Anyone been over to see a Barcelona home game?

[lucky007]

Evening NSC!

I'm thinking of taking the lad to watch a home Barcelona game as a xmas present.

Anyone been over for the day/overnight to see a game?

The obvious questions, tickets, flights, hotels etc.

Any help/suggestions would good.

Thanks

 

[16 bit 44.1]

I went as part of a stag weekend in 2005. It was Barcelona's first home game after they had clinched the title and it was against Villarael. We just booked the tickets online as part of the flight package. You could just click on extra's when you bought the flight and that was one of them. They stick you right up in the gods though but it was worth the experience. Even though it pissed down at one point. Oh and the rankest hot dog type thing I've ever eaten. 5 goal thriller though and 104,000 in attendance! Well worth it. Plenty of links on Google.

 

[cloud]

Yeah I have been, though it was in the days before internet booking.

I have booked tickets online to matches in France, Italy and Austria, all pretty straightforward.
http://www.fcbarcelona.com/info-tickets

 

[driller]

I took my son last year.
Got easy jet flight early friday morning from gatwick (6am I think) got to Barcelona mid morning.
Checked into h10 hotel in nice part of Barcelona. Went to aquarium and had some grub.
Match was Friday evening finished about 11ish so late - the thing you have to watch is they do not set time for game until about 2 weeks before - could be Friday night until Sunday lunch time so make sure you book flights to cover this.
Tickets easy to buy around town - barca has plent of stores selling them or you can pay from web site and get delivered to your hotel.

An easy weekend to arrange. Great experience. Go for it.

 

[dwayne]

To be honest maybe only worth going if it's a big game, atmosphere is pretty non existent especially in the gods. Try and get seats closer to the action because otherwise it's like watching ants. Maybe the only game I've ever been where I didn't realise the other team had scored as they don't really have away fans in Spain !!!

 

[shaolinpunk]

Maybe the only game I've ever been where I didn't realise the other team had scored as they don't really have away fans in Spain !!!

I found that a bit of a culture shock - I genuinely had no idea where the opposition fans where, if anywhere, when I went

 

[arkan]

In regards to away fans in spain

http://www.laliganews.tv/spanish-fans-why-do-they-not-travel/

There was a bbc sport article on this a year ago or so but after 20 seconds of looking through google i cant find it.

 

[loz]

For the average Brighton fan It would be a nightmare as they have a drum, flags, ultras, goal music and the goal scores name read out ! All the things Brighton call tinpot and more!

 

[Billy Seagull]

There's been a few threads in the last 6 months or so with some useful info on.

 

[Racek]

For the average Brighton fan It would be a nightmare as they have a drum, flags, ultras, goal music and the goal scores name read out ! All the things Brighton call tinpot and more!

Do they have goal music? I don't recall that when I went.

 

[loz]

Oh yes and someone shouting over the pa... But that might well be only heard if you are sitting near it.

 

[Wozza]

To be honest maybe only worth going if it's a big game, atmosphere is pretty non existent especially in the gods. Try and get seats closer to the action because otherwise it's like watching ants. Maybe the only game I've ever been where I didn't realise the other team had scored as they don't really have away fans in Spain !!!

We went ground level and regretted it, as it was just like being at any other stadium.

And there was no atmosphere. Full of tourists - like us.

 

[daveinprague]

Went years ago...was surprised to see how unimpressive, the stadium was....from the outside...on entering, realised we were up in the gods and the drop away was pretty awe inspiring...

 

[Ian Bairds Fist]

Good advice above, all I would add is that the ground tour is pretty decent if you have the time. Took about an hour from memory, usual stuff: pitch, dressing rooms, tunnel, media box, trophy room(!). We then bought tickets at the kiosk for the game the following evening. The Nou Camp is only ever a sell out for the Classico or big European nights. Don't let online websites rip you off, you shouldnt pay any more than 20 euros for a ticket in the gods.

 

[Meade's Ball]

I flew back from a game at the weekend there yesterday morning. Twas great. After watching a masterclass from the mid-level 65 euro seats behind the southern goal, we went on to the Mini Estadio to watch Barca B play Las Palmas around the corner. That was about a tenner. Stayed in the Acevi Hotel down in town, so it was a bit of a walk to the stadia, but not akin to walking down a motorway, so it was a pleasant stroll through parts of the city. A great place and just amazing to watch. Get there for the pre-match warm up as that's just spectacular too. All in all a 24 hour cracker.

 

[gordonchas]

Maybe the only game I've ever been where I didn't realise the other team had scored as they don't really have away fans in Spain !!!

Arkan already kind of answered that with a link, but I can give you a personal take. Last night Elche played Valencia in what is considered a local derby despite that being a 220 mile (350km) round trip. However, there were about 2,500 Valencia supporters there.

There is no culture of away support in Spain partly because the distances are enormous. Last season Elche had an away game at Sporting Gijon scheduled for a noon kick off. In order to get to it, three coach loads had to depart at 11pm on Saturdaty night, returning at 2am on Monday morning, without any sort of overnight stop.

The distance is the same as going for an away match from Brighton to Aberdeen, and that's not even the longest trip Elche make, let alone what a club on the edge of Spain like Real Sociedad or Celta Vigo has to do to play at somewhere like Malaga or Sevilla.

 

[Seagull]

I have a good friend in Barcelona, Spanish speaker (mine severely ltd). Have been to several matches vs teams like Mallorca, Espanyol, where it was easy to get a ticket at the ground. My friend went up to gruff looking Catalan geezers outside the stadium who wanted to shift their unused season ticket seats for the match and we paid a bargain price for great seats. A walk through, some cheese and red wine in a tiny bar, or a stay in the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) of the city centre is atmospheric and safe.

 

[Hiney]

Went to El Classico in 2003. Booked it all through one of the Football Weekend websites.

Went over Saturday morning, hotel just off Las Ramblas. The game was Saturday night. We had all day Sunday to do the tourist stuff and came back Monday morning.

It was brilliant. The atmosphere before the game was unbelievable. Real Madrid spoilt things a bit by winning, but it was superb.

 

[cardboard]

Shouldn't be hard to get tickets - there were only 71,000 there on Saturday. Imagine if Man Utd or Arsenal had 40,000 empty seats for a league game!!

 

[haselden10]

I went in August for the Spanish super cup final second leg and the atmosphere was brilliant just didn't know what they were singing, should do the stadium tour nothing more impressive than when you walk out on the pitch and see the sheer size of the ground. also you can spend hours in shop and museum both are gigantic and the reason there are so many empty seats because they are season tickets holders who chose what games they go to.