Any tips for Barcelona and Mallorca for a large group (taxi vs uber, etc.)

[claraj]

Hello - A large group of us (7) including 2 children ages 12 and 6 will be tackling Barcelona and Mallorca for the first time in 2 weeks. Looking for any suggestions especially going from BCN airport to our Airbnb in Barceloneta Beach and back for our flight to Mallorca (is taxi or Uber preferred? What about private transfer?). We will be renting cars in Mallorca. Any advice on how early we need to arrive at the airport for the flight to Mallorca? Our flight is at noon. Also appreciate any recommendations for places to eat. My nephew loves fishing - any spots that will let you fish will be appreciated. I think we are chartering a fishing trip in Mallorca. Thanks in advance!

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Barcelona? Watch your bags. maybe money belt, etc
I thought pizza was the best food in Barcelona. It was great at multiple places, small places in alleys. The typical Spanish restaurants were OK, but too salty

 

[Hindsite]

If you haven't already done so, ensure you put in a request for your villa location at Son Antem. Its a very large site so it can matter a lot where you are located, depending on whether you want to be close to the Spa building, the main gate or up in the quiet areas. Its costs 2EUR extra to get from the main gate to the furthest end of the site by taxi!

The nearby town of Lluchmajor has great restaurants and Placa Espanya is a great place for the kids to run about and adults sit and watch from the many restaurants. Bistro Mercat is excellent, make a reservation for there. There are also supermarkets there.

Not sure about fishing charters on Mallorca, but there will be some, google or Trip advisor should give you decent info. Usually you need to be at the airport 2hrs before an internal flight, allow plenty of time to return your rental car. In peak time the airport can be a bit of a zoo.

Barcelonetta has a very nice esplanade with many, many restaurants and a great beach. It will be hot and busy in August.

Have a great trip, both locations are very nice.

 

[Lakeshore]

Hello! What a great tip you have ahead of you! We have been to Barcelona many times with our sons throughout the years…here is a write up I did of some of the places we went this last February. We always love going to Barcelona..the food is fantastic and it’s not as expensive as most big cities in the world…Paris, Rome, London, NYC, La, Orange County, etc…even Dallas where we are now. And on practically every block there are boulangeries/bakeries with simple, delicious sandwiches, croissants, pastries, etc, just like you’d find in Paris….nice for a lunch…you could take it to the beach, or a park, or back to your hotel, or some offer seating in/and or outside.

For dinner some places we went that were so much less than any of the cities I mentioned before would be…

1. Vinicius….we went to both locations. Delicious! We tried sooo many different kinds of tapas here…it was delicious and fun! https://www.laflautagroup.com/en

2. Babula Bar(name after the grandmother who was lovingly called Babula)…delicious food! It’s on the small side, so you should make a reservation. https://babulabar.es/language/en/gastronomic-and-mestizo-travel/ For example, my son and I had some tapas and drinks here and it was about the same price as eating at Potbellies back here in the States!

3. Casa Amalia…delicious paella, traditional food. Reservations needed as it’s small, too. https://casaamalia.com/mercatconcepcio/nosotros/

4. For Italian we always love to go to Rossini’s for a late lunch and sit outside, as it’s in the beautiful Plaza Real because during the day, there are usually gymnastic performers and musicians who perform for the people sitting outside in the plaza. It’s one of our kid’s favorite places! It’s always fun and a lovely setting. It’s is on the larger side, but you should still make a reservation for night. And the food is good. It’s also hopping at night, and they have a pianist inside at night. https://restauranterossini.com/en

5. We also went to Luigi’s near our hotel. The pizza here was good. House wines were inexpensive and they gave us some complimentary limoncello for dessert. I also saw a Luigi’s on the way to the cathedral, so they have various locations. https://www.luigiristorante.es/

6. The Sopa Boba….DELICIOUS food! The burrata, duck, and smoked beef tartare were fantastic! The menu is on a chalk board and changes depending on what they get fresh. We went here our last night, and next time we will go more often. https://thesopaboba.es/en/kitchenFood like this would be pricey where we are from. This is a VERY tiny restaurant, so you would definitely need a reservation.

