Location, location, location: If Barcelona were up for sale, it would pull a fortune for position alone. A prime spot on the beach, backed by cool hills and right on the main tollway into France.
This is one of Europe’s most exciting cities, tirelessly promoting itself as a European metropolis, a link between the sub-Pyrenean peninsula and the heartland of Western Europe.
To most visitors, Barcelona displays a zest for life, an artistic genius and a sense of style few cities can rival; to others, Barcelona is parochial and smugly self-satisfied, always crying foul in the face of perceived bad treatment from the capital, Madrid.
An Art Nouveau gem that indulged the fantastical whims of its greatest artists: Dali, Picasso and, above all, Gaudi.
Essential Barcelona
La Rambla
Yes it’s touristy. Yes, it’s full of hawkers. But it’s one of the most famous boulevards in the world, so La Rambla is worth a stroll down even if you only have one day in Barcelona. A gateway to rural Catalonia, the mile-long road bustles with tourists, artists, human statues, fortune-tellers, dancers and musicians. Vibrant flower stalls, a cultural and exhibition centre, the superb La Boqueria market, a Joan Miró mosaic, newspaper kiosks and cafés line the street. You may pay a fortune to sip a cola at a roadside café but the people-watching opportunities will be worth the price.
Gaudi
In Barcelona, you can gaze in wonder at Gaudí’s fairytale architecture. The Sagrada Familia is breathtaking and grotesque by turns. At first glance, it seems as though a careless giant has dripped melting wax over a Gothic cathedral, but a closer look reveals that the protuberances create a stone tapestry of Christ’s life. Take the lift to the top for a breathtaking view. Park Güell is a magical place that emulates an English garden city. After seeing the gatehouses, based on designs for the opera Hansel and Gretel, you can walk up a splendid staircase, past a mosaic lizard to what once was a marketplace. Outside, climb to the heights of the park to gaze down at the magnificent panorama.
Montjuïic
Montjuïic is perfect for a leafy stroll with great views, but hard to reach so is less populated by tourists. Scattered across the landward side are buildings from the 1992 Olympic Games, including Santiago Calatrava’s Olympic needle, while facing the sea is the lighthouse and vast cemetery. Energetic visitors can climb to the top of the hill, which is just a short distance from the Olympic stadium (and the sports museum) and Jardi Botànic. The Plaça Espanya provides the most popular access to the park. Here, you can visit the Pavelló Mies van der Rohe and cultural centre Caixa Forum.
Joan Miró
In Barcelona, a walk in the park is not just a relaxing experience but an artistic journey as well. Stroll round the leafy gardens of the Teatre Grec and then head to the Fundació Joan Miró, one of the greatest museums in the world. It’s home to a collection of over 225 paintings, 150 sculptures and graphic pieces by the Spanish surrealist artist, along with a number of works by his contemporaries. Wander over to the Jardins Laribal, meticulously designed by the French landscape artist Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier. Don’t miss the Tres Pins nursery, where plants are grown for the city’s municipal parks and gardens, or forget to tip your hat to the bronze statue of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the Plaça Dante Alighieri.
La Sagrada Familia
If you only have time for one sightseeing outing, this should be it. La Sagrada Familia inspires awe by its sheer verticality and, in the true manner of the medieval Gothic cathedrals it seeks to emulate, it is still under construction 100 years after the first stone was laid.
If it’s ever finished, the topmost tower will be more than half as tall as it is today
Unfinished, but still gets 2 million visitors annually, more than double its nearest rival for interest, the Museu Picasso
What you’re essentially visiting is Europe’s most interesting building site; four times daily, guided tours (€3) are available to help make sense of this remarkable church.
The present chief architect, Jordi Bonet, and his supporters argue that their task is a sacred one, and that this is a church intended to atone for sin and appeal for God’s mercy on Catalonia. The way things are going, it should be done by 2040 (the nave should be roofed by 2007).
