While strolling down La Rambla in Barcelona, one of our editors walked past this jazzy dog. The little guy was sitting in a bicycle basket and was flanked by colorful flower stands and live bird cages.

Our editor snapped the photo, but it still needs a caption. We know there are a lot of creative Cheapos out there, so add your two cents in the comments section below and show us what you’ve got! The best caption will receive a place in the Cheapo Caption Hall of Fame and a free DVD of Rick Steves Italy’s Countrysides (2000-2007 edition).

Enter early and enter often, Cheapos!

Doubles € 105-155
Neighborhood: La Rambla 

The Sant Agusti is one of our favorite hotels in Barcelona, and it just happens to be the oldest hotel in the city, too. Built in 1880, the hotel is named after the nearby church of Sant Agusti and was a working convent in the 1700s. Many of the rooms still feature original wood beams and stone walls.

We especially adore the attic suites at Sant Agusti (eight in all), replete with their cutesy little tables and chairs and fun views of the square below. Rooms are decorated with modern furniture. The breakfast room, where an old cast iron stove takes center stage, is large and airy. 

The only thing we found lacking about Agusti was its location. While it’s near La Rambla and close to pretty much all the sights, its neighboring streets are a frequent stopping point for the area’s homeless and tend to be more unkempt than other areas of Barcelona. 

Other than that, Sant Agusti is a unique, family-run hotel with tons of charm!

Read our full review.

A reader asks:

“In Barcelona, we’re thinking of staying in the Gothic Quarter to be close to everything, but we’re worried that it’s not safe. Is this area sketchy at night?”

Regina WB responds:

Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter has the Cathedral, Plaza del Rey and many other fabulous sites that most visitors want to ‘oohh and ahh’ over. And therein lies the problem, while St Juame’s Square is lovely, and the craved gargoyles frightfully fantastic, is it safe? Yes and no.

Petty theft in Barcelona is rampant. For the most part it is safe to walk the streets of the city center at any time of night, because there are always people out in Barcelona. Violent crime is not a problem. But, you’ve got to watch your bag, your camera, your wallet, your cell phone and maybe even that gold chain around your neck (less someone rip it from your being on the subway!). Small theft is not punished (really) in Spain, and thieves are well aware of this. The problem is HUGE.

A friend of mine visited for a month from the United States. During her visit she experienced three robbery attempts. My friend is no novice, having traveled to over 50 countries in her time. But thieves in Barcelona are good, and they are everywhere the tourists are, and tourists are usually in the Gothic Barrio.

I do recommend staying in the Gothic because it’s really the heart of what’s happening in the city. Just be aware, and stay clear of the following places: La Rambla, (a.k.a. La Rob-la), the Metro (one of the places I’ve seen the most robberies, averaging one sighting a week), Calle Ferran (filled with drunk tourists) Irish bars (obviously). To play it safe, get a bag with multiple zippers and be alert. Never set your bag on the floor or casually on a chair. Don’t be the guy with the camera hanging on his neck.

Finally, don’t be afraid of Barcelona’s Gothic area, just be a ninja!

Regina WB lives in Barcelona and wrote EuroCheapo’s guide to Barcelona hotels. Additional writing by Regina can be found on her website www.regwb.com and on PlanetEye.com.

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In the spring of 2006, I was able to score some super-cheap tickets on Ryanair for a last-minute getaway to Barcelona from London, where I was living. It had been a great weekend, made possible by my low-cost flight. I booked a 6 PM flight in order to extend my holiday as long as possible, pushing off the reality of the next morning’s workday. As long as I was in Barcelona, I was on vacation! 

The tickets were basically free—I only had to pay the airport tax. The catch? I had to fly into and out of two less-than-central airports, London’s Stansted and Barcelona’s Girona airport. It was worth it, right?

What follows is a diary of my flight experience en route from Barcelona to London.

4:30 PM: I arrive early at the airport for a 6 PM flight. We all know you have to get to the gate before the other passengers in order to snag the best seat.

5:00 PM: Shortly after check-in, an announcement is made. The flight has been delayed an hour.

Ok, some extra time to score a panini at Girona’s atmospheric café. (In the above photo, do I look like I’m ready for take-off?)

Tip: Stock up on food, just in case. Girona’s airport café closed at 9 p.m. I’m glad I grabbed a sandwich when I did. Others would not be so lucky.

7 PM: A second announcement. The flight has been delayed for another hour. All assembled groan and pull out iPods, books and approved electronic devices. One nearby traveler starts clipping his nails over a waste basket, violating all manner of social codes (are clippers even allowed on airplanes?).

8:15 PM: A third announcement. Drum roll, please: The flight has been delayed for another two hours. The announcer says, with a tinge of exhaustion in her voice, “We hope to leave by 11. Thank you for your patience.” The thought of work the next morning was beginning to make me vaguely nauseous. 

