by tourist information offices and on different visits and tours.
Where to sleep : offers a search engine organized by types of disability, and information on 64 hotels, all of which have answered the accessibility form sent out by the Hotels Guild.
The new portal complies with the standards of accessibility and usability of the
W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) at level AA, so it can be viewed by any user, regardless of his/her disability and the device used to browse it.
Audio description for the blind
The use of pictograms helps to visualize the different adaptations for each disability more graphically, such as the audio description for the blind, sign language and hearing loops.
In keeping with this, Turisme de Barcelona, has published the first leaflet about the city in Braille, with information on the tourist attractions in Barcelona from the point of view of accessibility, aimed especially at people with visual disabilities. It is a 12 page introduction to the city’s attractions and facilities which are accessible for this segment of the population. The project has been carried out in collaboration with the ONCE.
13 Sustainable tourism destination
Barcelona defends the environment day after day, from all points of view, even gastronomy, with Slow Food and the farm-to-table Km 0 project. It aims to be the electric vehicle world capital, promoting non-contaminating public transport and providing space for pedestrians and cyclists. It was the first Spanish capital to introduce special speed limits on access routes to the city, to reduce pollution, and it is one of the large urban areas which achieves maximum reduction in water use.
Barcelona has become the first city in the world to be awarded Biosphere certification. The award recognises the city as a sustainable tourism destination committed to developing responsible tourism and including sustainable, environmental, cultural and socio-economic management criteria.
The certification is promoted by Turisme de Barcelona and Barcelona City Council.
Turisme de Barcelona, the promotion body of the city, is a company with a history of 20 years of activity that advances in sustainability and social responsibility.
Turisme de Barcelona reinforces its commitment to the promotion of sustainable tourism in the city with the creation of the programme Barcelona Sustainable
Tourism in 2012, which encourages the participation of enterprises that are working to ensure environmental, cultural and socio-economic sustainability. The programme brings together establishments and services that make it possible to enjoy the city sustainably.
Environmentally friendly and socially aware accommodation; hotels with recognised environmental certifications; venues and services specialising in organising sustainable events; city tours and sustainable means of transport...
The main objectives of Barcelona Sustainable Tourism are:
• To establish Barcelona’s position as a destination for international tourism sustainable and responsible to reinforce its image and prestige.
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• To promote the city to a target group already aware of sustainability issues that wants to discover Barcelona according to sustainability criteria.
www.barcelonaturisme.cat/sustainable
15 BCNShop, Barcelona in a click
Barcelona Tourism’s online shop, BCNShop, puts hundreds of products and services for tourists available in the city within the reach of Internet users around the world. Anyone interested in visiting the Catalan capital can access the offers of up to 590 companies. Some services are managed by Barcelona Tourism, such as the
Barcelona Card, the Barcelona Walking Tours and the audio guides, while others are shared with other operators, such as the TMB Barcelona Tourist Bus, which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary. In addition there are almost 140 products available from companies from a wide range of sectors, such as mobile phone applications, car rental services, organised tours, and cultural services, such as museum tickets, concerts and sites of interest.
www.bcnshop.cat
The City’s Main Museums with the Barcelona Card
The Barcelona Card is now more tempting that ever. The Barcelona Tourism card for free entry passes and discounts now comes with the offer of free entry to the city’s main museums and is on sale in the Bcnshop on the city’s promotional website ( www.barcelonaturisme.com ). The Picasso Museum, the National Art
Museum of Catalonia, the Miro and Tapies foundations, the MACBA and CCCB art centres, are all free with the Barcelona Card, which also means you can jump the queue and enter without having to wait to see exhibits shows or collections. The
Barcelona Card also offers free travel on public transport and more than 70 discounts at cultural attractions and on other services.
16 Barcelona opens the ‘Cathedral of Iron’ the Catalan Spirit
The Born Cultural Centre (www.bcn.cat/elborncentrecultural) brings Barcelona in the 18th century to back to life in a unique archaeological site where visitors can go back in time on a historic tour. On the site where city nobles once celebrated their jousting tournaments, it is more than just a museum. It is a link between
Santa Maria del Mar and the Parc de la Ciutadella, which has been made through the restoration of the old medieval street layout, with views over the archaeological site in the middle of large raised areas for visitors. The Born
Cultural Centre, with its numerous exhibition rooms and gastronomic area, is like a time machine that takes visitors to the epic battle of 1714, when Barcelona was laid to siege by Bourbon troops. On an artistic level, the Born Market has also restored the ‘iron cathedral’, the original structure, which was built in 1876 and which exemplifies the tradition of Catalan iron forging, as seen in Gaudi’s works and in many listed buildings in the city.
www.elborncentrecultural.cat
The Epic City of 1714
Barcelona has planned a whole host of activities to commemorate the events of
11th September 1714, when the city fell at the hands of the Bourbon troops following an epic siege, and to reflect on Catalonia as it is in 2014. The Catalan capital is seeking to remember one of the historic episodes that had the greatest impact on its future and awoke Voltaire’s admiration for “the extreme love of freedom of the people of Barcelona”. The programme of events includes exhibitions, debates, workshops, publications, cultural and historic trails,
17 community parties and performances at different venues but with the Born Centre
Cultural as its focus.
www.tricentenaribcn.cat
Gaudi’s Bellesguard Tower opens to visitors
The Guilera family, owners of Bellesguard Tower for over 70 years have joined force with Advanced Leisure Services, company specialized in tourism management to open the gates of one of the most unknown works of Antoni Gaudí.
There will be two types of tour: the complete visit will include a guided tour around the interior of the house and its garden or the panoramic visit, done with audio-guide and which will take visitors around the exterior of the house and garden.
The Bellesguard tower; located in Barcelona’s Sarria Sant Gervasi District, close to the Cosmocaixa Museum; is one of the works by Gaudi with the greatest history and symbols making it exceptional.
On the grounds on which Bellesguard was built were found remains of Martí I the
Humane Castel’s, he was the last King of the House of Barcelona and lived in
Bellesguard up until his death in 1410.
There were also found remains of Roman ceramic from 50 A.C.; evidence that Joan
Sala i Ferrer, the popular bandit known as Serrallonga, frequented the area when in Barcelona as well as information of the owner of Bellesguard until 1714, Joan
Gualbes i Copons, a multifaceted person whose relevance contributed to the organization in Bellesguard of various acts in commemoration of the tercentenary.
18 A special research group has been established to study the extensive history of
Bellesguard. The “Grup de recerca Bellesguard” is made up of 14 investigators from different universities covering various disciplines, their firsts discoveries will son be published.
The Bellesguard Tower is a new and high quality visit in the city of Barcelona, surprises for its history and its symbolism. It is an inedit, exclusive and not crowded Gaudí.
www.torrebellesguard.cat
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