Lonely Planet Pocket Barcelona , livre ebook

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Barcelona
Top Sights
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Shopping
Architecture
Art & Design
Parks & Beaches
Tours
For Kids
Museums
LGBTIQ+
Four Perfect Days
Need to Know
Barcelona Neighbourhoods

Explore Barcelona

La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
El Raval
La Ribera & Parc de la Ciutadella
Barceloneta & the Beaches
Passeig de Gràcia & L’Eixample
La Sagrada Família
Gràcia & Park Güell
Camp Nou, Pedralbes & Sarrià
Montjuïc, Poble Sec & Sant Antoni

Survival Guide

Survival Guide
Before You Go
Arriving in Barcelona
Getting Around
Essential Information
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to Barcelona

A thoroughly captivating city, Barcelona is a whirlwind of madcap Modernista architecture, sun-kissed beaches and lamplit medieval streets hiding brilliantly creative dining and drinking dens. The storied Catalan capital holds ancient Roman ruins and artistic masterpieces of the modern era, Gothic palaces and retro cocktail bars – and one of the world’s most venerated football stadiums.

Aerial view over Barceloneta | kavalenkava/shutterstock ©
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Barcelona Top Sights

La Sagrada Família
Spain’s most visited monument.

ALESSANDRO COLLE/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Barcelona Top Sights
Museu Picasso
Showcase for Picasso’s early work.

MARC SOLER/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO ©

Barcelona Top Sights
Camp Nou
Barcelona’s hallowed football ground.

NATURSPORTS/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Barcelona Top Sights
La Rambla
Legendary mile-long boulevard.

MIHAI-BOGDAN LAZAR/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Barcelona Top Sights
Mercat de la Boqueria
Europe’s greatest food market.

ALLIK/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Barcelona Top Sights
Park Güell
Gaudí’s fantastically landscaped hilltop park.

LUCIANO MORTULA/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Barcelona Top Sights
Fundació Joan Miró
Showcases Joan Miró’s seminal works.

NEIL SETCHFIELD/LONELY PLANET ©

Barcelona Top Sights
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
Art in palatial surroundings.

ANDY.CALEY/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Barcelona Top Sights
La Catedral
Soaring, Disney-like cathedral.

FRANK11/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Barcelona Top Sights
Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar
Fine Catalan Gothic church.

FARAZ BUTTE/500PX ©

Barcelona Top Sights
La Pedrera
A madcap Gaudí masterpiece.

IMAGE COURTESY OF CATALUNYA LA PEDRERA FOUNDATION
Eating

Barcelona has a celebrated food scene fuelled by a combination of world-class chefs, imaginative recipes and magnificent ingredients fresh from farms and the sea. Catalan culinary masterminds like Ferran Adrià have become international icons, reinventing the world of haute cuisine, while classic old-world Catalan recipes continue to shine in dining rooms across the city.

JUANSALVADOR/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

New Catalan Cuisine
Avant-garde chefs have made Catalonia famous throughout the world for their food laboratories and commitment to food as art. Here the notion of gourmet cuisine is deconstructed as chefs transform liquids and solid foods into foams, create ‘ice cream’ of classic ingredients by means of liquid nitrogen, freeze-dry foods to make concentrated powders and employ spherification to create unusual and artful morsels. Invention is the keystone of this technique.

Classic Catalan Cuisine
Traditional Catalan recipes showcase the great produce of the Mediterranean: fish, prawns, cuttlefish, clams, pork, rabbit, game, first-rate olive oil, peppers and loads of garlic. Classic dishes also feature unusual pairings (seafood with meat, fruit with fowl) such as cuttlefish with chickpeas, cured ham with caviar, rabbit with prawns, or goose with pears.

Tapas
Tapas, those bite-sized morsels of joy, are not a typical Catalan concept, but tapas bars are nonetheless found all across the city. Most open earlier than restaurants – typically around 7pm – making them a good pre-dinner (or instead-of-dinner) option. Some open from lunch and stay open without a break until late evening.