Gaudi is buried in a simple tomb in the crypt
But don’t forget…
Barcelona’s catedral, one of its most magnificent Gothic structures, by following Carrer del Bisbe northwest from Plaça de Sant Jaume. The narrow old streets around the cathedral are traffic-free and dotted with occasionally very talented buskers.
Parc Guell
You know you’re out of L’Eixample and in Gracia when you hit a maze of crowded narrow streets and lanes that characterise the Barri. Just to the north is another of Gaudi’s exquisite creations, the Parc Guell.
Gaudi tried his hand at landscape gardening in this strange, enchanting place where his passions for natural forms really took flight – to the point where the artificial almost seems more natural than the natural.
The park originated in 1900 when Count Eusebi Guell bought a tree-covered hillside outside of town and hired Gaudi to create a miniature city of houses for the wealthy in landscaped grounds. The project was a commercial flop and was abandoned in 1914, but not before Gaudi had created 3km of roads and walks, steps, a plaza and two gatehouses in his inimitable manner. In 1922 the city bought the lot and turned it into a public park.
In the park, visit the Casa Museu Gaudi, where Gaudi lived for the last 20 years of his life (1906-26).
The simplest way to get here is to take the metro to Lesseps, then walk 10 to 15 mins northeast along Travessera de Dalt, left up Carrer de Larrard.
Don’t forget…
Casa Batlló
One of the strangest residential buildings in Europe, this is Gaudí at his hallucinogenic best. The facade, sprinkled with bits of blue, mauve and green tiles and studded with wave-shaped window frames and balconies, rises to an uneven blue-tiled roof with a solitary tower. It is one of the three houses on the block between Carrer del Consell de Cent and Carrer d’Aragó that gave it the playful name Manzana de la Discordia, meaning ‘Apple (Block) of Discord’. Locals know Casa Batlló variously as the casa dels ossos (house of bones) or casa del drac (house of the dragon). It’s easy enough to see why. The balconies look like the bony jaws of some strange beast and the roof represents Sant Jordi (St George) and the dragon. If you stare long enough at the building, it seems almost to be a living being. Before going inside, take a look at the pavement. Each paving piece carries stylised images of an octopus and a starfish, Gaudí designs originally cooked up for Casa Batlló.
Museu Picasso
Barcelona’s most visited museum occupies five magnificent medieval mansions on the Carrer de Montcada. It is even worth wandering in to admire the fine stone courtyard and internal staircase of the first of these buildings, but I dare you not to be drawn by the collection
This is not a collection of Picasso’s finest works: it concentrates on his formative years and on very specific moments in his later life
Some visitors walk away disappointed because they were expecting a more eclectic assortment of his better-known works (few of his painting from his Cubist period are on show, for instance)
The collection is made up of 3500 different works and is strongest on his early periods, up to 1904. You can get a sense of the artist’s early genius – some of his self-portraits and portraits of his father, painted when he was a teenager, are staggeringly good.
The collection also includes a focus on his work around 1900, when he first visited Paris and began his Blue Period; and on his later work from 1954 to 1962, when he became obsessed with the work of the great masters, particularly Velasquez.
Mont Juic
Overlooking the city centre from the southwest, the hill of Montjuic is a hive of activity, home to two of the city’s finest art collections – the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC; it has among its permanent exhibits one of the world’s most important collections of Romanesque art) and Fundacio Joan Miro. It also hosts several lesser museums, curious sights like the Poble Espanyol (a pastiche of architectural remakes from around the country), the sinister Castell Montjuic (used to execute political prisoners for over 100 years: anarchists at the end of the 19th century, fascists during the Civil War and republicans after it) and the interesting Caixaforum (an art expo space that opened in 2001). Also here is the Olympic Stadium (used for the 1992 Olympics).
You can walk from Ciutat Vella (the foot of La Rambla is 700m from the eastern end of Montjuic); a series of escalators un up to the hill.
