Hi,
I’m just wondering in terms of Gracia, is it easy to get to downtown Barcelona from there and does it have good subway access?
Thanks again for your help it’s awesome!
Easy to get downtown? It’s a 20 min walk along the Champs Elysee of Barcelona (except it’s better: Passeig de Gracia). There is the yellow line (aka crappy line) feeding the eastern half of Gracia (and is also used for getting to the beach) or my fav line, the Green line which, in two stops, plops you in the midst of Pl. Catalunya.
Hello Ilsprain
It was second degree humor! and on top of that I thought you were a mid forties male showing off! Our username don?t always show our gender..and I don?t know why but I felt ticked off!
My mistake!
Peregrine age 44!
No, I am not a male! I am a mid-forties woman showing off. Haha… And I bet you also thought that my user name has something to do with moving to Spain. Actually, that is my real last name. You people are wicked on this forum. As you can see “The Expatriator” tore me a new one early on in the forum as well. I cannot wait to get there and have fun with you people. Ummm, I mean - work.
I have been living in Eixample Izquierda for about two months now and it is great. I like the area, though I would prefer Gr?cia over Eixample for the small-town feel (within a big city, to me there is nothing better than that). It is incredibly busy here and most importantly loud (I suppose well-insulated windows would help, haha), and Gracia almost feels like a vacation to me when I’m there. The atmosphere there is just so unique and I love it! If I were to move here long-term at some point, I would definitely try to move to Gr?cia.
I lived in Diagonal Mar for a month and a half and while it was very close to the beach and in a modern building, it was also a pain having to go downtown to my classes by metro every day (which took 35 minutes door-to-door), now I walk there and it takes me 5 to 10 minutes.
Hi, newbie here just about to move to Barcelona. 😊 Thanks for a fantastic discussion, I found it extremely helpful.
I have a few questions about more specific details and it would be great if anybody could fill in some of these blanks. Just for context, I’m hoping to rent a 1-bedroom apartment in Barceloneta. I really like the idea of living by the beach, but I also want to be able to walk into town. Don’t want to be taking metro if I can help it.
What should I expect to pay for an average 1-bed furnished apartment in Barceloneta?
I noticed some of the adverts on Loquo and other sites mention water, electricity and internet included in the price - what’s your best estimate as to how much on average this is worth?
Also it seems that many of the apartments come unfurnished, which isn’t much use to a fresh arrivee like me. Is this typical and how much extra would one expect to pay for furnished vs unfurnished?
Another question: what’s the typical deposit? I saw one ad looking for 3 months rent which seemed a bit extreme. They also wanted a commitment to a 2 year contract! I hope this isn’t typical. I do plan on living for the forseeable future in Barce but I think my first accommodation will just be something to live in while I get a feel for the town before I move to my “perfect” pad!
Is anyone aware of any websites that calculate walking routes for Barcelona? Google maps gives routes but only for driving, a walking one would be fantastic.
Many thanks again for taking the time to read. Looking forward to any responses.
I’m sure you’ve never been to Barcelona. The whole place is a walking city really, like most good European cities. You have to take the metro but not to get anywhere important, just anywhere specific (meeting a friend, going to a movie, etc).
Barceloneta is an okay neighbourhood, but living close to the beach, especially that one, is overrated. The nicer beaches that you’ll want to spend more time at are further away anyway. Barceloneta is mostly overrun by tourists and thieves, yet that shouldn’t dissuade everyone. I wouldn’t mind it too much.
Go read the apartments in Spain article, and if you still have any questions and what’s normal in apartments then definitely come back and ask (although I think that would be best suited to a different thread).
here a map off the under ground off Barcelona Metro Map (Subway, Underground)
The Barcelona metro map below shows the metro lines, and corresponding stops for each line. The map shows both TMB (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5) and FGC metro lines (L6, L7, L8) along with the Tram Lines (T1 to T4)
Thanks for the reply Expatriator, much appreciated! Yes the article was helpful, it helped a lot.
Actually I’ve been to Barcelona quite a few times. The reason I was thinking about Barceloneta is that I want to live near the centre but also near a beach (even if it’s not the best beach - that’s not so important). For me, living in or near the centre is very important, and the beach would be a bonus. I don’t mind thieves or less “cool” areas, actually normally I prefer poorer areas of cities because of the lower rents!
This gives me another question: in the Cuitat Vella, what area is the least developed or poorest? Is it the Barrio Xino? I hear El Born is expensive.
jurdyr: thanks for the map. That’s a very nice map but it doesnt’ give me a journey/route planner. Here is an example from Dublin http://www.dto.ie/web2006/jp.htm
Oh yes, I forgot to add my job will be near the Universitat Metro, and I like the idea of walking to work from my apartment, so that’s why I think I need to live in the centre. 😊
Oh yes, I forgot to add my job will be near the Universitat Metro, and I like the idea of walking to work from my apartment, so that’s why I think I need to live in the centre. 😊
Ah, well this is all helpful information. You like thieves and street life? El Raval is THE place for you! Very central, 5-10 min walk to Universitat and 15 min walk to the beach or one or two metro stops. Tons of culture too - a real mixing/melting pot. Lots of gypsies and south americans. Vibrant music and a lot of good museums. Very interesting restaurants.
