Attraction in Ciutat Vella, Bacelona

Ciutat Vella is the oldest part of Barcelona and it is situated in the city center. You can arrive by train, subway(L1, L3, L6, L7) or regular bus(or Aerobus to the Airport) to Plaça Catalunya. The district is divided in four quarters, Barceloneta, La Ribera, Barri Gòtic and Raval.

La Ribera

Palau de la Música Catalana is an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997, which is a masterpiece of Catalan's Modernist Architecture. It was the headquarters of the Orfeó Català, the oldest Catalan Choir. The most beautiful part is fine glass ceiling inside of the Modernist Cencert Hall. As said by the director, the joy of the color, the glass and the atmosphere - these make it special and impressive.
Guided Tour of Modernist Concert hall (and Lluís Millet Hall and the Chamber Music Hall when available) : Euro. 12/adult (20% discount for Barcelona Card holders)
Personally, I highly recommend to listen to symphonic music inside as well as enjoy the amazing architecture. However, it is worth to have a guided tour if your schedule is tight.

Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar at Plaça de Santa Maria is a Catalan Gothic architecture featured a sombre appearance but with beautiful interior. It is located near the Picasso Museum.

Picasso Museum, where you can understand the formative years of Pablo Ruiz Picasso. Please note that it is FREE on the first Sunday on each month (close at 8:00pm).
Entrance: adults: Euro 9/adult

Raval

La Rambla. Often the first landmark that people identify with the city. It is the central and the most famous boulevard which cuts through the heart of the city centre and is a vibrant and lively promenade filled with Barcelona action at its best and worst. It stretches from the harbor to La Plaça Catalunya running through the Ciutat Vella like a spine. Come here to see the street performers jump out at unsuspecting tourists, enjoy the flower and pet stalls, or just sit back and watch all of Barcelona walk by. During the day, La Rambla is packed with tourists, at night, the locals come out, as well as many prostitutes. There, you can find newspaper and book stands, birds, flowers, musicians, street-performing artists that all contribute to create a lively and unique atmosphere. If you happen to be here after Barca win, you're in for a treat! A few blocks south of its north end, you'll find La Boqueria, a very large, fresh air (but covered) market.

Cansaladeria i Formatgeria Josep's is a market with front-line stand featuring most of hams and meats a tourist needs.

Barceloneta

You can just walk down La Rambla until the monument to Columbus in Barceloneta or take subway (L4 yellow line stopping at Barceloneta).

Parc de la Ciutadella is a central park, which includes a zoo, a lake and several museums. The Catalan Parliament can be found in the center of the park.

Zoo-Barcelona - was famous for its albino gorilla "Snowflake" and there is a a science museum inside the zoo today.
Entry fee: Euro. 16/adult.

L'Aquarium is the second biggest aquarium in Europe and is located at the Port Vell leisure center, next to the IMAX cinema.
Entrance ticket :Euro 16/adult.

Olympic Port is a dining and entertainment place where you can find lots of restaurants, bars as well as casino.

Beach stretches from the tip of Barceloneta in Port Vell till Vila Olimpica and so on. The beach is just 10-15 minutes walk from Barceloneta, or a few minutes from Vila Olimpica/Ciutadela.

Useful links:
The official website of Palau de la Música Catalana - http://www.palaumusica.org/
The official website of Picasso Museum - http://w3.bcn.es/V66/Home/V66XMLHomeLinkPl/0,4589,417470534_417617303_3,00.html

Transportation Guide - Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is Spain's second largest city, with a population of 1.5 million people, and the capital of Catalonia. Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea. It is 160 km (100 mi) south of the Pyrenees and the Catalonian border with France.

Transportation

By Air

Barcelona International Airport (BCN), also known as El Prat, is a major transport hub and fields flights from all over Europe and beyond. There are now two terminals, T1 and T2. T1 and T2 are linked by a bus shuttle (every 6 to 8 minutes, travel time 10 minutes).
There is a cheap and fast way by taking the half-hourly RENFE C-2 suburban train, which runs between airport and Sants station in city centre. (travel time: 20 minutes), The train terminates next to T2, with a free-of-charge connecting green colored bus service to T1 (travel time: 15 minutes).

