Taste Barcelona the Easy Way It’s that time of year when we are teased with a sunny Bank Holiday weekend that brings with it daydreams of mainland Europe’s warmer climes. Usually this results in a flurry of bookings for European
BigNews.Biz - May 14,2010 - It’s that time of year when we are teased with a sunny Bank Holiday weekend that brings with it daydreams of mainland Europe’s warmer climes. Usually this results in a flurry of bookings for European city breaks, as we can’t bear to wait another couple of months until our ‘proper’ holiday.
Barcelona is one such city to which travellers flock in order to try its many sumptuous offerings. Where else can you find beaches, museums, culture and shopping? And as if we could forget the food: tempting tapas, perfect paella and scrumptious seafood. There are many luxury hotels in Barcelona, which will compliment any discerning tourist’s stay. Splendia, the luxury hotel website, is a good place to start your search for the right design or boutique speciality hotel – whether you desire classic contemporary, such as Hotel U232 in the Eixample district, or colonial character, such as Hotel Palace Barcelona, Splendia offers a range to suit all tastes. They also have a wide choice of Rome hotels, London hotels and San Francisco hotels for a variety of budgets, focusing on hotels with a high level of character and individualism if you are looking for something a bit different.
If you’ve spent a day on one of Barcelona’s beaches and maybe an afternoon exploring the Picasso museum or Gaudi’s famous structures, you probably want a relaxing sightseeing tour, as opposed to being squeezed onto a bus or standing on a street corner with your map; the newest sightseeing craze to hit Barcelona’s streets is the GoCar! These are nifty little yellow cars with a GPS-guided storytelling audio. You hop in and are guided safely around this busy city, while learning invaluable nuggets of information about its culture and history. Probably the best thing about them is that you can take Barcelona at your own pace, learn its secrets and have a lot of fun all at the same time. Imagine driving along the beachfront and with the scent of aromatic Mediterranean cuisine in the air – you don’t need to follow a tour guide’s agenda, you can simply park-up and stop for a bite to eat. GoCars originated in the US in 2004 and are now popular in Madrid and Lisbon. They are one of the most innovative ways to explore a new city, telling you about the different districts, pointing out restaurants to try and even cracking a few jokes! All you need is an international driver’s license, to be over 21 and to be able to give a credit card deposit. They are surprisingly inexpensive to hire: from €35 an hour to €99 for the whole day, and it’s simply a case of a gas and brake pedal with no gears to worry about.
So, if you’re looking for a city break, you can’t go wrong with the Catalonian capital. Even for those couples who usually clash about whether to spend the weekend sprawled on the beach or treading the halls of museums. Barcelona has outside sculptures, four beaches,
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