anyone stayed in this hotel in Barcelona

[sunglasses]

We have booked 3 nights at H10 Marina Hotel in Barcelona - myself, husband and 2 kids in Easter holidays Its near the zoo and the olympic village so not right in the heart of Barcelona. Is it too far out for sightseeing, eating out etc. I know its near a metro stop but just wanted to get a feel for how we would enjoy our stay there- is it walkable to anything worth seeing or would we need to take Metro. What about eating out? Anyone with more knowledge of Barcelona than me??

You can get the tourist open top bus near the Olympic village so that is an option. Have fun, love Barcelona!

That sound good. What should we definitely see and do?

Bogatell metro stop is yellow line (L4) which is 5 stops to city centre.
Marina metro stop is red line (L1) which is 3 stops to city centre.
You are near both metro stations. Metro is big, clean, fast and very easy to use. The majority of stations have lift access and escalators.
For the majority of stations in the middle of the platforms there'll be a big map locating you. So when you get off the train, locate a map before leaving the actual platform and you'll be able to see which exit you need (they each have multiple exits and it can get confusing!). Passeig de Gracia has I think 5 exits and access to the main train station!
You can get a variety of different travelcards from the machines in the station, perhaps the hotel receptionist can recommend the best to fit your purpose. They take cash or credit cards.

As with all cities and also being on holiday, just be vigilant about keeping bags and money and cameras safe.

Things to see: it depends on age of dc.

Zoo is ok, bit cramped for animals in places. Penguins great, pacing bears not so much

Ciutadella Parc is nice, lots of grass for picnicking.

Las Ramblas is a bit of a kip, but halfway down on your right is La Boqueria market which shouldn't be missed. Stinning and you can eat fabulously.

For Gaudi, between La Pedrera and Casa Battillo (both on same big avenue, the latter closer to centre), i'd choose Casa Batillo.

Gaudi's Parc Guell is amazing. Definitely worth posing for a photo by the tiled dragon.

Tibidao (it means 'to thee i give you' and is what Satan promised to Jesus in return for his soul ) is an old-fashioned funfair on the hill above Barcelona. Incredible views.

Love casa batillo, the Picasso museum, sagrada familia, park guell, the beach the food, it's just a great place, lots of nightlife and good bars restaurants etc.

I stayed there just last weekend! A lovely hotel, the staff were so friendly and the breakfast was great. A nice bar for in the evenings too. It's just a short walk from the marina so we spent our first afternoon just wandering along the beach and checking out the boats. The other days, we took the Metro from Bogatell (a few minutes' walk from the hotel) to wherever we were going. We were usually in the Plaça de Catalunya area for dinner and chose to get a taxi back to the hotel, but it was pretty cheap (about 10 euros, depending on number of passengers).
Highlights of the trip were the Sagrada Familia (I've been to Barcelona three times and am stunned afresh by it every time), Parc Güell (the Gaudi Park), and the Magic Fountain at Montjuïc (there's a short show there at certain times of the week, with the fountain lighting up to music - it draws quite a crowd). At this time of the year, the fountain show is Fri and Sat, 7pm - 8.30pm.
Enjoy!!

Sagrada Familia definitely. Book ahead and you'll get a fixed time. It costs extra to go up the lift (i think...).

On the first Monday of the month many museums are free. There are Picasso, Miro and Chocolate museums! Although I don't know which of those, if any, are free.

There are 3 tour buses, you can get tickets for one, two or all three for a day or for your entire visit. They stop everywhere you want to go, including awkward-to-get-to places and the Nou Camp stadium that houses Barça.

At the bottom of Las Ramblas is a statue of Christopher Columbus, you can go up him. Fab views.

There is a cable car and funicular going up Montjuic mountain from the port - the Olympic stuff is on the mountain. They used to do F1 up there too, until the early 90s.

While you're out and about, I always found the chain restaurants FresCo and Latuca to be bargainous: for about €10 each eat all you like buffet, 3 courses plus drink and coffee. There are several dotted about. Very fresh quality food.

I love walking up and down Rambla Catalunya (parallel to Passeig de Gracia- the big main street) as it is padestrianised and full of trees and bars and restaurants. If you're going up that street, turn left onto Mallorca street and just there on your left is a fantastic restaurant called Cerveceria Catalana (i'll double check that with DH!). Top quality food, medium price, tapas.

The Born district is lovely and well worth a wander (and get pizza from Pizzeria del Born on the main street Paseo del Born). Beautiful church: Santa Maria del Pi which book The Cathedral by the Sea was written about.

So much to do and see, it is a great city.

If I were you I would use the hop on hop off buses. They stop close to where you are staying and are so easy to use and to see everything as you travel. If you check out the routes they cover everything worth seeing in Barcelona. They'll be more expensive than the metro but we treated it as part of the holiday. We loved the cable cars. Didn't realise we had to book for the Sagrada Familia and the Park Guell but couldn't get in - so if you fancy them worth looking at booking. The Nou Camp is worth a visit even if you don't like football (I don't!). Website for the buses is below x
www.barcelonabusturistic.cat/en/home.

wow- just came back to this . Thanks for all the great advice. I feel much more prepared now! Cant wait.

Just returned from a fabulous trip to Barcelona, can highly recommend Etapa Tapas walking and tapas tour, not sure children are allowed but I'm sure there will be others just as good.