Time – one hours ahead of the UK.

Changing Money

€1 gets around 65 pence. For today's rates use the Currency Converter

Banks - opening hours downtown are typically 0830 - 1430 Mondays - Saturdays. There are also money exchange offices but these often charge hefty commission fees.

Credit Cards - these are accepted everywhere but as in the USA, you may are also expected to show picture ID at the time of purchase. We've found this to be the best use we've ever got from our englandfans card which usually suffices because of the photo and date of birth.

Areas - For information on the many areas of Barcelona and what they have to offer follow this link to an online map of the city areas For a close up of any area this link will take you to an online street map. Click on an area and you can see all the streets, great for locating your hotel before you find it or handy to keep if you become lost.

Tourist Information - The main tourist offices can be found at the following locations:-

Plaça de Catalunya, 17-S. Open every day of the year from 9 to 21 h.

Sants Railway Station. Plaça dels Països Catalans s/n. Opening hours: from Monday to Friday 8-20 h, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 8-14h.

Plaça Sant Jaume. C/ Ciutat, 2. Opening hours: from Monday to Friday 9-20 h, Saturday 10- 20 h, Sunday and holidays 10-14 h.

Language - Spanish:  Follow this link for some helpful phrases or visit Freetranslation for a free translation.

An English Pub of note is The Black Horse, situated at the heart of Barcelona in the Ribera district, the Black Horse is found between the Cuidadela Parc and Vía Laietana in a commercial pedestrian area only a few metres away from the Picasso Museum.

This is just one of many English, Irish and themed pub. For a full listing including one called "The Queen Vic" follow this link

Stadium - courtesy of Stuart Fuller The Olympic Stadium, Passieg Olimpic, Montjuic, Barcelona - Capacity : 54,000 All seater - Plans have at last been put in motion to return Espanyol to their own ground after enforced exile for the past ten years in the Olympic Stadium. Their previous ground, the Sarriá, was a homely affair but wasn’t up to the increased standards required by La Liga football, despite hosting games during the 1982 World Cup Finals. It is hoped that the new stadium, in the Sarriá area of the city by the start of the 2008/09 season. This new stadium will hold 40,000 fans and is being built to UEFA 4 star standards, making it eligible for UEFA Cup finals – although interestingly the current Olympic stadium is only one of 3 UEFA 5 Star Stadiums.

Whilst it can be all too plain to see why Espanyol want to move from the atmosphere and lack of crowds for games like Getafe, Santandar and Cadiz, the stadium itself is steeped in history and has one of the most magnificent façade’s in world football. The stadium is most famous for hosting the Olympic Games in 1992, although it was originally opened in 1929.

The stadium is far from ideal for football, with the stands set quite along way back from the action. The lack of a roof on three of the four sides also means that the atmosphere is easily lost. For normal league games the upper tiers of the Lateral and Tribuna only tend to be opened. This means that if inclement weather is forecast, demand for the seats in the covered Tribuna rises significantly. The views from all stands are unobstructed – if the weather is good then head for the upper lateral which offers a fantastic backdrop over the west of the city. The stadium also has a small museum tracing the preparations for the 1992 Olympics at the far end to the main entrance. On most days, the stadium is also open for tourists and locals alike to wander in and have a drink at one of the bars at the north end.

How to get to the Olympic Stadium
The stadium sits proudly on the Montjuic, overlooking the city of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea. Whilst there are a number of options available to fans in reaching the stadium, one of the best ways to reach the stadium is by cable car from the port area of the city (Torre de Sant Sebstia), offering some magnificent views over the whole area. The stadium is a 5-minute walk back down the hill from the Cable Car stop. There is also a funicular railway running from Paral lel metro station that runs until 8pm daily.

Bus numbers 9, 27, 30, 37, 50, 55 and 56 all run from Plaza Espanya if your legs can’t manage the walk up past the national museum (although there are escalators that take out much of the hard work). The nearest metro is Plaza Espanya that is on Red line 1 and Green line 3.

How to get a ticket for the Olympic Stadium
Tickets for most Espanyol games are on sale up until kick off from the two ticket offices on either side of the stadium. Sellouts are very rare – even a Barcelona derby game sometimes doesn’t sell out. With European football returning to both stadiums in 2006, no doubt the average attendances will be set to rise. If you want to book your tickets before you arrive them you are able to via the official website http://www.rcdespanyol.com which has a very impressive online booking facility.

