Barcelona Concierge

         Today, my cousin Benjamin Quisumbing emailed me because he is getting married and he said that he is taking a cruise ship on his honeymoon and one of his stops is Barcelona. Lately I have been getting a lot of requests for restaurants, clubs, and places to see by friends or friends of friends. So I thought it would be best to write down the important things I know about Barcelona as I lived there for 6 months and worked with one of the best concierge in the city, Carlos Nunez in Ritz Carlton. I will only put my favourite spots though, so if you read this, go and try the places out and see if you trust my tastes.

First, here is a video I made of when I lived in Barcelona in 2010, it just shows the culture and what I saw everyday (no clubbing included, I will be making a Barcelona party video very soon). This also shows the veeery last bullfight in an arena in Catalonia regions before it became illegal, thank god.

Hotel Arts Barcelona

        When booking a hotel at a destination, the most important aspect other than price is location. If you have cash to spend, then I highly recommend Hotel Arts, Ritz Carlton; the most personalized service, an extremely beautiful view of the ocean or city and great location . Another good hotel in the city is Mandarin Oriental, designated in the center of the city. 

     If you are price sensitive or are searching for a different hotel, I recommend you go on Booking.com. This site shows the best deals for hotels, PLUS my favorite attribute is that it provides a googlemap where you can see all of the Hotels on the map and their prices, this allows you to choose the location you desire. If you are looking at the map, search for Hotels near Passeig de Gracia, La Rambla, Portal del Angel, El Borne or Via Laietana. These areas are the shopping streets, the center of the city.

My Favorite Restaurants:

CDLC: Kobe Beef Burger with Fries and Kobe Beef Carpaccio with Teriyaki Sauce.

• CDLC
• Cerveceria Catalana
• La Bella Napoli  - Get the truffle pasta ;)
• Morelia
• Tapas 24  - Get the Bombas, patatas bravas, the spanish bread with tomato
• Barceloneta
• Arola
• Hanagin
• Rosa Negra - Enchiladas are really good there
• Citrus
• Udon  - UDON OF COURSE! or Katsudon

PLACES TO GO:

  

Sagrada Familia

• Sagrada Familia 
• Parc Guell 
• Montjuic Mountain
• Picasso Museum
• Chocolate Museum
• Casa Batillo
• La Rambla (the touristy street)
• The Zoo
• The large Aquarium
• Turistic Bus
• At least 30 min to 1 hour away are famous beautiful Spanish Mountains called Montserrat

SHOPPING!

• Passeig de Gracia 
• Avinguda portal del Angel 
• Pretty much everywhere

Bars/Clubs: 

Opium

• Opium (in front of Hotel Arts) - high class club inside/outside 
• Shoko 
• CDLC
• Apollo (only on Mondays - but is a really crazy club where sometime they mix rock with techno, good music but always super crowded and wild)
• Bars in El Borne area
• W Hotel Eclipse bar (lounge with beautiful view)

W Bar Eclipse

        There is also a long strip of beach in front of Hotel Arts, Ritz Carlton, great place to tan. And for the boys, sure there are many topless girls so don't worry, the Americans love it haha. I have to warn you though, one of my first times there I went to a snack bar by the ocean to order food, then I turned around to a wrinkly old man inches away from me completeeeeeely naked, I almost screamed.

So anyways, there is a lot more things to do, see and eat in Barcelona but these are my favorites. If anyone has any other questions you can always ask me =). Enjoy!