Lonely Planet Barcelona (1st ed) [Paperback]

Damien Simonis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999 | Series: 1st ed

Barcelona is the capital city of the Cataluna province, which has its own language and character. This guide contains detailed notes and illustrations on architecture, walking tours, accommodation for all budgets, day trips to the wine regions, and a language and pronunciation guide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...for the adventurous traveler who wants to live like a native.' --Real Simple Magazine, June 2005
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864426070
• ISBN-13: 978-0864426079
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,071,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sound guide to a fanbulous city, February 11, 2007

By 

saliero (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Barcelona (City Guide) (Paperback)

I went to Barcelona recently, and in the planning of the trip I consulted four guide books:

Lonely Planet's Barcelona City Guide

Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Barcelona and Catalonia

Cadogan Guides Barcelona (Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls)

Time Out Barcelona

All of them were good. I took two with me: Lonely Planet and Eyewitness.

The reasons I chose those two:

LP specialises in listings, which seemed to be more up-to-date and comprehensive than either Time Out or Cadogan, It also had a good Excursions section which helped a couple of times when I travelled beyond the city. I also liked a couple of the walking routes they recommended. Information on matters such as public transport is comprehensive and detailed. I like the chapters on history, architecture and food as well.

I took Eyewitness because it unfailingly has a good quality map, which in my view is LP's downfall. Eyewitness always includes a Street Finder Index which LP does not, and LP often misses out on streets other than the major ones, which can be very frustrating, especially in a city like Barca where there are many alleyways. I never use Eyewitness for hotels - the information is scant and usually more expensive than my (more Lonely Planet) budget, but it has fantastic colour photos and cutaways of buildings, and illustrations which place buildings within their streetscapes. It's a nice book to read on the bus or train going somewhere.

Time Out's great strength was in helping to plan. It had a huge array of hotels, and if you were especially interested in nightlife, I would take Time Out. I was there primarily for a conference, and many of my evenings were organised. And I'm also night a great nightclubber, perhaps contrary to Barca lifestyle!! If you are - consider Time Out. Its maps were pretty good, but not comprehensive for the area I was staying in, beachside Barceloneta.

That is where the Cadogan guide excelled. Its maps were so good that I pulled them out of the book and took them with me. I would have taken the whole book, but for the weight in my suitcase! Its info about places and sights seemed accurate and comprehensive.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lonely Planet Barcelona Guide Let Me Down, January 23, 2001

By 

"eh1265" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Barcelona (1st ed) (Paperback)

I am generally a big fan of the Lonley Planet series, having used several of their country guides (Mexico, Central America, and Switzerland). This was my first experience using a more specific, city guide for travel, and I was dissapointed in the overall usefulness of this book.

My main concern with this book was its organization and ease of use. I found that the way in which the information was organized made it difficult to navigate the book and coordinate the various entries for restaraunts and attractions with their map locations.

The guide is organized by topic - general info for the tourist, getting there and away, where to stay, eat, and things to do. With regard to the hotel, restaraunt and attraction sections, the information is further divided by city section. Once you have decided where you want to eat or what you want to see, you have to turn to the back of the book and find the corresponding map section. As is typical with the Lonley Planet maps, attractions are given number and symbols on the map with the corresponding key on another page. These maps were so full of detail and information that it often became difficult to quickly find a location on a map. This guide would have been greatly enhanced if entries in the book were better cross-referenced with the maps at the end of the book, and if there had been some kind of index that tied it all together.

On a more positive note, the entries for museums and other city attractions were very good, often as good as any brocure that you would recieve on a given attraction.

I did not look at any other Barcelona guide books, so I cannot say how this one compares with others. I did, however, have to buy a better city map when I got there (the AA Map of Barcelona)in order to find my way around the city. The Lonley Planet maps (7 in all) in the back of the book were simply not sufficient.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, August 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Barcelona (1st ed) (Paperback)

I found this book helpful and easy to use. I liked it better that Fodor's. Those travelling in Barcelona should be warned against the muggers. I was violently mugged less than a block from my hotel off of La Rambla. I heard many other similar tales from those who were in Barcelona at the time or have been there at other times.