Around 10 PM: Boredom sets in. All other flights have taken off. The airport feels empty, save the other poor souls flying to Stansted. With hardly anyone around, I attempt to fit myself, horizontally, into a row of seats in any way that could lead to sleep. I am not successful.

Above: Nothing happening under flourescent lights.

Tip: Bring back-up diversions. That could mean catching up on your trip journal, watching all the TV shows you earlier loaded up on your iPod, making progress on that novel, or even flipping through some celeb mags. In short, have something to do. I had packed ”Madame Bovary,” which only helped put me to sleep.

11:30 PM: All other flights have left the Girona airport, and there’s still no sign of our airplane.  The 20 Stansted-bound passengers are told we will not take off until after midnight. No excuse is given.

Tip: Make friends…if there are any out there. At some point after midnight, I found myself chatting with a couple from Los Angeles. A bottle of vodka became open. (Glad they took advantage of Duty Free when it was open…hours ago.) I pass up a shot (work seems ludicrously close), but others around happily partake. The mood lifts… and distorts.

1:30 PM: We take off, nine hours after my arrival at the airport.

Tip: Know when to go! Turns out there’s more than one good reason not to check any luggage on a budget flight. If you’re delayed, you could risk missing the last bus out of the arrival airport.

2:30 AM: We arrive at Stansted and immediately there’s a mad dash for the bus to London. And for good reason: The last one leaves the airport at 3 am (and sometimes earlier, depending on reasons I couldn’t quite understand). If you miss the last bus, you have to get a taxi, which can cost upwards of £60, or wait until 7 am when the buses start up again. I make the bus.

3:30 AM: I’m dropped off at Marble Arch on Oxford Street. What’s my name? Who am I? And how do I get a taxi? Work the next morning was, well, another story…

In the end, this experience didn’t deter me from flying on budget airlines. Over the next year, I’d often take cheap flights, including easyJet and Aer Lingus, for quick getaways. But I learned something about flexibility that long night in Girona.

Read another Cheapo’s tale of a long night in Stansted. Got a good airport story? Leave a comment or send us a note.

Sightseeing in Barcelona can get pretty pricey. But never fear, there are plenty of things to do in Barcelona that won’t cost you one Euro-cent. Our recommendations:

1) Go, go, Gaudi! 

Stroll through Park Geull, an incomplete masterpiece by Antoni Gaudi. Walk up the grand staircase, explore the cavernous shelters and sit on benches laden with mosaic tiles and glass—Gaudi’s trademarks. Geull is open year-round, but closes at dusk. Call (34) 93 413 24 00 for more information.

2) Take it to church

A visit to the Barcelona Cathedral, in the center of the Gothic district, places you in the middle ages, and won’t cost you a shilling. Pieces of the original building dating back to the 10th-century are still intact. To find the cathedral, simply head to Plaça de la Seu and look up. How in-spire-ing!

3) Grab a bongo

Got your own? Bring ‘em along and join the many bongo players who congregate in Parc Ciutadella on weekend afternoons. You’ll see the majority of them there on Sundays. Otherwise, just swing by, chill out, and feel the local beat.

4) Check out the gallery scene

The incredible Fundacio Caixaforum is a gorgeous art nouveau fortress, originally a factory, that today serves as a cultural space open daily and free to enter. Catch a lecture on architecture or just browse the galleries. Free concerts occur weekly. Bonus tip: For more art openings, hit up Conseil de Cent Street between Mutaner and Rambla Catalunya, where there is a whole slew of freebie galleries.

5) Listen up

Before you go, here’s an idea: Why not take a thread from one of our favorite budget travel blogs, Less Than a Shoestring, and download The Independent’s free Barcelona podcast. It’s chock full of good advice and ideas to get you crazy for Catalan.

Have fun, save your cash, and send any other freebie tips our way!

Tourist discount cards can provide great value and a major convenience. But, they can also create a major headache when trying to evaluate their value. Today, we turn to Barcelona…

The Barcelona Card

The city-run Barcelona Turisme office issues the Barcelona Card as a two-day pass (€25), three-day pass (€30), four-day pass (€34), and five-day pass (€40). Prices are 20% cheaper for children, and all passes booked in advance on the official website receive a 10% discount.

Benefits of the card are varied. Pass holders enjoy, among other things:

• Free public transportation throughout most of Barcelona (including the airport train).
• Free admission to 12 museums, and reduced admission (50%-10% off) to another 20 museums.
• Various other discounts, ranging from 10% to 35% off at cultural, entertainment, leisure, and nightlife spots.

Is the card a good deal?

Well, it’s complicated. We fired up our old Commodore 64, tapped out some quick algebra equations and came to this conclusion: The card isn’t for us.

