Amistat Beach Hostel

Blog

Carnival and Parades in Barcelona

by

Ready for Carnival? If you are staying in our hostel in Barcelona these days  we recommend you two options: Barcelona Carnival or Sitges Carnival.

Sitges Carnival is one of the most famous in Catalonia. This year the event will be held between February 4th and 10th. Lots of parades and shows are taken place in the city center. The city offers a great variety of activities, including the famous Pink Night and Widow Night. Very lively and full of people, this year Sitges expects to receive more that 300.000 people.

From Barcelona Sants station you can take a train directly to Sitges. If you want to know more about the program have a look at this link: http://www.visitsitges.com/en/carnaval-sitges-2016

http://barcelona-home.com/blog/wp-content/upload/2014/02/sitges5.jpg

Barcelona Carnival is also nice to see and participate it.  Many events take place as The Arribo, the Saraus, the Passacaglias, the Taronjada, the Burial of the Sardine.
Barcelona Carnival takes places from February 4th to 10th. The historical Carnestoltes of 16th and 17th Centuries had its ups and downs through time, but now the city wants a party where citizen, associations, tourist,  and markets involvement increases.

Arrival, Thrusday 4th from 6pm to 7.30pm, Barri de la Ribera (Born)
El Ball del Molinet, Friday 5th from 7pm to 9pm, Born Centre Cultural (Born)
La Taronjada, Sunday 7th from 4.30pm to 7.30pm, Barri de la Ribera -(Born)

You can have more information on this link:

http://www.timeout.com/barcelona/things-to-do/carnival-in-barcelona

Live an authentic local experience! If you are staying in our hostel in Barcelona ask for directions at our recepcionist team. Enjoy Barcelona. 🙂

 

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 22-25 February 2016

by

Coming soon the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona! This anual Congress is one of the most important Congress in the world. People of everywhere in the world comes to make business and to know the future of the mobile industry and latest trends.

The 2016 MWC conference programme will provide an in-depth coverage of the current and future mobile industry, highlighting specific areas of growth as well as the latest technological developments and next generation services.

The first Mobile Congress was celebrated in 1987, since then every year has growth more and more. Actually it has more than 94.000 attendees.

If you’re in mobile, or an industry that supports mobile, or are looking to make contacts in the mobile industry, you simply have to attend MWC in 2016 in Barcelona.

Hotels around the Congress are overbooking and high prices. If you are looking for a cheap accomodation we recommend you to look for it outside of the Congress area. Barcelona public transport is well connected and distances are short. If you stay in our hostel, Amistat Beach Hostel, you can get there by metro L1 or  bus H16.

In this link you can find the information of venues: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/where-when/

To know more about the program you can download the brochure in this link: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/brochure/

Enjoy the most important event of mobile industry!

Mobile World Congress partner Programmes

 

 

 

Barcelona Museums

by

During your stay in Barcelona don’t forget there are plenty of museums very interesting to visit. Do you like painting? would you like to know more about ancient cultures? Are you a fun of modernism art?

Barcelona is the city of art. It supports the art and during the year many exhibitions and projects are taking place in this amazing city. Hostels in Barcelona also are very creative. Style, design, colours define the spirit of a hostel. As you can check in Amistat Beach Hostel we have a genuine desing mixing colours and elements that makes you feel as home.

Going back to Museums, we have listed for you the best ones!

History Museum of Barcelona

This Museum is located in the city center, spotted in Plaza del Rei are two museums, the Royal Palace which represents  Gothic architecture from Barcelona’s medieval past and the City History Museum where you can see part of Barcelona’s Roman era history.

Museu Picasso

The Picasso Museum opened in 1963 in Catalan-Gothic style palazzo. There are works of art from all Picasso’s artistic. This collection includes paintings, ceramics, , drawings and engravings as well as Picasso’s sketch pads and note books. One of the highlights of the museum is Las Meninas.

 Museu d’Art de Catalunya

The National Museum opened in 1934  and its located in the National Palace, Montjuic. It contains  the history of Catalan art by Catalan artists from the 10th century through to the 20th century highlighting Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Modern art. The collection has paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, photography, coinage, posters and objets d’art.

Miro Foundation

The Joan Miro Foundation or Museum is a tribute to Joan Miro who was a native Catalan born in Barcelona. The museum is located in Montjuic mountain. The foundation was established by Miro  in1975. Miro’s purpose was to create a place where young artists could experiment with contemporary art and also have a place to display their work to the public.

CaixaForum

This modern art museum is also a cultural and social center which hosts a range of events, performances and exhibitions. There are guided tours of the building focusing on the architecture of the former textile mill.