For a normal league game (i.e. not Barcelona or Real Barcelona), tickets for the Lateral Superior (upper tier) are €30, Tribuna Superior (upper tier under cover) €40 and for a place amongst the hardcore Espanyol fans then head for the Gol section where tickets are €25.

As a trial, the official tourist office is selling tickets for both Espanyol and Barca games online via its official website http://www.barcelonaturisme.com from €25, although don’t expect many to be available for the latter.

Around the Olympic Stadium
The stadium is part of the historic Montjuic area of Barcelona, and enjoys some of the best views of the city. From the cable car station just 5 minutes walk away from the stadium you can see across the whole city and into the Mediterranean Sea. The area is one of significant cultural importance and so there is little in the way of commercial activity around the stadium bar from a couple of temporary bars set up on match days. There can be no better sight than leaving the Olympic Stadium at night and walking down towards the Plaza Espana and seeing the fountains lit up and music playing.

A bit about Espanyol
It is quite ironic that last season the city of Barcelona’s 2nd team, Espanyol, had their best season in decades, only to be usurped by the achievements across the city at the Nou Camp. However, it could be said that the combined success of the two teams moved the city to the top of the pile in the world in terms of footballing power. Last season, despite finishing in 15th place and only just avoiding relegation by 2 points, Espanyol got the luck of the draw in the Copa Del Rey, avoiding all of the big teams on their route to a final appearance with Zaragoza in Barcelona. There they put their league form behind them and a 4-1 win ensured European football again for the team from Montjuic. In the first round of the UEFA Cup they have drawn last season’s Champions League surprise package, Artmedia of Bratislava. They will be hoping to get a stage further than last season when a good group draw in the UEFA Cup saw them finish comfortably in 2nd place in the opening stages with wins against Lokomotiv Moscow and Petach-Tikva. However, they can count themselves unlucky to have drawn one of the favourites, Schalke 04 in the next round where they lost 5-1 on aggregate.

The Copa del Rey’s have been the highpoint of Espanyol’s record in Spanish football. They have never won the La Liga, but have captured the King’s cup on four occasions. Their first triumph came in 1929, when they beat the mighty Real Barcelona with Ricardo Zamora, the national goalkeeper performing miracles between the posts. So much so that Real came back a few weeks later and bought Espanyol’s first (and only) folk hero. Their second win came in 1940, when they again beat Real Barcelona, but it was a much weaker team due to the Civil War.

In 1988 they had their finest run in Europe, under future national coach Javier Clemente, when they beat both Milan clubs on the way to a penalty shoot out defeat in the final to Bayer Leverkusen after throwing away a 3-0 first leg lead.

By the start of the 1990’s, the club had managed to accrue a debt somewhere in the region of £45m, and the sale of their ground in Sarrià was essential to avoid bankruptcy. The move to the Olympic Stadium co-incided with new players such as Florin Raducioiu (later to flop badly at West Ham), Jordi Cruyff and Juan Esnaider performing on the pitch, and in the final year of the millennium they captured the cup for the 3rd time, beating Athletico Barcelona.

Their subsequent travels into the UEFA Cup saw them reach the third round before a 2-0 home defeat to Porto saw them crash out. In 2004/05 season, they came within 1 point of making the Champions League, losing out on the last day to Real Betis for 4th spot. The team today has a core of Spanish players as well as star names Walter Pandiani (ex-Birmingham City) and Alberton Riera (ex Manchester City). However, the team has not started well and two defeats in their first two games has not filled the club with confidence going into the European campaign.

Barcelona Attractions -

La Rambla - Five separate streets strung end to end, La Rambla (also called Las Ramblas) is a tree-lined pedestrian boulevard packed with buskers, living statues, mimes and itinerant salespeople selling everything from lottery tickets to jewellery. The noisy bird market on the second block of La Rambla is worth a stop, as is the nearby Palau de la Virreina, a grand 18th-century rococo mansion, with arts and entertainment information and a ticket office. Next door is La Rambla's most colourful market, the Mercat de la Boqueria. Just south of the Boqueria the Mosaic de Miró punctuates the pavement, with one tile signed by the artist.

