Customer Reviews

Frommer's Barcelona Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day - Pocket)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just returned fm Barcelona and brought 5 guidebooks (Fodors See It Barcelona, Frommers 24 Great Walks in Barcelona, Frommers Barcelona day by day, and Time Out Barcelona, and EasyMap Barcelona) because none of them really filled the one-stop-shop I was looking for.

This book was the best of the bunch. It was compact and concise, albeit a bit out of date. The maps were ok, but they lacked the detail that you need for the twisted streets of the gothic quarter. The major plus of the book was its breakdown of what to do by day/priority and interest categories. It has a What To Do on Day 1, then Day 2, then Day 3, plus walks by area and interest areas including architecture, culinary and history walks. Unfortunately, there wasnt a lot of detail about what we were seeing once we got there, so we had to supplement the info with the seemingly lead-bound Fodors tome (doubles as a weapon, apparently).

The front cover has a pretty good small map plus a metro map, and it also includes a big map that was useless since it didnt have any info whatsoever on it. We ended up leaving it in the room.

My recommendation is that if you have only 3 or fewer days in BCN, just get this book. If more, then also get the Frommers 24 walks, which we used quite a bit, but only as a supplement.

Here is my summary reviews

Frommers Barcelona day by day - 4*
See It Barcelona - 3*
Frommers 24 great walks in Barcelona - 5*
Time Out Barcelona - 2*
EasyMap Barcelona - 1*

This was a great guide - if I was to do it again for the first trip to barcelona I would recommend this book. For your second trip there invest in one a little larger so it can go into more detail on everything you see, but that's all. This book is great.

This book is absolutely fantastic! It's small and concise while still being detailed enough for a short trip to Barcelona. It offers several suggestions for how to spend 1, 2 or 3 days. The guide book was perfect for our port stop in Barcelona on a recent cruise. I hesitated to buy a book for just one city, but it provided much more information than our general Spain book did. It was not too big or too small - great for walking around for the day - and included a fold out map. I highly recommend any book in this series. The guided Modernista walk provided structure to our wandering in Barcelona. It also features a guided walk of Las Ramblas and tons of other helpful information that we used on our short trip in Barcelona. If you were staying more than a week, I might go for something a little more detailed, but this book hits all the highlights.

I had 4 travel books on Barcelona and this was by far the most practical. I suggest getting it far in advance so you can plan each day to make the most of your travels. Also buy a laminated map (waterproof) that you can carry and pop out conveniently when necessary. This book breaks down what your interest might be (history, shopping, parks, etc.) and how many days you'll be in Barcelona. It truly was very accurate down to what the atmosphere is of restaurants they list. One of the biggest things I'd recommend to make your trip enjoyable is to learn the Metro/rail and use it to get to everything quickly. Buy a 10 ticket or monthly pass. Make sure to have your PIN for your credit/debit card for the automated Metro rail machines. Enjoy Barcelona it's marvelous. Learn the Euro before you go as well. You can search for it online. That will make life easier for you when you pay for things and need to count out money. PS - don't wear a frickin fanny pack EVER!! That makes you a pick pocket magnet because they know you are a USA tourist. I carried my wallet and a photo copy of my Passport (for identification when using credit cards) for 2 weeks in my front pocket. I went everywhere (I do mean everywhere) without any issues.

Just came back from a European tour...and this book was the best of the bunch. The day to day format made my two night trip very easy to plan. Recommendations were solid, train maps helpful, overall I recommend it.

This book is PERFECT for anyone who does not have alot of time to spend in Barcelona. I only had 3.5 days there and this book was SUPER helpful. It gives suggestions of what to see and do based on one day, two days, or three days. Very detailed and resourceful book with pictures and various maps that made it easy to navigate the city on foot and via the metro. Very satisfied with this purchase and would def recommend it.

This was a super handy guide. The full-size maps and the Metro map were invaluable. The book itself fit in my pocketbook but despite its size was a very thorough, user-friendly guide to Barcelona and the surrounding regions. The walking tours were perfect and provided a great introduction to the City. Restaurant recommendations were great. The recommended day trips are spot-on and this book also provides a great intro to Girona and the Costa Brava in addition to Barcelona.

The book is very well organized and perfect for planning your visit according to trip length or special interests. It is super efficient for the first time traveller or for those who need a refresher course because the author is extremely knowledgeable about Barcelona, Catalan culture, modernista architecture and the city's dynamic restaurant scene. The highest praise I can give the book is that I have already given it as gifts and recommended it to dozens of people traveling to Barcelona.

Frommer's is no doubt one of the most popular travel book publishers. They maintain that sterling reputation with me in this great pocket travel guide on Barcelona Spain.

I studied this book in the days prior to traveling from the USA to Barcelona, but we really hit our stride when we hit the ground in Barcelona with the inevitable question...."Where do we eat???" Frommer's to the rescue by dividing the city into easy to navigate "districts." We figured out where we were (at our hotel) and looked at which district was within walking distance.

We followed the guide's recommendation to see "La Boqueria" which was an AMAZING farmer's market, which had small open air cafes dotting the perimeter. These little cafes by virtue to being in the market simply grabbed whatever was absolutely fresh that day and cooked it for eager diners!! We jumped from stand to stand, and without realizing it, did a famous "event" called a "Tapas Crawl."

We then followed the book further and toured the works of famed artist Antoni Gaudi (As in the term - GAUDY). The chapel "La Sagrada Familia" (also referred to as the Melting Candles Church) is truly one of the great wonders of the world, as well as an artistic marvel!!

Navigation of the city was mase "easy peasy lemon squeezy" with the recommendation of catching the double decker "tourist bus." It is inexpensive, and includes earphones that pipe in narration in your choice of a half a dozen languages to suit your needs.


We had a blast at a 100+ year old restaurant (Los Caracoles) that specializes in stewed snails, and roasted sucking pig all cooked over an open wood burning stove.

If you're going to Barcelona - buy this book!! If you're not going, but you have an interest in Spain...Buy this book!!

I took this book with me on my latest 2 week vacation to Barcelona. I found this book the best of the abbreviated guides and used it several times every day. The detailed maps and suggested neighborhood walking trips that are marked out were especially helpful. It was easy navigating even the narrow winding streets of the Gothic Quarter following the enlarged maps in each neighborhood section of the guide, along with marker numbers indicating an important site or shop to see along the way. The larger fold out map in the pocket at the back of the book, however, was pretty much worthless and should be greatly improved. The short synopses and star ratings on the best historic sites, gourmet food shops, restaurants, etc. were accurately rated and right on point. I used this book while walking around every day, carrying it in my pocket. Even though this was my 5th trip to Barcelona, I discovered some interesting new places to visit because of this guide. This book makes a terrific companion book to Fodor's 413 page "Barcelona" guide that is also invaluable, but you might want to keep the Fodor's guide in your hotel room and read up in detail on each site the night before instead of carrying it around. Fodor's Barcelona, 2nd Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides) The author lived a decade in Barcelona and it shows. I highly recommend this book!