Enjoy the art and culture that Barcelona offers. If you are staying in our hostel in Barcelona, reception desk will provide you with directions an any information that you might need. 🙂

 

Cheap Bars to drink

by

Here we post for you the cheapest bars in Barcelona.  We take care of you my friend, we want satisfay your thirst before you’re bankrup!

 Bars in Raval:

La casa de la Pradera– They serve good beer and a free tapa with every drink. On Friday and Saturday nights they have a DJ, while in the evening there’s always a fun, lively atmosphere at the bar.

Nevermind –  Skater bar with cheap beer!

L’ovella Negra – Located near Las Ramblas. Delicious cheap sangria and cheap beers!

33/45 –  A modern and stylish bar that has a wide rest area with comfortable chairs and sofas; a perfect place to chat with friends for hours.

Polaroid Bar: Nice cozy bar in Gothic Quarter, also making movie nights.

 Bars in Gothic:

Manchester – Cheap beers and nice music ! Post-punk and indie music.

3

 

Bar Mingus – This bar produces tasty meatballs and an amazing ensaladilla rusa. And there’s great beer on tap.

 Sugar –   Best drinks and cocktails, very cheap!

Sor Rita – A fun bar with very creative decoration.  Drinks are tasty and great atmosphere.

You can prepare you own night tour or let us do it for you. Our hostel in Barcelona, Amistat, offers you night tours to enjoy and discover the most trending clubs and bars in the city.

What else do you need? Buy your flight!!! Looking forward your visit!

Best Nightclubs – New Years Party Barcelona 2015

by

Staying in Amistat Beach Hostel you will have guaranteed the best New Year’s Eve party of your life!

After the amazing dinner that we will prepare for you in our hostel in Barcelona, our amazing guy Vini will take all of you to party in the best clubs of Barcelona. It’s not just about the party, joining our guests and Vini you will get better price to get into the clubs avoiding queues. Tickets with drinks included!

Once you’ve fueled up on grapes it’s time to get ready for the New Years party in Barcelona! Barcelona’s best clubs will be full with excited people wanting to celebrate their first night of the New Year. Have a look some of our night tour clubs for this magical night:

Opium Barcelona New Year Party

Opium Barcelona offers you an amazing party as you deserve.

Where: Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta, 34 ( 15 min walking from Amistat Beach Hostel)

 

Shoko Barcelona New Years Party 

Shoko welcomes 2016 with all the glamour that this night deserves.Enjoy a magical night saying hello to the New Year and through 4 different cities: Seville, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and New York.

Where: Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta, 36 ( 15 min walking from Amistat Beach Hostel)

PACHA Barcelona New Year Party

The BIGGEST NIGHT of the year will be a blast at Pacha Barcelona.

Where: Where: Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta, 38 ( 15 min walking from Amistat Beach Hostel)

New Year Party 2015 Pacha Barcelona

Pacha Barcelona New Year Party 2015

CATWALK (DANZATORIA) New Year Party

A club for many but not for everyone! R&B and House music to enjoy this magic night.

Where: C/ Ramon Trias Fargas, 2-4

OTTOZUTZ Barcelona New Year Eve Party

This should be a popular choice! This open-air museum built on Montjuïc Mountain has been hosting the biggest NYE party in Barcelona for 25 years.

Where: Lincoln Street, 15

These are some choices that we made for this club list but there are hundred bars and clubs ready to offer you the most amazing New Year’s Eve Party.

Stay in our hostel in Barcelona for New Year’s Eve and join our dinner and night tour with other guests. Do not miss the coolest party in Barcelona. 🙂 🙂

What to do for Christmas in Barcelona

by

Barcelona shines in December more than ever! Lights and outdoor Christmas markets around the city brings a special vibe to the city.

Many things to see and many things to do during these days.  The most important outdoor markets is Fira de Santa Llúcia located in front of the Cathedral in Plaza St. Jaume and Fira de Nada de Sagrada Família. Apart of these, you can find more little markets in some neighbourdhoods and other towns around Catalonia and Spain.

During this period you can shop from Monday to Monday, nomally the shops are closed on -sundays but on December are most of them open 7 days a week. This period is the receiving and giving gifts so you need time to buy them!

If you are visiting Barcelona for Christmas period you can know some of our traditions.

In our hostel, Amistat Beach Hostel you can find Christmas decoration and a nice Christmas vibe. We make a nice New Year’s Eve dinner for our guests. We like to celebrate it every year with our guests and offer them a great local experience!