The Montjuic Card (€20) gives you access to all of the museums and attractions
FC Barcelona
Barca play in the simply magnificent Camp Nou in the west of the city. The ground is so huge that tickets for virtually every section of the stadium are available at the ground (tel 902 189900) on matchdays – touts are always on hand for the big games. If you don’t want to take a chance, go through the ticket service ServiCaixa (tel 902 332211; www.servicaixa.com (in Spanish). Tickets cost between €40-150, depending on the seat and the match.
Eating
First things first: while many eateries and bars along La Rambla may be pleasant enough rest stops, there are virtually no culinary experiences to be had on the strip; you’ll pay more for poorer quality food; and you’ll struggle to see a local. Once inside the Barri Gotic, though, it’s a different story, especially the half of it from Placa de Sant Jaume and the waterfront. The southern corner of La Ribeira – known as El Borne – is where you’ll find the best of the city’s contemporary restaurants.
Cafes
Las Ramblas
Café de l’Opera Ramblas 74;933 177 585; www.cafeoperabcn.com If you’re going to pay through the nose for a Ramblas seat, it may as well be at this famous old café-bar opposite the opera house, which retains its late nineteenth-century decor as well as a bank of sought-after pavement tables. It’s not a complete tourist-fest, though – locals pop in throughout the day and night for coffee, cakes, snacks and tapas. Opening time: Daily 8.30am–2am
Barri Gotic
Dulcinea c/Petritxol 2; 932 311 756 One of the old town’s traditional treats is to come here for a thick hot chocolate, slathered in cream if you like it that way. Then if you’ve still got room, try one of their pastries or perhaps a dish of mel i mato (curd cheese with honey). A dickie-bow-wearing waiter patrols the beamed and panelled room bearing a silver tray. Opening time: Daily 9am–1pm & 5–9pm; closed Aug
Mesón del Cafe c/Llibreteria 16; 933 150 754 Offbeat locals’ café where you’ll probably have to stand to sample the pastries and the excellent coffee – including a cappuccino laden with fresh cream – though there is a sort of cubbyhole at the back with a few tables. Opening time: Mon– Sat 7am–11pm
El Raval
Granja de Gavà c/Joaquim Costa 37; 933 175 883 This traditionally tiled café has an arty air – witness the daubs on the walls, the 3m-high woman on the bar and the weekly poetry readings and other events. It’s a thoroughly relaxed spot – proclaiming “No TV, just good music” – and serves up breakfast, sandwiches, crêpes, salads, juices and shakes. Opening time: Mon– Fri 8am–1am, Sat 8am–2.30am
Kasparo Pl. Vicenç Martorell 4; 933 022 072 Sited in the arcaded corner of a quiet square off c/Bonsuccés, this tiny café and terrassa is popular with locals who come to let their kids play in the adjacent playground. There’s muesli, Greek yoghurt, and toast and jam for early birds, while later in the day sandwiches, tapas and assorted platos del dia are on offer – things like hummus and bread, vegetable quiche, couscous or pasta. Opening time: Daily 9am–10pm, until midnight in summer; closed Jan
Restaurants
Las Ramblas
Bar Pinotxo Mercat de la Boqueria, Ramblas 91; 933 171 731 The market’s most renowned refuelling stop – just inside the main entrance on the right – attracts traders, chefs, tourists and celebs, who stand three deep at busy times. A coffee, a grilled sandwich and a glass of cava (no, really) is the local breakfast of choice, or let the cheery staff steer you towards the tapas and daily specials, anything from a slice of tortilla to fried baby squid. Opening time: Mon– Sat 6am–5pm; closed Aug
Barri Gotic
Café de l’Acadèmia (c/Lledó 1; 933 198 253; Mains €11–18; Mon– Fri 9am– noon, 1.30–4pm & 8.45–11.30pm; closed two weeks in Aug) Great for a date or a lazy lunch, with creative Catalan cooking served in a romantic stone-flagged restaurant or on a lovely summer terrassa in the medieval square outside, lit by candles at night. Seasonal dishes range from confit of bacallà (salt cod) with spinach and pine kernels to aubergine terrine with goat’s cheese, plus grills, fresh fish and rice. Prices are pretty reasonable and it’s always busy, so dinner reservations are essential. A no-choice menú del dia is a bargain for the quality (it’s even cheaper eaten at the bar); a nice breakfast is served too.