The next section of La Rambla boasts the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the famous 19th-century opera house. Below the Plaça Reial, La Rambla becomes decidedly seedy, with strip clubs and peep shows.

La Rambla terminates at the lofty Monument a Colom (Monument to Columbus) and the harbour. You can ascend the monument by lift. Just west of the monument, on Avinguda de les Drassanes, stand the Reials Drassanes (Royal Shipyards), which house the fascinating Museu Marítim. It has more seafaring paraphernalia than you'd care to wag a sextant at - boats, models, maps, paintings, ships' figureheads and 16th-century galleys.

Barri Gotic - The Barri Gotic contains a concentration of medieval Gothic buildings only a few blocks northeast of La Rambla, and is the nucleus of old Barcelona. It's a maze of interconnecting dark streets linking with squares, and there are plenty of cafes and bars, as well as the cheapest accommodation in town. Most of the buildings date from the 14th and 15th century, when Barcelona was at the height of its commercial prosperity and before it had been absorbed into Castile. Around the Catedral, one of Spain's greatest Gothic buildings, you can still see part of the ancient walls incorporated into later structures. The quarter is centred around the Plaça de Sant Jaume, a spacious square, the site of a busy market and one of the venues for the weekly dancing of the sardana. Two of the city's most significant buildings are here, the Ajuntament and the Palau de la Generalitat.

Museu Picasso - The Museu Picasso is Barcelona's most visited museum. It's housed in three strikingly beautiful stone mansions on the Carrer de Montcada, which was, in medieval times, an approach to the port. The museum shows numerous works that trace the artist's early years, and is especially strong on his Blue Period with canvases like The Defenceless, ceramics and his early works from the 1890s. The second floor shows works from Barcelona and Paris from 1900-1904, with many of his impressionist-influenced works. The haunting Portrait of Senyora Canals (1905), from his Pink Period is also on display. 

La Sagrada Familia - La Sagrada Familia is supposedly awe-inspiring - even if you don't have much time, don't miss it the guide books say. The life's work of Barcelona's favourite son, Antoni Gaudí, the magnificent spires of the unfinished cathedral imprint themselves boldly against the sky with swelling outlines inspired by the holy mountain Montserrat. They are encrusted with a tangle of sculptures that seem to breathe life into the stone. Gaudí died in 1926 before his masterwork was completed, and since then, controversy has continually dogged the building program.

Nevertheless, the southwestern (Passion) facade, with four more towers, is almost done, and the nave, begun in 1978, is progressing. Some say the shell should have been left as a monument to the architect, but today's chief architect, Jordi Bonet, argues that the task is a sacred one, as it's a church intended to atone for sin and appeal to God's mercy on Catalunya.

La Pedrera - Another Gaudí masterpiece, La Pedrera was built between 1905 and 1910 as a combined apartment and office block. Formerly called the Casa Milà, it's better known now as La Pedrera (the quarry) because of its uneven grey stone facade that ripples around a street corner - it creates a wave effect that's further emphasized by elaborate wrought-iron balconies. Visitors can tour the building and go up to the roof, where giant multicoloured chimney pots jut up like medieval knights. 

Montjuic - Montjuic, the hill overlooking the city centre from the southwest, is home to some fine art galleries, leisure attractions, soothing parks and the main group of 1992 Olympic sites. Approach the area from Plaça d'Espanya and on the north side you'll see Plaça de Braus Les Arenes, a former bullring where the Beatles played in 1966. Behind it lies Parc Joan Miró, where stands the highly phallic sculpture Dona i Ocell (Woman and Bird). Nearby, the Palau Nacional houses the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which has an impressive collection of Romanesque art. Stretching up a series of terraces below the Palau Nacional are fountains, including the biggest, La Font Màgica, which comes alive with a free lights and music show on summer evenings.

In the northwest of Montjuic is the 'Spanish Village', Poble Espanyol. At first glance it's a tacky tourist trap, but it also proves to be an intriguing scrapbook of Spanish architecture, with very convincing copies of buildings from all of Spain's regions. The Anella Olímpica (Olympic Ring) is the group of sports installations where the main events of the 1992 games were held. Down the hill, visit masterpieces of another kind in the Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona's gallery for the greatest Catalan artist of the 20th century. This is the largest single collection of the his work.