In Catalonia we have 4 festivity days and this is how we celebrate them:

Christmas Eve (24th Dec)

On Christmas Eve the bird of Jesus is celebrated. Families have a dinner all togheter and after the most religious persons go to Midnight Mass and the most party guys to the most trending club in the city. 🙂

Christmas Day ( 25th Dec)

This day is bank holidays. All the business are closed. Families and friends have a special lunch together.

 Saint Esteve (26th Dec)

This festivity is a bank holidays just in Catalonia. In the old times people use to join their families to celebrate the Christmas days but they used to live far away from the family and mostly of the people couldn’t get at work on time.

New Year’s Eve (31th Dec)

The most celebrated day! New Year’s Eve is called ‘Nochevieja’ or ‘The Old Night’ in Spain and one special tradition is that you eat 12 grapes with the 12 strokes of the clock at Midnight! Each grape represents a month of the coming year, so if you eat the twelve grapes, you are said to be lucky in the new year.

Join us this Christmas! come to our hostel to celebrate New Year’s Eve! Fun, friends, food, music….

Looking forward to receiving your visit!

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Top list of beers shops in Barcelona

by

Barcelona is a city of artisans beers. Can you believe it?  Out of the main attractions there is plenty of things to discover in this magical city. In this post we are going to talk about the top beer shops in Barcelona.  You can take them to your home or you can enjoy them sitting in a bench in front of sea. That’s cool!

 Voramar

Located in Barceloneta  (Maquinista, 14 ) it’s a very good choice. The staff of this bodega are beer fanatics, so rest assured you’ll find plenty of delicious choices in their fridge to accompany a beach picnic.

 Family Beer

This beer shop you can find it in Gracia neighbourhood (Joan Blanques, 53) also they have an online store. Family Beer sells equipment for brewing beer at home for only €50, if you want to be creative and make your own beer! The kit includes all the tools to make beer, plus malts, yeast and hops.  You can buy brewer’s utensils, malts (grains) and yeasts, and even spices and garnishes, such as nutmeg, cloves, bitter orange peel, and for the experts, oak chips to give your brew that special flavour. Make your own brand or buy different craft beers.

 

Rosses i Torrades

Located in Consell de Cent, 192, this shop has a wide range of beers.  From Japan to America, Rosses i Torrades are always searching for the breweries around the world with the best beers. You can enjoy some tastings and pairings with tapas but.

 

L’Espumossa

Located in Provença, 171.  L’Espumossa is a bar, but it’s so well-known as a shop. visit it!

The Beer Store

Located in Castillejos, 269. Tastings, home-brewing kits, a great list of domestic and imported beers… they even have a space reserved for collectors!

We recommend you to try these catalan beers: Rosita, Montseny, Glops and Art. Enjoy your visit! Enjoy Amistat Beach Hostel in Barcelona!

Skate spots in Barcelona

by

Barcelona is not just about Sagrada Familia, Gothic Quarter, tapas, beach and sangría. Barcelona is one of the most perfect cities to skate in the world, besides a few amazing skateparks there are also tons of skate spots all over the city.

If you are coming to skate Barcelona, don´t worry about how to get around. The metro system in Barcelona is amazing and inexpensive or just  rent a bike, that would give you some freedom to navegate between the streets.

Here we list the main skate spots:

MACBA  (Universitat)

Barcelona has been the mecca of skateboarding, one of the most famous skate spots in Barcelona is MACBA or Barcelona Museum Of Contemporary Art. Perfect ledges. Near by Universitat and Las Ramblas.

Desigual’s (Barceloneta)

Desiguals is the newest skate spot in Barcelona. Very easy to find! It is on the boardwalk, just in front of the big Desigual company headquarters. You can skate and enjoy the beautiful scenery – ocean view and sunbather alike.

W Hotel (Barceloneta)

Next to the W HOTEL at Barceloneta Beach you can find a few skate spots, the coolest one is the long curve of ledges,totaly perfect to skate!

 

Font Carmen Amaya (Barceloneta)

A classic spot. You have to check out this “All Time” Barcelona skate spot. It’s a beautiful fontain – more a piece of art than a skate spot and you almost feel bad skating it. It is in a quite area of the Barceloneta neighborhood, just one street from the beach.

Barceloneta Metro Station

Around the metro station Barceloneta you can find several of these there are some good skate spots to explore.

Hotel Arts (Ciutadella Villa Olimpica)

All around the Hotel Arts (Barcelona Ritz Carlton) you can find some of the most famous Barcelona Skate spots. Once you arrive to Ciutadella  look for the 2 huge sky-rise buildings. One of them is the Hotel Arts. The skateposts are just next door.

