Barcelona FAQs

• Is Barcelona an expensive city?
• How can I find myself accommodation?
• Where can I find a map of Barcelona?
• Can you recommend a good Barcelona guide book?
• Can you recommend a good bookshop in Barcelona?
• Is Barcelona a safe city?
• Is it safe to drink the water in Barcelona?
• Is it safe to ride a bike in Barcelona?
• What's the weather like/What clothes do I need to bring with me?
• What sort of library access will I find in Barcelona?
• What kind of plugs do you have in Spain and what sort of adaptor do you need?

Is Barcelona an expensive city?

Yes, it certainly can be. A recent newspaper report suggested that in order to get away from home (something which many people in Spain do much, much later than is normal in, for example, the UK) and rent a flat in Barcelona, you need to be making about €1,800 a month (I'm under that... Does that mean I can now go home to my Mum, I ask myself?). The same reports says the with the average rent per month is over €550.

House prices are outrageous (at least they are if you're on the typical sort of English teacher's salary). We're talking €175,000 even for something small, and expect even renting somewhere will cost you at least €600. Sharing a flat is really you're only viable option to begin with.

Having said that, food and drink and cigarettes, eating out and so on, are cheap - or at least they seem that way to anyone from somewhere like London, for example.

How can I find myself accommodation?

For the duration of your CELTA course, the accommodation service we offer at IH is almost certainly your best bet.

For afterwards, keep your eyes and ears open during the course: lots of our CELTA trainees who stay on after the course pick something up in that fashion... Welcome to Barcelona! Everything depends on contacts here, it sometimes seems!

Alternatively, our Barcelona directory has links on its Accommodation in Barcelona page. A significant number of trainees find their long-term Barcelona accommodiation on the classified ads site Loquo.

A number of trainees also find their accommodation via our post-course support group.

Where can I find a map of Barcelona?

Right here on our map page.

Can you recommend a good Barcelona guide book?

Yes - the incomparable Time Out Barcelona guide.

While you are actually here, the weekly Guía del Ocio (newspaper kiosks) is a useful listing - in Spanish - of what's on. And the Qué Fem supplement published (in Catalan) with Friday's La Vanguardia newspaper is always full of good ideas for the weekend.

Can you recommend a good bookshop in Barcelona?

For English books, including text and resource books for English teachers, you have the specialist BCN Books (Roger de Lluria 118) and Come In (Provença 203).

There are also two second-hand English bookshops, Hibernian Books, on C/ Montseny 17 [website]; and Elephant, on Creu dels Molers 12 [website].

Note however that your basic text books for your CELTA course can be bought here at IH.

Most other big Barcelona bookshops have a decent selection of at least guide books and cheap paperbacks in English. Best is probably FNAC (Plaza Catalunya), with the Casa del Libro (Paseo de Gracia 62) another good bet. You also have El Corte Inglés (Portal de L'Angel 19-21), which is possibly not so good for English books. If it's books in Spanish you want, all of those are good.

For serious travel guides, maps for treking etc, largely in Spanish, you have two specialist bookshops, (1) Altair (Gran Via 616) and (2) the cute little Llibreria Quera (Petrixol 2).

For a stationers, Abacus (Ausiàs Marc, 16) is the cheapest, and is just round the corner from IH, though you have to be a member to get the prices marked in the shop. If you are not a member you pay slightly above the "preu soci" marked, though I reckon it's still cheaper. Also good for books, Spanish and Catalan only.

Is Barcelona a safe city?

Yes... Just don't go round looking like a tourist (don't look lost, don't ostentatiously read a street map, keep your camera in your bag while you're not using it, don't wear Union Jack boxer shorts (or any kind of shorts if you've got snow white, pink or hideously hairy legs, for that matter), and Barcelona is one of the safest of European cities. Why, back Knutsford, in the UK, a two-year-old got attacked by a squirrel the other day! Now that's something that wouldn't happen here...

Oh, yeah, and don't even think about drugs. Barcelona has got one of Europe's least luxurious jails.

Is it safe to drink the water in Barcelona?

You're some kind of health freak, huh...? Yes.

Is it safe to ride a bike in Barcelona?

Yes - with reservations. We drive like crazy here, all of Barcelona's 12,000 taxi drivers are psychopaths and all those red traffic lights, well, I mean, they're not really for me, are they?

Barcelona, however, has a laudable, growing network of cycle lanes and paths... which pedestrians walk down the middle of, often with poodles on long leashes.

You keep 100% of your wits about you 100% of the time and, like celta-course.com editor Tom Walton, you too could enjoy 20 years of kamikaze but accident-free Barcelona cycle rides.

What's the weather like/What clothes do I need to bring with me?

Bring a raincoat and umbrella with you roughly October to April, bring a sweater or two roughly for the same period, and a winter coat December to late February.

Otherwise, pack pretty much as if you were going to Torremolinos (though you did leave those Union Jack shorts behind, didn't you?)....

Right, for teaching, you don't want to look like you just got off of your towel. Smart but casual...

In fact, it's warm and sunny most of the year here in Barcelona. Spring and autumn can be glorious. "How do they expect us to go to class on a day like this?" I heard a young American lady (on a Spanish, not a CELTA course) wail the other day (mid-April). "This is beach weather!" she said.

"This is the life!" you may find yourself smirking to yourself as you sit outside sipping your mid-morning coffee in your shades...

You can access the ten-day weather forecast for Barcelona on Yahoo!

What sort of library access will I find in Barcelona?

The IH Library is open 08.30 to 21.30 Mon to Fri and 09.30 to 13.30 on Saturdays (except in August).

Anyone can access Barcelona's public libraries, though you need a card to be able to borrow books, which requires that you can prove you really live here. In Catalan, you have information on where they are, opening times etc. Opening times seem to vary a great deal, and are restricted in the summer.

Anyone can also walk into the various University libraries, but require a student card to take books out, use PCs etc.

» Basic Catalan phrase book

What kind of plugs do you have in Spain and what sort of adaptor do you need?

For a razor socket or similar, Spanish two-pin plugs are round and not the same size as you might get in the UK, for example. For a computer, or similar, Spanish earthed sockets are all round, two-pin. If you are bringing electrical equipment you can usually pick up what you need by looking for a "continental" adaptor in the duty free airport shop which will handle anything you'll find in Spain.

See also CELTA courses FAQs pages.