Arc Café (c/Carabassa 19; 933 025 204; www.arccafe.com; A la carte main dishes around €10 Opening time: Mon– Thurs 10am–1am, Fri 10am–3am, Sat 11am–3am, Sun 11am–1am) Setting the standard for the chilled-out bistro-bars seemingly now on every corner, the Arc does substance and style. Drop in just for a drink by all means – it’s a neighbourhood stalwart – but the seasonally changing menu is great value, and the kitchen’s open all day. There are Greek salad, spring rolls, home-made burgers and Thai curries (with Thurs & Fri nights designated Thai food nights).
Matsuri (Pl. Regomir 1; 932 681 535; www.matsuri-restaurante.com; around €25 a head; Mon– Thurs 1.30–3.30pm & 8.30–11.30pm, Fri 1.30–3.30pm & 8.30pm– midnight, Sat 8.30pm– midnight) Matsuri’s creative Southeast Asian cuisine concentrates on Thai-style noodles, soups, curries, salads, plus sushi and sashimi. Tastes are very definitely Catalan in execution – nothing too spicy or adventurous – but the service is friendly and the Indonesian-style furniture and terracotta colours make for a relaxed meal.
El Raval
Café de L’Acadèmia (Café de l’Acadèmia, c/Liedó 1, +34 933 198253) is the best lunchtime restaurant in Europe and has a simple three-course daily table d’hôte lunch menu, including a mini carafe of wine, for about a tenner – a throwback to a pre-Civil War law requiring restaurants to make a good cheap local midday meal for factory workers. You will never eaten the same meal there – it’s always fresh Catalan food. It’s about two minutes’ walk from the ancient Ajuntament, the magnificent City Hall in Plaça de Sant Jaume where Catalans are still battling to peacefully wrench their state from Castilian political and economic control.
Biocenter (c/Pintor Fortuny 25; 933 014 583; www.restaurantebiocenter.es; mains €7–10) Long– established Raval veggie place, with a restaurant-bar across the road from the original health-food store. The fixed-price menú del dia starts serving at 1pm, with soup and a trawl through the salad bar for a first course, followed by market-fresh mains. For dinner, they dim the lights, add candles and sounds, and turn out a few more exotic dishes, from red veg curry to ginger tofu.
Mesón David (c/de les Carretes 63; 934 415 934) This down-to-earth Galician bar-restaurant is a firm favourite with neighbourhood families who bring their kids before they can even walk. The weekday menú is a steal – maybe some lentil broth followed by a grilled, butterflied trout and home-made flan – though it’s the octopus and the combinado Gallego (“ham, salami, ear”) that has the locals purring. There’s a bang on the clog-gong for anyone who tips.
Romesco (c/de l’Arc de Sant Agustí s/n; 934 189 381) Old Barcelona hands talk lovingly of the Romesco – and as long as you accept its limitations (dining in a strip-lit corridor, Billy Goat Gruff waiters) you can hardly go wrong, as the most expensive thing on the menu is a grilled sirloin at €8 and most dishes go for €5 or less. It’s basic but good, with big salads, country broths and grilled veg to start, followed by things like tuna steak, lamb chops or grilled prawns from the market, scattered with parsley and chopped garlic. If you spend more than €15 each you’ve probably eaten someone else’s dinner as well. No credit cards. Opening time: Mon– Sat 1–11.30pm; closed Aug Price: Inexpensive
Ànima (c/dels Angels 6; 933 424 912; mains around €14) Sleek and arty, but also informal, this attracts a youngish crowd who come for the immaculately presented, seasonally influenced fusion cooking – courgette flowers and mussels tempura, followed by monkfish with a garlic and pistachio crust are typical summer dishes. It’s an especially good deal at lunchtime, and the staff are unfailingly charming.
