I will be in Barcelona for five days at the end of June and want to know what do and see. Tourist stuff and bars/restaurants and whatever else to check out. Thanks in advance yall.

For casual dining, you can't beat all of the open-air markets that you run across in town, particularly La Boqueria ... you'll find every kind of food you could imagine, at reasonable prices.

Restaurant-wise, I'd try El Xalet up on Montjuic for good food and great views of the skyline at night. Before you eat, you can check out the castle at the top, and the Olympic grounds.

Down on the beach, I've tried El Barceloneta for some local seafood, and it was quite good.

Above all, be sure to stroll down Las Ramblas to see one of everything ... street performers, arts and crafts, even animals for sale.

There's also lots of Gaudi-related stuff to see: La Sagrada Familia, which is still under construction after more than 100 years, La Pedrera Mila, Parc Guell ... you'll have a blast.

All of what Phoenix said, and no one should go to Barcelona without knowing about the caganer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer

Grub on some paella, the dirtier the place and the further back in the alleys it is, the better in my book.

Oh yeah, and don't play 3 card monty on Las Ramblas. Haha, they got me when I was younger, greener, and a bit more naive. Shame on me.....

If you think you will have the time, I recommend you rent a car for a day trip up the northern coast from Barcelona. It is a beautiful drive with some cool towns along the way and if you like Salvador Dali (or even if you are not sure), you can visit the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres. That said, with 5 days you may decide there is plenty enough to see in Barcelona proper.

dali museum was really cool.

the best patatas bravas i had while in spain were at a place called bar tomas. they were actually featured in the wall street journal for their dedication to the dish. my catalan friend took me and my wife there.

Question for those of you who have spent time in Barcelona...my family and I will have about 24 hours there in June. We have a 1 year old that will be with us. What is the thought among locals as far as having young children/babies in the restaurants?

Thanks for any tips I can get!

bump

YOU MUST

go to Dow Jones Bar.

The price of the drinks are based on supply and demand of their beer stock LIVE. If people are buying tons of maredsous, the price kicks up; if people are not buying heineken, its really cheap. Then at certain times throughout the night the stock market crashes and all beers drop in price. The screens show all the figures. Neat.

in my experience, people in spain are pretty indulgent with children (to me, it was irritating), so if the kid isn't being a turd, they probably won't mind.

Definitely Las Ramblas.

Olympic Village was nice, lots of restaurants and bars down there.

There's an old Cathedral / Fairgrounds located up on top the mountain. I forget the name of it. Nice little area to see but if you want to go up there, take the trolley. Don't try to walk it.

Of course check out La Sagrada Familia.

Also, make sure you see the Park Guell.

La Sagrada Familia is a must see...

As others said, Las Ramblas is a good place to stroll around, as is the entire Plaza Catalunya area...

The Boqueria market is cool as well, with lots of fruits, vegetables, seafood, and spices...

Spain should be competing in World Cup, so make it a point to find a good bar and watch the games for a great time.

The National Palace is pretty cool as well, as are most of the museams...

Barcelona is a good place to spend some time. Enjoy.

I really enjoyed the musical/laser light show at Montjuic/Palau Nacional.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Fountain_of_Montju%C3%AFc

I also enjoyed Parque Guell - Gaudi's attempt at a master planned community.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_G%C3%BCell

But what really blew me away was a visit to the Monsterrat Monastery. If I recall correctly it was less than a 90 minute drive northwest of Barcelona. On a clear day you can see the Pyranees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_de_Montserrat

An Aggie's Wife

I was there two weeks ago, it was great.

Had dinner at El Xalet de Montjuic, fantastic view and pretty good food. I would highly recommend it. And yes, the floor on the lower level does rotate, it's not just too much wine.

La Sagrada Familia is fantastic, but the interior is gutted as they are getting ready to finally finish it. The old cathedral is pretty impressive as well, an outstanding early Gothic period structure. The Picasso museum was awesome, don't miss it.

Great beaches, with lots of naked people on them. Unfortunately, most should have kept their clothes on.

La Rambla is a fun stroll, but we had a group of males there on a business trip and the hookers were out of control. I haven't been groped in public like that in a long time.

There are some great seafood places around the old harbor. Salamanca was wonderful, and not terribly pricey. One thing to take into account is that most restaurants don't open until about 9, so go for tapas early.

We had tapas somewhere just about every night. Lots of little plates of wonderful food. I can't remember any names of places, but there are a zillion of them there.

We stayed at Casa Fuster, in the Gracia area. Great hotel, the rooftop bar was outstanding. Lots of good restaurants around. The lounge has a jazz concert a couple of nights a week. We opted out, but talked to some people who went and they loved it. A great hotel.

Barca has a world class subway, so get full day passes and you can get around really easily.

The exchange rate is better, but the prices at most places will shock you. A group of three of us had tapas the first night and had an EUR160 bill (almost $200)in a couple of hours, without being extravagant. The hotel worked out to be about $300/night.

Suerte!