7. Cercle….this is just around the corner from the Cathedral in the Gothic Quarter. It’s on the second floor and they have a lovely patio…great for a sunny day and at night it’s all lit up. A very beautiful, relaxing atmosphere, and good food. Make a reservation and ask for seating outside…it’s lovely! https://elcerclerestaurant.com/

8. We also went to various restaurants on the beach immediately south of the Ritz Hotel Arts on the beach. I can’t remember the names, because we didn’t make reservations as it was February during the week in the middle of the day, so we could just walk right in and get a seat. It was great to sit outside right by the sea…just beautiful!

Have a fantastic time!
One more thing! We always take public transportation(like the Metro or Tube) if we get tired of walking when we travel, however, in Barcelona, the taxis are inexpensive and abundant, so we just hop in a cab. You could always hail two cabs if needed if you all just need a break from walking. Or your hotel could call for a larger one for you all. Just a thought. Also, there are some fun playground and cool climbing structures on the beach that your younger ones might like. And there is a basketball court just off the beach, too…if you have any basketball players. My guys had a blast playing with the locals! Also, get lots of different types of tapas…let the kids have fun choosing! They are a fun way to try lots of new things and you can always order more if you find some you really like!

 

[claraj]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I wanted to add here that the local "Uber" here is "Cabify". The app to hail a taxi is "FREENOW". You have the option to choose a fixed price or pay by meter. I was also able to reserve a 7 passenger taxi for my ride to the airport. This worked out great.

I believe these 2 apps have essentially replaced Uber in Barcelona. I tried to request an Uber from the airport but the app couldn't find a driver for a good 10 min. We ended up hopping in a cab. The large taxis can accommodate 8 passengers.

 

[davidvel]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I wanted to add here that the local "Uber" here is "Cabify". The app to hail a taxi is "FREENOW". You have the option to choose a fixed price or pay by meter. I was also able to reserve a 7 passenger taxi for my ride to the airport. This worked out great.

I believe these 2 apps have essentially replaced Uber in Barcelona. I tried to request an Uber from the airport but the app couldn't find a driver for a good 10 min. We ended up hopping in a cab. The large taxis can accommodate 8 passengers.

Our Barcelona rental host arranged taxi vans for us from/to the airport. It was well priced and driver almost cried when we tipped.

 

[chunkygal]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I wanted to add here that the local "Uber" here is "Cabify". The app to hail a taxi is "FREENOW". You have the option to choose a fixed price or pay by meter. I was also able to reserve a 7 passenger taxi for my ride to the airport. This worked out great.

I believe these 2 apps have essentially replaced Uber in Barcelona. I tried to request an Uber from the airport but the app couldn't find a driver for a good 10 min. We ended up hopping in a cab. The large taxis can accommodate 8 passengers.

We saw this twice in Barcelona although didn't happen to us. Taxi pulled up to hotel, passengers got out and driver jumped in car and drove off with their luggage in the trunk

 

[claraj]

Returned from an amazing trip where we stayed 5 nights in Barcelona and 7 nights in Mallorca at Marriott Son Antem. Here are the highlights:

Barcelona - Great pizza (this is coming from a born and raised NYer). I don't think Uber exists here anymore. Use cabify or FREENOW. Otherwise taxis are pretty plentiful, even for a large group of 7. Barcelona was hot and crowded as expected. I did not feel like I had to watch my bags and cellphone but we prepared for it (we used anti-theft crossbody bags). We hit all the major tourist sites (Segrada, Gothic Quarters, Manjuc, hop-on-hop-off bus, La Rambla - which had a lot of construction and so was not great to walk through). We were ready to head to Mallorca after 5 nights!

Mallorca - Super quick flight from Barcelona on Vueling. After all the scary stories we read about this airline, it turned out fine. We were probably in the air for 5 minutes when the captain announced that we were descending. We were talked into renting a larger VW 9 passenger van rather than 2 smaller cars and I think this worked out well. We were able to split up the driving between the 2 drivers we had with us (most NYers don't drive haha). Having a car is ideal for exploring the many beaches on the island (which are all 30-50 min away from the resort). Also, we were able to make supermarket runs (there is a nice mall 10-15 min away with a large Carrefour) and Palma is only 15 min away.

