- online, by phone or through a tout.
You've
set your heart on going to Barcelona and watching the most exciting forward
line in European football, how then can you ensure you avoid the hiccups and
the nightmare stories often recounted and you go away having enjoyed a
memorable experience.
We will
take you through a step-by-step guide to making the most of the trip and of
course we welcome views and opinions from fellow fans.
Barcelona
has a capacity of close to 100,000 so there is no need to worry about getting a
ticket for the game unless your plan is to see a special match, be it the el
clasico against Real Madrid or a top European clash.
Each game
is given a category going from D up to A and A+ with the prices rising
accordingly
The official Barça site has a list of each game and its price.
Members
(socios) have special benefits in that they can buy tickets for any game from
the start of the season while other fans must wait a month beforehand to buy
over the internet or just 15 days beforehand via other methods. Also members
get a discount of up to 20 per cent on matches.
As
explained tickets can be bought over the internet via the official club
website, directly from Servicaixa.com, or alternatively by telephone - +34 934963600 from outside Spain or otherwise
902189900. Tickets can also be bought from the kiosks at the stadium or from
the La Caixa bank machines in Spain.
Of course
an alternative method of getting a ticket is through a tout and although this
isn't always advisable if you know what you are doing you can get a bargain. On
matchdays you find a number of often elderly men among the hard-nosed touts who
basically are club members and have an extra ticket which they are looking to
off-load. If you are adept at haggling you can end up with a fairly decent deal
- the chances of this though obviously depend on the importance of the game
being played. Tickets rise into the hundreds and even thousands for key matches
but I know of one fan who waited five minutes after kick-off for a Barcelona v
Real Madrid match and bought a ticket for 50 euros.
Obviously
it is best though to arrange your ticket in advance of your trip to Barca but
after that one of the major headaches for fans is that in Spain they don't
announce the kick-off times for matches until a week or so beforehand, so this
can make booking a flight a nightmare. A weekend trip isn't so easy to arrange
if the match ends up at 9pm on Sunday evening and you have to be in work the
following day!
To make
the most of your trip you should really make a visit to the club's museum and
take a tour of the Camp Nou, which is possible most days of the year. The museum is open all days of the week, also weekends, but check the current prices and opening times here. Generally clubs in Spain are more accessible than for
example in the UK and press can cover training most days while fans also get
the chance to watch every now and again as well.