Barcelona Guide
A guide can change your trip completely. Knowing where to go and when is a must to not loose important time when you are in Holiday or better said, spend irritated hours looking for the right place. There are different categories for the guides though. If you don’t decide to actually buy a guide that you have to drag around it is normally easier to use a online web guide where you fast can browse between what you are looking for, you can even go in from your mobile to the web and check out the places as you go. We have selected three different Categories for the web guides. Restaurants, Entertainment and of course the whole concept of the best selections with all included.
The most exciting guides right here
Barcelona Highlights
Most visitors to Barcelona head first to the Old City (Ciutat Vella), a maze of meandering streets, alleys and squares, where Gothic churches nestle next to lofty palaces, and ancient fountains trickle in quiet plaças. Beyond lie the architectural glories of Gaudí and the Modernistas, the long stretch of beach, the hills of Montjuïc and Tibidabo, and parts of the city with a wholly different feel, untouched by the hand of tourism.
Barri Gòtic
Combined with a wander down frenetic, commercial La Rambla, a stroll through the narrow alleyways and secluded squares of the Old City is the best possible introduction to Barcelona and the starting point for most visitors upon their arrival in the city. For a taste of the town's more grandiose architecture, Plaça Sant Jaume is flanked by two government buildings, the Renaissance Palau de la Generalitat and the neo-classical façade of the Ajuntament.
See all venues in Barri Gòtic
Born & Sant Pere
The Born and Sant Pere are two districts divided by C/Princesa. The pedestrianised Passeig del Born, the Born's main artery, is one of Barcelona's prettiest thoroughfares, bookended by a magnificent 19th-century market building and a glorious 14th-century church. Highlights of the slightly scruffier Sant Pere include Domènech i Montaner's magical Palau de la Música.
See all venues in Born & Sant Pere
Raval
Once a no-go area for tourists, the Raval is being transformed. Some of its gems have been around for years – Gaudí's medievalist Palau Güell was an early attempt at gentrification. But others are newer: the revival began in 1995 with Richard Meier's monumental MACBA, housing the city's main collection of modern art, and carried on in 2008 with the futuristic Barceló hotel.
See all venues in Raval
Barceloneta & the ports
The city's seafront was ignored until 1992, when it underwent a massive transformation for the Olympics. Despite initial resistance, it was wildly successful: the city now has seven kilometres of golden sands from the bustling Port Vell to the upscale Port Olímpic and beyond. Inevitably, this is also where you'll find some of the city's best seafood restaurants.
See all venues on the seafront
Montjuïc
It's often left off visitors' itineraries, but the hill of Montjuïc merits a wander. In summer, the hill is a few degrees cooler than the city below, and its many parks and gardens are excellent places for a shady picnic. There are also museums: the Fundació Joan Miró is as impressive for its Corbusier-influenced building as its collection.
See all venues in Montjuic & Poble Sec
Eixample
Leaving the Old City and entering the Eixample (literally, 'Expansion'), narrow, labyrinthine streets and alleys become broad, traffic-clogged, geometrically precise roads. The area is a Modernista showcase: its buildings include the Sagrada Família, La Pedrera and the Hospital de Sant Pau.
See all venues in Eixample
Gràcia & other districts
Beyond the Eixample lies the low-rise barrio of Gràcia. Like workaday Sants and well-heeled Sarrià, it was an independent town that was swallowed up as the city spread, but it retains its own identity. Other notable areas outside the centre include the forested Collserola hills and, to the north, the former industrial neighbourhood of Poblenou.
More districts and guides
Good to know about Barcelona
There are times, in Barcelona, when it can be hard to step out for coffee without bumping into a giant, tripping over a dwarf or sharing the pavement with a dragon. While visitors gasp and fumble for their cameras, Catalans sidestep these strange creatures without so much as a backward glance. This isn’t to say that barcelonins don’t throw themselves into the folkloric festivities with admirable zeal – it’s just that there are more city festivals than there are weeks of the year.
The array of religious events and old-fashioned pageants, all of which spotlight what makes Catalonia unique, are supplemented by a wide variety of more modern celebrations. You’re just as likely to stumble across a festival of rock documentaries, graffiti art, hip hop or cyber sculpture as you are to see a traditional parade: Sónar alone attracts 80,000 people each year.
Local tradition
The key events in the Barcelona year are September’s Festes de la Mercè, the main city celebrations that offer a wild variety of events. The Mercè and the other 30 or so neighbourhood festes share many traditional ingredients: dwarfs, castellers (human castles), and gegants (huge papier-mâché/fibreglass giants dressed as princesses, fishermen, sultans and even topless chorus girls), and two unique exercises: the correfoc and the sardana.
The correfoc (‘fire run’) is a frenzy of pyromania. Groups of horned devils dance through the streets, brandishing tridents that spout fireworks and generally flouting every safety rule in the book. Protected by cotton caps and long sleeves, the more daring onlookers try to stop the devils and touch the fire-breathing dragons being dragged along in their wake.
The orderly antidote to this pandemonium is the sardana, Catalonia’s folk dance. Watching the dancers executing their fussy little hops and steps in a large circle, it’s hard to believe that sardanes were once banned as a vestige of pagan witchcraft. The music is similarly restrained, a reedy noise played by an 11-piece cobla band. The sardana is much harder than it looks, and the joy lies in taking part rather than watching. To try your luck, check out the sardanes populars held in front of the cathedral (noon-2pm Sun Jan-Aug & Dec; 6-8pm Sat, noon-2pm Sun Sept-Nov) and in the Plaça Sant Jaume (6pm Sun Oct-July), or see www.fed.sardanista.cat for monthly displays around the city (It’s a fair hop).