The budget airlines, Ryanair, uses the airports in Girona, nearly 100km to the north, or Reus, around the same distance to the south, instead.
For Girona Airport: The Barcelona Bus service runs a shuttle bus from Estació del Nord in Barcelona to Girona Airport and this ties in with various flight times. A one-way ticket costs €12 and a return ticket costs €21. The journey takes approximately 1hrs 10mins. Timetables are available online.
For Reus airport, the easiest way is to take the train from Barcelona Sants station to Reus and then the local bus to the airport. The train costs €6.45 and then the bus costs €2. This takes roughly about 1.5hrs.

By rail
Several trains per day (including overnight hotel trains) from other parts of Europe (via France) are regular & reliable.
Main train stations are Barcelona-Sants (SW of the center) and Barcelona-Estació de França(on the edge of the old town next to the seafront district of Barceloneta).
From/to Estació de França: there are several connections per day to France. Elipsos Trainhotel runs between Milano, Italy and Barcelona Estacio de Franca, Spain.

By sea
The city's port is one of the busiest on the Mediterranean. It supports both ferries and cruise ships. Large cruise ships dock 1-2 kilometers to the southwest. Many offer bus-shuttles to points near the south end of La Rambla.
You can arrive to Barcelona by boat from the Balearic Islands, from Genoa and from Rome. The ferry docks almost directly on the Ramblas.

Tickets
The metro can take you to many places. Stations are marked on most maps; every station has a detailed scheme of exits to the city. A one-journey ticket cost €1.40, so it's probably best to buy a multi-person 10-ride ticket for €7.85 (called a T-10). These tickets are also valid on the buses and trams. You also can buy a T-10 from the ticket vending machine at the airport station.

The Barcelona Card features unlimited free travel on public transport and free admission and discounts at around 100 visitor attractions. The card costs €24 for a 2-day card and €34 for a 5-day card. If you don't plan to see lots of museums every day, then it is cheaper to buy transport-only tickets.


Useful links:
The wikipedia information of Barcelona - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona
The travel information of Barcelona from WikiTravel - http://wikitravel.org/en/Barcelona
The official website of Barcelona Metro - http://www.tmb.cat/en_US/home.jsp

Transportation Guide - Elipsos Trainhotel

The ELIPSOS company currently manages the overnight Trenhotel railway services between Spain and France, Spain and Switzerland and Spain and Italy.

ELIPSOS INTERNACIONAL, S.A. manages the following best equipped international night trains in Europe:
ELIPSOS Trenhotel "Francisco de Goya" Madrid-Paris
ELIPSOS Trenhotel "Joan Miró" Barcelona-Paris
ELIPSOS Trenhotel "Pau Casals" Barcelona-Zurich
ELIPSOS Trenhotel "Salvador Dalí" Barcelona-Milan

The service personnel are on duty all night to look after customers and will prepare the beds at whatever time suits the customer.

There are 4 classes of seats available in train, includes:
The Grand Class - offers a comfortable and private roomette with dinner and breakfast.
The Club Class - offers a comfortable and private roomette.
The Tourist Class - offers a comfortable and enjoyable four-bed roomette and it is the best value for money when travelling with the family or with friends.
The Super reclining seats - offers at reasonable rate.

Personally, overall service was good and safe. When I got on the train at Milano, Italy, the personnel checked my ticket and collected my passport. After the train departed, the personnel came to my roomette and set my bed. The door of roomette can be locked inside of the room. The roomette was tiny, but clean and tidy. So there was not much space for passengers to place the luggage. Before reach my destination, Barcelona, Spain, the personnel returned me my passport. The train departed and arrived on time. It took almost 14hours' journey from Milano to Barcelona. The ticket price could be as low as Euro71/way/person, which is only valid for 21days advance purchase. The ticket price for the Tourist Class was approx. Euro156/way sold at Milano Centrale. You can get more details from Elipsos's website.

Useful links:
The official website of Elipsos - http://www.elipsos.com/htm/default.htm?lang=3