The Simple Travel Guide to Barcelona
Bienvenida / Benvinguts a Barcelona!
I’ve never visited anywhere as much as I have Barcelona. By last count it’s closing in on 20 times. Nowhere on earth makes me feel quite the same as I do whenever I touch down in this city. Hence why I return again and again.
It’s special. It’s also busy, touristy (to an extent) and very easy to go wrong.
Despite that, simple travel in BCN is possible and occasionally easy. Barcelona’s neighbourhoods are incredibly walkable and it’s the sort of city where you get so much more out of it by wandering than you do standing in line for the Sagrada Familia.
Which is good. Because that’s the best way to experience it.
Your two-minute neighbourhood guide to Barcelona.
Barcelona’s central neighbourhoods are very clearly defined by the big boulevards that crisscross the city which gives each of them a distinctly different vibe.
The neighbourhoods you do want to see:
The tree-lined residential neighbourhood of Poble Sec.
The vibrant Raval (don’t believe the bad reviews, I lived there for a few months and it’s way safer than most people say).
The beautiful El Born with its stunning architecture.
The grid-like Eixample and Sant Antoni with its wide boulevards.
The bustling student district of Gracia in the north.
The seaside neighbourhood of Barceloneta.
Aimlessly walking around any of these is an excellent way to spend a day or two. And by all means, stay in any of them. Aside from Gracia, they’re all very central.
The neighbourhoods you don’t want to bother with:
Las Ramblas (less a neighbourhood, more a tourist trap of a road with no redeeming features. The rule is, you always cross the Ramblas, you never walk up it.
The Gothic Quarter. Yes it’s pretty and it’s old, but it’s also heavily touristy. Visit the excellent natural wine bar Levante or the equally good coffee shop Satan’s and leave the rest.
This is what I would do if I had one morning in BCN
Start at the Sant Antoni food market for pan con tomate and tortilla. This is a smaller but much easier-to-navigate indoor market than the better-known Boqueria on the Ramblas.
Wander through the Raval taking in the tiny streets.
Cross over the Ramblas into the Gothic Quarter to stop at Satan’s Coffee Corner for a great speciality coffee in a beautiful — and quiet — courtyard.
Move across El Born before heading to the grand Ciutadella park.
Walk towards the seafront through Barceloneta. If it’s the summer, dip your feet in the Mediterranean.
Wander through Barceloneta stopping at La Cova Fumada. This is a local fisherman’s joint that has become reasonably well-known over the years. My tip is to get there before 11:30 am. Order a beer, a bomba (their famous potato croqueta topped with alioli and spicy sauce) and a plate or two with the fishermen before the tourists arrive. I like to stand at the bar, just where that woman with the glasses is in the picture below:
Amble up to La Plata, a tiny tapas bar that has been serving the same four tapas dishes for nearly 100 years. Owner Pepe will set you up with fried fish, tomato salad, anchovies, local sausage and plenty of house vermouth.
If you want to extend your walk, walk along past the harbour, up Paral.lel and hang a left into El Poble Sec. If you’re still hungry, the tiny hole in the wall Zaza natural wine bar will sort you out with some great local wines and inventive food.
Continue up into Montjuic Park, winding your way through the gardens and up the hill until you hit the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya for some of the best views across the city
Do this, along with some of the food and wine suggestions below, and you’ve done the best Barcelona can give you.
My little black book of where to drink great wine in BCN
I’m actually intimidated by this because it’s hard to know where to start. So I’m going with my favourite places only, categorized by neighbourhood.
El Born
Can Cisa / Bar Brutal — one of the first and best natural wine bars in the world. Nowadays it’s more restaurant than bar so best to book a table ahead.
L’Anima Del Vi — a haphazard French couple runs this lovely natural wine bar. This is one of the best value places for great wine in Barcelona.
Eixample
I’ve got a soft spot for tapas bar Pepa Bar a Vins, a modern-style bar with a fantastic kitchen.
If you want to push the boat out, you can’t do much better than Gresca in the north of the Eixample.
Bar Torpedo is a proper wine trade hangout. It opens until 3 am, dirty burgers fly out the door and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
Contracorrent has a great outside space and cooks banging modern tapas dishes.
Poble Sec
Denassus is my favourite place in Poble Sec. Great tapas, great wine. It also must be the best value place for quality jamón in the city. Order a media ración and be prepared to be very happy.
Quimet i Quimet — it’s worth popping your head into this standing-room-only tapas bar if you can get in — it’s become incredibly popular in recent years. Great conservas (canned produce) on bread and lovely wines.
Cal Marino is a cavernous wine and tapas bar. Lively and good value.
Gracia
La Graciosa has a beautiful courtyard and banging wine list. More tapas bar than restaurant.
Salvatge has embraced natural wine by the glass but be warned — if you’re over 30, you will feel old in here.
My favourite bar in Barcelona…
…is in a residential neighbourhood called La Sagrera, a place you would have no reason to go apart from this bar. It’s called 035 // Bar and in my mind, it’s the perfect place. Perfect wines, the nicest owner, gorgeous space and fantastic (modern) tapas. proper neighbourhood joint filled with locals and their kids.
I love this place with all my heart.
Vermouth O’Clock
Vermouth is a big deal in Barcelona. Sunday is the big day but you can order it anytime day and night. Often served out of big old barrels, often old-school, often the most amount of fun you can have on a Sunday afternoon.
These are my favourite places for Vermouth:
Bodega Armando in the Raval is old-school Barcelona at its finest. Vermouth from the barrel and a few slices of excellent cheese and meat.
Vermuteria del Tano in Gracia is another old-school joint which will make you wish you were an old Cataluñian man free to while away your days with your mates, chatting about the old days over a glass of house vermouth.
Morro Fi has a few spots in the city, my favourite is in Eixample. Be sure to get the crisps (chips) here — thick cut and covered in spicy sauce.
Crafty, crafty
Craft beer has found its home in Barcelona. I love Garage Beer in the Eixample and the weirdly situated Kaelderkold bar which almost breaks my “No Ramblas” rule for being just off the boulevard.
For coffee, who you gonna call?
KAVA!
Yet again, I’m plugging my husband’s coffee app Kava because there are far too many places in Barcelona to drink great coffee to list here. Go check it out.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
If you only do one thing…
If it’s all still too overwhelming, my suggestion is to walk the seafront and go to Cova Fumada. That’s it. That will make a trip to Barcelona. Hang the rest of it.
Our next visit I shall be consulting this for the food options!