Drinking
Barri Gotic
L’Ascensor c/Bellafila 3 933 185 347 Sliding antique wooden elevator doors announce the entrance to “The Lift”, but it’s no theme bar – just an easy-going local hangout, great for a late-night drink. Opening time: Daily 6.30pm–3am
La Cerveteca c/Gignàs 25; 933 150 407; www.lacerveteca.com Is it a bar, or is it the funkiest off-licence in town? What’s for certain is that La Cerveteca offers the city’s biggest and best beer selection from around the world, all correctly racked and shelved, and available to drink in or take out. Brews are taken seriously here but it’s not a beard-and-sandals beer fest, more a modern art, Muddy Waters, Latino beat kind of place where beer-lovers gather round big stand-up barrels and swap stories. Opening time: Mon & Tues 4–9pm, Wed & Thurs noon–9pm, Fri & Sat noon–10pm
Milk c/Gignàs 21 932 680 922; www.milkbarcelona.comIrish-owned bar and bistro that’s quickly carved a niche as a welcoming neighbourhood hangout – nothing flashy, but decent food and cocktails backed by a funky soundtrack. Book at the weekends if you want to eat, and come early for the popular Sunday brunch. Opening time: Mon– Sat 6.30pm–3am, Sun 11am–3am
Fantastico Ptge. dels Escudellers 3; 933 175 411; www.fantasticoclub.com A cheery dive for the pop, indie and electro crowd, listening to the Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, The Pigeon Detectives, Get Cape and the like. Opening time: Wed– Sat 11pm–3am
Fonfone c/dels Escudellers 24; 933 171 424; www.fonfone.com Beautifully lit bar attracting a young crowd into fast, hard music, though it changes mood with satin soul, disco and best-of-Eighties nights. Opening time: Daily 10pm–3am
Sleeping
Even in the depths of the low season, you won’t get a hostel for less than €18. In small pensiones or hostales you’re looking at €30 for a single and €50 for a double – anything cheaper and it’s going to be grotty. Mid-range hotels go from about €60 for a double up to €180.
La Rambla is lined with hotels, pensiones and fleapits, few of them outstanding although easy to find. In the labyrinth of the Barri Gotic are scattered countless small pensiones, but fewer hotels of quality.
Barri Gotic
Itaca c/Ripoll 21, Barri Gòtic; 933 019 751; www.itacahostel.com Bright and breezy converted house close to the cathedral, with spacious rooms (sleeping eight or twelve) with balconies. Dorms are mixed, though you can also reserve a private room (€50–65)or apartment (sleeps up to 6; €100–120). With a hostel capacity of only 30 it doesn’t feel at all institutional. There’s a kitchen and book-exchange service, and coffee and breakfast available. Price: €18
Cantón c/Nou de Sant Francesc 40; 933 173 019; www.hotelcanton-bcn.com Refurbished one-star hotel that’s only two blocks off the Ramblas and close to the harbour and Port Vell. Forty rooms feature uniform blue-and-white trim curtains and bedspreads, high wooden headboards, central heating and a/c, fridge and wardrobe. Some bathrooms are a bit smarter than others, and a few rooms have balconies (though they don’t have much of a view) – all are well insulated against street noise. A buffet continental breakfast is available, served in a stone-walled dining room, and room prices drop a good bit out of season.Price: €85
Fernando c/de Ferran 31; 933 017 993; www.hfernando.com Rooms at these prices fill quickly around here; that they’re also light, modern and well kept by friendly people is a real bonus. All come with basin, shower and TV (some singles share facilities), while dorm accommodation (€25) is available on the top floor in rooms that sleep four to eight, some with attached bathroom. All accommodation is a few euros cheaper outside July & Aug. Price: €70
El Raval
Gat Raval c/Joaquín Costa 44; 934 816 670; www.gataccommodation.com Going for the boutique end of the budget market, the Gat Raval has done its fashionable best with a rambling townhouse. Lime green is a recurring theme, from doors to bedspreads, while each room is broken down to fundamentals – chair, basin, wall-mounted TV, fan and heating, and signature back-lit street photograph and artwork that doubles as a reading light. Only six of the twenty-four rooms are en suite, but communal facilities are good, and there are internal or street and MACBA views, Internet access, drinks machine and staff on duty 24/7. It has a magnificent rooftop suite with great views of the city. Price: €75