The guide for bars right here
The most exciting guides right here
Barcelona Highlights
Most visitors to Barcelona head first to the Old City (Ciutat Vella), a maze of meandering streets, alleys and squares, where Gothic churches nestle next to lofty palaces, and ancient fountains trickle in quiet plaças. Beyond lie the architectural glories of Gaudí and the Modernistas, the long stretch of beach, the hills of Montjuïc and Tibidabo, and parts of the city with a wholly different feel, untouched by the hand of tourism.
Barri Gòtic
Combined with a wander down frenetic, commercial La Rambla, a stroll through the narrow alleyways and secluded squares of the Old City is the best possible introduction to Barcelona and the starting point for most visitors upon their arrival in the city. For a taste of the town's more grandiose architecture, Plaça Sant Jaume is flanked by two government buildings, the Renaissance Palau de la Generalitat and the neo-classical façade of the Ajuntament.
See all venues in Barri Gòtic
Born & Sant Pere
The Born and Sant Pere are two districts divided by C/Princesa. The pedestrianised Passeig del Born, the Born's main artery, is one of Barcelona's prettiest thoroughfares, bookended by a magnificent 19th-century market building and a glorious 14th-century church. Highlights of the slightly scruffier Sant Pere include Domènech i Montaner's magical Palau de la Música.
See all venues in Born & Sant Pere
Raval
Once a no-go area for tourists, the Raval is being transformed. Some of its gems have been around for years – Gaudí's medievalist Palau Güell was an early attempt at gentrification. But others are newer: the revival began in 1995 with Richard Meier's monumental MACBA, housing the city's main collection of modern art, and carried on in 2008 with the futuristic Barceló hotel.
See all venues in Raval
Barceloneta & the ports
The city's seafront was ignored until 1992, when it underwent a massive transformation for the Olympics. Despite initial resistance, it was wildly successful: the city now has seven kilometres of golden sands from the bustling Port Vell to the upscale Port Olímpic and beyond. Inevitably, this is also where you'll find some of the city's best seafood restaurants.
See all venues on the seafront
Montjuïc
It's often left off visitors' itineraries, but the hill of Montjuïc merits a wander. In summer, the hill is a few degrees cooler than the city below, and its many parks and gardens are excellent places for a shady picnic. There are also museums: the Fundació Joan Miró is as impressive for its Corbusier-influenced building as its collection.
See all venues in Montjuic & Poble Sec
Eixample
Leaving the Old City and entering the Eixample (literally, 'Expansion'), narrow, labyrinthine streets and alleys become broad, traffic-clogged, geometrically precise roads. The area is a Modernista showcase: its buildings include the Sagrada Família, La Pedrera and the Hospital de Sant Pau.
See all venues in Eixample
Gràcia & other districts
Beyond the Eixample lies the low-rise barrio of Gràcia. Like workaday Sants and well-heeled Sarrià, it was an independent town that was swallowed up as the city spread, but it retains its own identity. Other notable areas outside the centre include the forested Collserola hills and, to the north, the former industrial neighbourhood of Poblenou.
More districts and guides
Good to know about Barcelona
There are times, in Barcelona, when it can be hard to step out for coffee without bumping into a giant, tripping over a dwarf or sharing the pavement with a dragon. While visitors gasp and fumble for their cameras, Catalans sidestep these strange creatures without so much as a backward glance. This isn’t to say that barcelonins don’t throw themselves into the folkloric festivities with admirable zeal – it’s just that there are more city festivals than there are weeks of the year.
The array of religious events and old-fashioned pageants, all of which spotlight what makes Catalonia unique, are supplemented by a wide variety of more modern celebrations. You’re just as likely to stumble across a festival of rock documentaries, graffiti art, hip hop or cyber sculpture as you are to see a traditional parade: Sónar alone attracts 80,000 people each year.
Local tradition
The key events in the Barcelona year are September’s Festes de la Mercè, the main city celebrations that offer a wild variety of events. The Mercè and the other 30 or so neighbourhood festes share many traditional ingredients: dwarfs, castellers (human castles), and gegants (huge papier-mâché/fibreglass giants dressed as princesses, fishermen, sultans and even topless chorus girls), and two unique exercises: the correfoc and the sardana.
The correfoc (‘fire run’) is a frenzy of pyromania. Groups of horned devils dance through the streets, brandishing tridents that spout fireworks and generally flouting every safety rule in the book. Protected by cotton caps and long sleeves, the more daring onlookers try to stop the devils and touch the fire-breathing dragons being dragged along in their wake.
The orderly antidote to this pandemonium is the sardana, Catalonia’s folk dance. Watching the dancers executing their fussy little hops and steps in a large circle, it’s hard to believe that sardanes were once banned as a vestige of pagan witchcraft. The music is similarly restrained, a reedy noise played by an 11-piece cobla band. The sardana is much harder than it looks, and the joy lies in taking part rather than watching. To try your luck, check out the sardanes populars held in front of the cathedral (noon-2pm Sun Jan-Aug & Dec; 6-8pm Sat, noon-2pm Sun Sept-Nov) and in the Plaça Sant Jaume (6pm Sun Oct-July), or see www.fed.sardanista.cat for monthly displays around the city (It’s a fair hop).
The guide for bars right here