Son Antem - We were in a 3 bedroom villa in the 700's (724 to be exact). We had everything we needed. Housekeeping comes every day and there is a mid-week tidy, which we passed on. The marketplace is open 24 hours, which is great since the resort is in a pretty secluded area. There are 3 restaurants onsite if you count the one in the hotel. We ate at La Finca. The paella was really good. The villa pool is a short walk away. We made use of the grill when we wanted a break from eating paella. We would love to come back to Mallorca explore more beaches but it's a hike to get to from NY so I'm not sure when we would be able to make a return trip. I did attend a sales meeting (was offered 500 MVC points or 200 EUR resort credit). They tried to sell me gold weeks. It was not high pressure but they really hoped I would buy. I would have seriously considered it if getting to Mallorca was easier (maybe when JFK adds a direct flight). Concierge gave me a bottle of wine, which was not bad!

Palma - Paid parking is easy to find near the harbor. You can refill the meter via an app. You don't have to pay the meter during siesta hours, which I think is 2-4pm. Palma is a less crowded and newer version of Barcelona. OK maybe that is a terrible comparison, but it was refreshing to wander through Palma after visiting Barcelona. We stocked up on Nespresso pods because it was easily a 40-50% savings compared to buying them in the US. We noticed that stores in Palma seemed to prefer cash whereas in Barcelona, we were always asked if we were paying by card.

Cala D'or - Small'ish beach town that is south east of Son Antem. We were able to find street parking pretty easily. Many visitors were cliff jumping. The beach was pretty crowded when we arrived. There is one main street with a few restaurants and shops. The gelato is very good. I would return here again.

Port de Soller - Much larger beach town with a long beach front strip and a trolley running along it. We parked in a garage. There are many shops and restaurants on the strip. Gelato here is very good as well. You can rent a beach palapa and 2 chairs for 18.20 EUR cash only (which seems to be a standard price.) After 6pm the umbrella and chairs are free. You can sit on any open chair and someone will come by to collect the fee. The beach itself is ok but the town makes up for it. I would return to this beach as well.

Alcudia - This was the farthest beach we visited and is north east of the resort. It was about 50 min to 1 hour drive away. The beach is really wide and long. Street parking is easy to find. Renting a beach palapa and chair was the same as Port de Soller (18.20 EUR) but we arrived at almost 5pm and no one came around to collect the fee. The town is also large but there is no gelato and the food was not very good. There is not much available on the beach. I'm not sure I would return here again given how far it is.

Cala Anguilla - This beach is also south east of the resort and is close to Cala D'or. It is a small'ish beach in a very residential area. We went on a day where it rained in the afternoon and this could be why the beach was not so crowded. Street parking was easy to find but might be different if we had come on a day where it did not rain. The beach also had a small parking area, which we did not find until after we parked the car. If you park on the street, there is a long flight of stairs you can walk down that will take you directly onto the beach. The restaurant on the beach was not open and some of the restrooms were not open either. There were 2 or 3 beach bar type restaurants near the beach but not much else. I'm not sure I would return here either given how close it is to Cala D'or.

Porto Petro - A small town that's more of a port for boat excursions than a beach. Many of the restaurants here required reservations and some stores were cash only (the one gelato store!). Probably would not return unless there was a boat excursion I really wanted to join.

Es Trenc - This is about 30 min drive from the resort. It is a natural beach with sand dunes. I don't know if it's because we visited during August, but the beach was piled with seaweed and it was hard to get into the water. Driving there is difficult (the road can only fit one car and it's 2-way). Also the parking is 20 EUR!!! and closes at 9pm so if you drive, you have to leave by 9pm. We were able to stay much later at other beaches. I would skip this beach or find out the situation about the seaweed before going. There is not much on the beach (I think just one restaurant).

 

[Lakeshore]

I’m so glad you had a great time! And thank you for all of the tips!

 

[nanceetom]

Hello - A large group of us (7) including 2 children ages 12 and 6 will be tackling Barcelona and Mallorca for the first time in 2 weeks. Looking for any suggestions especially going from BCN airport to our Airbnb in Barceloneta Beach and back for our flight to Mallorca (is taxi or Uber preferred? What about private transfer?). We will be renting cars in Mallorca. Any advice on how early we need to arrive at the airport for the flight to Mallorca? Our flight is at noon. Also appreciate any recommendations for places to eat. My nephew loves fishing - any spots that will let you fish will be appreciated. I think we are chartering a fishing trip in Mallorca. Thanks in advance!