Ah, well this is all helpful information. You like thieves and street life? El Raval is THE place for you! Very central, 5-10 min walk to Universitat and 15 min walk to the beach or one or two metro stops.
Super! That’s good to hear - it sounds cool! Obviously I don’t LIKE thieves, but I wouldn’t be worried about an area having a reputation. Would El Raval be cheaper than Barceloneta?
Sublime, you can ? fortunately ? be robbed anywhere in this City ? not just in the Raval. Not because Barcelona is a hub of violent crime, but like any urban center there are thieves and pickpockets. I enjoy my visits to the U.S. Consulate here for passport renewals and other issues because I hear all the ?how I was robbed stories?... and not all of the anecdotes involve working-class or underclass areas. Quite a few of our well-heeled Americans were robbed in nice areas of the Eixample or Gr?cia, even one very creative robbery in Sarri? where helpful motorists flag you down to let you know that you have a flat tire, only to rob you blind. The poorer residents of the Raval, I am sure, don?t care much for the influx of hip foreigners who make their rents go up.. or worse, accelerate their evictions because developers are licking their lips waiting to knock down their buildings and put up another ?hip? building. I personally love Poble Sec because it has a good mix of immigrants, local people, both young and old, ?non-traditional? families (as they say in PC), etc. Sants-Hostafrancs is also a nice area with a very “barrio” neighbourhood feel without mod fashionable design people pedalling around on folding bicycles. There is also a very cool mercat or market nearby to buy fresh fruit, etc. The Mercat de Sant Antoni is another very cool barrio to live in. Pedralbes and Sarri? are very quiet, and if a tomblike silence is the best setting for you, then go there. Gr?cia, anywhere near the Pla?a de Sol, is very loud in the summer. The Eixample is very varied in its flora and fauna: from posh monied to more middle-class to areas with more mulcutural mixing… depends on the address.
As far as the outskirts, there’s Sitges, a favorite for retired European homosexual couples with money: British men, German men, etc. In the summer, there is a city ordinance that prohibits strolling on the ocean boardwalk or passeig mar?tim without a shirt. Go figure. The City Fathers didn’t like the way some homos insisted on exhibiting their sculpted waxed bodies on the city streets. So, if you want to engage in this, you will be frowned upon. It’s a cute little town, old fishing village that became chic when the catalan bourgeoisie started building summer homes there back in the 19th century… But once you’ve gone to the beach… there’s not much more to do.
Then there’s the other side of Barcelona, the outer areas where the Spanish Andalusian-Galician spanish-speaking immigration settled in the 60s and 70s: Cornell?, l’Hospitalet, Badalona where you have a mixture of immigrants from Latin American, Pakistan, China, Eastern Europe living among people who are children of immigrants from Southern Spain.
Let me knw if you have any more questions…
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The Expatriator - 14 January 2008 04:58 AM
Ah, well this is all helpful information. You like thieves and street life? El Raval is THE place for you! Very central, 5-10 min walk to Universitat and 15 min walk to the beach or one or two metro stops.
Super! That?s good to hear - it sounds cool! Obviously I don?t LIKE thieves, but I wouldn?t be worried about an area having a reputation. Would El Raval be cheaper than Barceloneta?
Barcelona is a cosmopolitan city that has a special and unique charm. The city is prosperous, dynamic and enchanting; but most of all full of contrasts and surprises. People who live in Barcelona become part of its activity and movement; and with this they offer a very diverse atmosphere, where culture, communication and entertainment are a part of everyday life. I have in Spain in Spain more than a year. But I lived in Barcelona and Tenerife. The best place in Spain, most Like Malaga, Marbella, Granada, Seville, Gibraltar, these are the best place to live in Spain.
Your discussion on Barcelona is really interesting for me.
I am planning to move to BCN in July/August ‘08 with my 6 year old 😊 And now I have heard from a Spanish woman also moving with her family to Barcelona that the only good school area is Sarria/St. Gervasi.. and now I read here that it is a snobby area, and that you should preferably have a car if living there!
Well, that is no good news for me. As a young single mom without a driving licence I really would need to live in an area where I do not need to have a car, but still I would like it to be a kid friendly area.. Anybody have any suggestions?
Some time ago I read an article about the quality of public eduction in Catalunya, and that it is quite low, especially in the center of Barcelona. In the article there were some teachers that had worked in some public schools in BCN that said there were violence even towards the teachers in the classrooms at times. So I got quite scared..
Now I am wondering if anyone has views on this? I still want to put my child in a public school, so maybe I should try to move to an area where the schools have a good reputation after all. What about Garcia? Anyone know anything about the public primary schools there?