Tibidabo - At 542m (1778ft), Tibidabo is the highest hill in the wooded range that forms the backdrop to Barcelona. If the air's clear, it's a great place for views over the city. The locals come up here for some thrills at the amusement park Parc d'Atraccions, which has rides and a house of horrors. As hair-raising as anything at the Parc, however, is the glass lift that goes 115m (126yd) up to a visitors' observation area at Torre de Collserola telecommunications tower. The more sedate can find solace in Temple del Sagrat Cor, Barcelona's answer to Paris' Sacré Coeur; it's even more vilified by aesthetes than its Paris equivalent. Looming above Tibidabo's funicular station, it is actually two churches, one on top of the other. The top one is surmounted by a giant Christ and has a lift to the roof.

Maremagnum - Monument a Colom: At the end of "La Rambla" there's the harbor. We are now on the bridge over the sea that links "Maremagnum" with "La Rambla". At your left, you can see the Columbus monument. The discoverer of America is pointing in the wrong direction, because he points to the east at the Mediterranean Sea, and America is on the other side to the west. "Maremagnum" is a very successful new shopping and free time area. Here you can find 12 cinemas, the Imax, and a wide variety of restaurants, pubs and discos. Night life begins here around 11 pm and lasts till 6 am, but if you are 20 or older, this is not the place to be --too many teenagers.

Universal's Mediterranea: An impresionant amusement park in Tarragona, a city near of Barcelona that you can go in train in 1 hour. Port aventura has got the rollercoaster more higher, faster and with more loopings in Europe. It is divided in 5 thematic parts: China, México, Polynesia, Mediterránea and the Far West.

IMAX Barcelona - A 3-dimensional visual and sound experience not to be missed.

L'Aquàrium -The Aquarium of Barcelona . Here is the largest in Europe. You can see the fauna & flora Mediterranean, and part of the marine tropical water. You will have the experience of to be covered by fishes, water flowers and animal invertebrates

Barcelona Beaches - Late March temperatures are typically 14 degrees but if it is a bit warmer and you fancy a trip to the beach here are a few for you to visit that are all within easy reach of the city.

Nova Icaria - Closest to the Olympic marina, and therefore always crowded, this wide swathe of rough golden sand is great for food goers. There are three spotless beach bars, two immensely popular restaurants on the promenade behind (Mango and Chiringuito de Moncho) and countless bars and restaurants off the Port Olímpic just a short stroll away.

Bogatell - This beach is twice the length of adjoining Nova Icaria and fringed by a stretch of stone walkway perfect for jogging, roller blading and cycling. The raised promenade cuts down on traffic noise and makes it possible to almost believe you're a million miles from the city. No beach bars, but three large informal restaurants on the promenade.

Barceloneta - Very wide and long and fringed by woodendecking along which lies a series of American-style eateries(pizzas and Tex-Mex mostly) plus the busy Catalan restaurant Agua. Somewhere along its length, the beach becomes San Sebastian (Metro: Barceloneta), a traditional and popular stretch with locals and consequently crowded, noisy and very jolly.

Do’s & Don'ts - Just take the normal commonsense precautions you would elsewhere. Hotspots for crime are found in the localities of Born, Rambla Catalunya, Passeig de Gràcia and the Rambla de Santa Mònica. The Port Olímpic. Beware of gangs of street children many are Romanian. The other thing we cannot go without mentioning is Euro Fraud. Who would be so stupid to put a note, the 50 Euro note into circulation with so little security on it, the silver strip and hologram are easy to replicate, the only thing the forgers cannot do is the centre star (see picture on left). When rubbed with a finger or thumb, it should feel slightly raised. Our advice do not take any 50 euro notes with you and do not accept any, particularly from people looking for change in the street. A number of fans fell foul to this scam in Amsterdam, don't let it happen to you.

For Police, Fire or Ambulance, phone 112. For medical emergencies phone 061.

The British Embassy is at Circ de Fernando el Santo (Alonso Martinez Metro) (Tel. 91 700 8200)

Know Before You Go - Travel Advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London