Gat Xino c/Hospital 149–155; 933 248 833; www.gataccommodation.com The sister hotel to the Gat Raval shares the same signature style, facilities and colour scheme, but all 35 rooms here are en suite, while four suites have much more space, bigger bathrooms and less street noise (and one has a terrace). You also get a coffee, cereal and toast breakfast served in a patio area; there’s 24hr staff and security.Price: €100
Grau c/Ramelleres 27; 933 018 135; www.hostalgrau.com A really friendly pension, with attractive, colour-coordinated rooms on several floors (no lift); renovated superior rooms also have balconies, a/c, new bathrooms and a touch of modern Catalan style. There’s a little rustic-chic lounge area, wireless Internet access, and breakfast available weekdays in the adjacent café-bar (included in room rates in Jan & Feb). Six small private apartments in the same building (sleeping 2 to 5, available by the night) offer a bit more independence, and prices out of season for all rooms drop by quite a bit. Price: €70
Market c/Comte Borrell 68, at Ptge. Sant Antoni Abat; 933 251 205; www.markethotel.com.es Just a stone’s throw from Sant Antoni market and the Raval, the designer-budget Market hotel makes a definite splash with its part-Japanese, part neo-colonial look. Very fetching jet-black rooms feature hardwood floors, wooden screen-cladding and shutters, bathrooms with a faux-bamboo towel radiator and boxy wardrobes topped with travel trunks. It’s a feel that flows through the building and down into the impressive restaurant, which is a really dramatic space in which to dine – and the food here is exceptionally good value too. Breakfast included in the rate. Price: €100
Day Trip
Montserrat
Montserrat (Serrated Mountain) is the spiritual heart of Catalonia and your best opportunity to enjoy awesome scenery on a day trip from Barcelona. Comprising a massif of limestone pinnacles rising precipitously over gorges, this wondrous place has drawn hermits (er, independent travellers) since the 5th century.
Montserrat, 50km (31mi) northwest of Barcelona, has weird rocky crags, ruined hermitage caves, a monastery and hordes of tourists from the Costa Brava. The Monestir de Montserrat was founded in 1025 to commemorate numerous visions of the Virgin Mary. Today it houses a community of about 80 monks, and pilgrims come to venerate La Moreneta (the Black Virgin), a 12th-century Romanesque wooden sculpture of Mary with the baby Jesus; La Moreneta has been Catalunya’s official patron since 1881. The most dramatic approach to Montserrat is by cable car, which arrives just below the monastery after a thrilling whoop up the sheer mountainside.
Cap de Creus
One of the best trips outside the city is to take a car and drive all the way up to the very edge of Spain, the Cap de Creus nature reserve. First, visit Cadaqués, a remote fishing village of whitewashed houses that acquired fame in the 1970s as the centre of two artistic movements, one centred around Salvador Dalí and the other around Galeria Cadaqués, which attracted people such as Man Ray, Joseph Beuys and David Hockney. Stroll along the promenade and have an aperitif at one of the beach bars, then drive to neighbouring Port Lligat to visit Dalí’s former house. From there, follow the signs towards the easternmost and highest point of the cape, and lunch with breathtaking views at Restaurant Cap de Creus (+34 972 199 005 – call to reserve and request a table on the terrace by the window).
Getting there
Aer Lingus has flights direct to Barcelona for around €65 each way.
Ryanair to Girona for around €135 return, 80km north of Barcelona. Barcelona Bus runs connections to Barcelona linked with arriving and departing flights (€9/16 one way/return, 70 minutes), or buses to Girona train station, from which you can get a train (€5.75, 11/4 hours).