Quite simply, most of the museums offering free admission with the card are not on our list of “must visits,” or, if they are, they’re already pretty cheap. (For example, the Botanical Garden only costs €3.50 full-price.) Most of the museums that we’re certain to visit offer only discounts. (For example, the Picasso Museum is 50% off €9, the chocolate museum is 30% off €3.90, and three major art museums are only 20% off their admission charges of €6-8.50). Other non-museum discounts would just get lost in the shuffle (although we appreciated the 20% discount offered by the Michael Collins Irish Bar).

The transportation savings, however, could make the card a deal. If you were already going to purchase a three-day city transit pass for €13.70, you could upgrade to the Barcelona Card three-day pass for €30, which would include the transit pass. Is it worth the addition €16.30? Perhaps, if you take advantage of the 12 free museums. You decide.

After all the calculations, we had stressed ourselves out trying to make it work. That’s no way to spend a vacation.

A better option: The articketBCN

We prefer the cheaper (and less-stressful) articketBCN, which offers free admission to six major art museums in Barcelona for €20 and is valid for six months.

Museums include the Museu Picasso, Fundacio Caixa Catalunya, Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), CCCB, MNAC, and Fundacio Joan Miro. Tickets may be purchased at any of the museums or at the tourist information center. We’d combine our articket with a T-10 pass transit book of 10 rides on the Metro or bus for €6.90.

And then we’d chill out and enjoy some art!

Visiting Barcelona? Watch out for Woody:

The BBC reported Monday that the city of Barcelona is coughing up € 1,000,000 to Woody Allen, covering 10% of the budget of his upcoming film, which is set in the city and currently filming around town. In addition, the regional Catalonian government is chipping in another € 500,000.

Residents are annoyed with the amount of public funds going to the project (75% polled found the contribution “excessive”). Locals and tourists are annoyed by some shut-downs around town: the Ramblas was recently closed for filming. And Barcelona filmmakers are annoyed that the government isn’t willing to donate the same amount to cash to local directors.

But there’s an upside: Who wouldn’t want to sneak a peak at the lovely Scarlett Johansson, and Spanish stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. And the film is likely to be good for the city’s tourism industry, as Allen promises the movie to be a “love letter to Barcelona.” Barcelona Mayor Jordi Hereu insists, “It’s a huge advertisement for the city that will be seen all over the world.”

More on this: BBC news, The Guardian, UPI

Meanwhile, we can’t get enough of the city-sponsored bike program movement sweeping through Europe. We’ve posted about Paris (a couple of times). Barcelona launched their own modest program back in March and has been steadily increasing the number of bikes accessible to would-be riders. Earlier this month, the city increased the number of cycles to 1,500 available at 100 stations throughout the city.

Now, Barcelona plans to double both those numbers–aiming to get 3,000 public bikes available at 200 pick-up stations by the end of 2007. So far, 80,000 eager cyclists have signed up for the program, far exceeding the 15,000 riders projected by city planners.

The bike program costs € 24 a year to join, but allows for an unlimited number of free 30-minute rides (and 30 cents per half hour thereafter).

Photo by supermonkey_pekin

While Barcelona’s underground train system reaches just about every corner of the sprawling metropolis, the metro isn’t really the best way to “see” the city.

The Catalan capital’s new Bici bike system, however, is just that. Barcelona’s city hall has set up about 100 stations across the city, most near the Barri Gòtic, offering bike rentals for close to nothing. After paying an initial fee of either €1 for a week’s membership—or €24 for a year’s membership—Bici users will pay have to cough up just €0.30 per half hour of bike use. Until July 6, a year’s membership will go for just €6.

For a list of rules, rates, and information, visit the club’s site (in Spanish and Catalan only.)

Photo by Donavan

Summer is upon us, and a trip to Barcelona should not be without a beach outing. Finding a last minute bikini wax is never easy, and certainly never cheap…until you take a number at Depiline center that is!

This full service esthetic center, specializing in depilation, offers rapid, great service at unbelievable prices! Get beach-ready gams for only €4.90 and a full Caribbean bikini (that’s everything folks!) for €11.

There are no appointments- merely stop by and take a number, deli-counter style, and wait your turn. Now that’s smooth service!

Photo by furibond

After three idle years—actually we’re sure New York’s best have been quite industrious—the Beastie Boys are hitting the road once again. They’ll be performing at festivals in a few choice countries around the world and headlining Barcelona’s Sónar Festival this June. The Beasties will do two shows at the Sónar Festival, one strictly instrumental, the other traditional Beasties. They’ll hit the Catalonian capital on June 14, 15, and 16.

A celebration of experimental music, including Dizzie Rascal, DJ Nu-Mark, Mogwai, and Devo, is also on deck. Check out the festival’s site for times and tickets. The latter will run from €28 to €45.