Skatepark Marbella (Poblenou- 300 meters from Amistat Beach Hostel)

The Marbella skatepark is located by the beach. It’s good for a skateboarding of different skill levels. At the top of the skatepark there is a street skate area.  Amazing views.

 

El Forum (Poblenou-Diagonal Mar)

Around Maresme Forum metro station there are many options to skate, even a small skatepark. If you are a longboarder you must have to check it out forum down hill. Good views!

Bump-Jump (The Metal Bump)

This is just one of many  skate spots in the Sant Marti area. There are stairs, rails, ledges, bumps, jumps randum metal launch ramps.  This place is a skaters dream!Located really close to the St. Marti metro station.

Let’s go skating!! Are you up for it?

Bring your own skate or rent one of ours in our reception desk. Amistat Beach Hostel is very close to Skatepark Marbella and some of the listed spots.

 

 

 

 

Street Art Barcelona

by

Sometimes you are walking throught the city and you discover things from the City that you have never seen before. Every day can be a new day of discoveries. But one thing is for sure, Barcelona is a city of art, you can tell this for the modernism buildings, squares, museums…etc., but what about the street art?

You can lost yourself between the streets or better you can join a walking street art tour. There are a few companies that organize these tours. This walking tours goes from Borne, Gothic Quarter to Raval.

As example, there is a daily tour of the El Borne and Gothic neighborhoods that begins at 14.00h (2:00pm) Monday through Sunday (everyday) meeting just on the side of the Arc D’ Triomf.

bornegothicmeetingplace2

This tour showcases Barcelona’s historically rich neighborhood of El Borne and the Gothic Quarter highlighting many of the classical, earlier examples of Barcelona street art found all over its walls with some remaining for years, and some even decades.

Also out from downtow in a very local neighbourhood you can join a bike street tour. This neighbourhood is the most developing industrial neighborhood of Poble Nou, where the remains of the industrial revolution meets the ever expanding digital revolution. You get more information : http://barcelonastreetstyletour.com/

Apart from being home to the newest murals done by some of the Europe’s top street artist, this blossoming district holds some of Barcelona’s modern architectural treasures, and at the same time remains as a reminder of a booming textile industry with giant factories and gypsy camps.

But if this tours are not enough for your and you want to see more art, we recommend you to visit some arte galleries.  The city has plenty of them. You can check this link: http://www.artbarcelona.es/en/

Discover Barcelona, enjoy the city and enjoy your stay in our hostel in Barcelona.

Amistat Beach Hostel spreading friendship!

To eat cheap in Gothic Quarter

by

El Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter), located in the very center of Barcelona, is one of the most famous places in Barcelona. This District is made up by a fusion of buildings dating from many different times, from Roman settlements to 20th century structures. This is one the most interesting places to visit in Barcelona, it brings you to past times.

The Gothic Quarter has narrow streets , ancient building and absence of traffic. Many of the streets are for pedestrians. There is an interesting historical novel that use Barcelona medieval time as a scenario, this book is Cathedral of the Sea.

We recommend you to visit the Catalan Government, the Palau de la Generalitat, the

Cathedral and other Gothic churches, as Santa Maria del Pi , also visit Plaça de Sant Jaume and lost yourself walking this narrows streets.

You can find a lot of intersting shops and multitud of bars and restaurants. We have designed a list for you with some of the cheapest bars and places to eat in Gothic Quarter.

1- TASCA Y VINS.

You can have a menu for 7€ and try a traditional catalan sausage dish for 5,95€. Cool, isn’t?

Where: Between Bruc and Girona

2- BUN BO VIETNAM

You can try vietnamese food for 7€/ dish. We recommend the strawberry mojito for 3,5€. Find this place in Carrer dels Angels, 6.

3- SANTA PIADINA!

Small place to taste an italian piadina with fresh products. A piadina cost between 3€ and 5€.

Where: Plaça San Pere 11.

4- LA REPÚBLICA

Argentinian restaurant where you can find very delicious empanadas and meat sandwitches.  Very cheap from 3€ to 15€.

Where: Calle Mercé, 13.

 5- THE DOG IS HOT

A fully menu of hot dog + nachos + drink cost between 5€ and 6€. Great deal!

Where: Calle Joaquin Costa 47.

6- PIM PAM BURGUER

Good fast food.High quality of meat. You can have an hamburguer just for 4,5€.

Where: Calle Sabateret, 4.

Not excuses now for saving money for clubbing at night. 🙂

If you need indications or more information how to get to this places ask our staff.

Enjoy your stay in our hostel and your visit!