Best Catalan
Vivanda Magnificent Catalan cooking with year-round garden dining.
La Panxa del Bisbe Creative sharing plates on a quiet Gràcia street.
Cafè de l’Acadèmia High-quality dishes that never disappoint.
Can Culleretes The city’s oldest restaurant, with great-value traditional dishes.
Can Lluís Loved by Catalans for its great-value daily menú .
Best Cafes
Bar del Convent Great terrace in a former cloister.
Café Godot Friendly and easy-going, with tasty snacks and mains.
La Granja Best place in town for a hot chocolate.
La Nena Kid-friendly cafe in Gràcia.
Cafè de l’Òpera Stop in for late-night snacks on La Rambla.
Best Tapas
El 58 French-owned space on the newly hip Rambla del Poblenou.
Quimet i Quimet Mouth-watering morsels served to a standing crowd.
Palo Cortao A new star in Poble Sec with outstanding sharing plates.
Tapas 24 Everyone’s favourite gourmet tapas bar.

Top Tip
The menú del día, a full set meal with water or wine, is a great way to cap prices at lunchtime. They start from around €11 and can go as high as €25 for more elaborate offerings.

Barcelona on a Plate
Salsa Romesco

NITO / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Five for Romesco Dishes
El 58 This French-Catalan place serves imaginative, beautifully prepared tapas dishes.
Vivanda Magnificent Catalan cooking with dishes showcasing seasonal fare.
Belmonte This tiny tapas joint in the southern reaches of Barri Gòtic whips up beautifully prepared small plates.
Casa Delfín A culinary delight, this place is everything you dream of when you think of Catalan (and Mediterranean) cooking.
El Glop The secret to this raucous restaurant is no-nonsense, slap-up meals.

A Catalan Classic
This classic Catalan sauce pervades the region’s cuisine, popping up in numerous dishes as an accompaniment to roasted vegetables, grilled meats and fish. It’s a rich, garlicky, nutty combination based on peppers and tomatoes. A thickened version, salvitxada , is the de rigueur dipping accompaniment for the late winter barbecues of calçots, the delicious leek-like onions beloved of Catalans.

Calçots with romesco sauce | ALEXANDRE AROCAS / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Drinking & Nightlife

Barcelona is a nightlife-lovers’ town, with an enticing spread of candlelit wine bars, old-school taverns, stylish lounges and kaleidoscopic nightclubs where the party continues until daybreak. For something a little more sedate, the city’s atmospheric cafes and teahouses make a fine retreat when the skies turn grey.

TRAVEL PICTURES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO ©

Bars & Lounges
Barcelona has a dizzying assortment of bars – candlelit, mural-covered chambers in the medieval quarter, antique-filled converted shops and buzzing Modernista spaces are all part of the scene. Whether you’re in the mood to drink with hipsters (try Sant Antoni), the bohemian crowd (El Raval) or young expats (Gràcia), you’ll find a scene that suits in Barcelona.

Wine & Cava Bars
A growing number of wine bars scattered around the city showcase the great produce from Spain and beyond. Vine-minded spots serve a huge selection of wines by the glass, and a big part of the experience is having a few bites while you drink.
Cava bars tend to be more about the festive ambience than the actual drinking of cava, most of which is produced in Catalonia’s Penedès region. At the more famous cava bars you’ll have to nudge your way through the garrulous crowds and enjoy your bubbly standing up.

Clubs
Barcelona’s discotecas (clubs) are at their best from Thursday to Saturday. Indeed, many open only on these nights. A surprising variety of spots lurk in the old-town labyrinth, ranging from plush former dance halls to grungy subterranean venues that fill to capacity.
Along the waterfront it’s another story. At Port Olímpic, sun-scorched crowds of visiting yachties mix it up with tourists and a few locals at noisy, back-to-back dance bars right on the waterfront.

Best Cocktails
Paradiso Walk through a fridge to this glam speakeasy.
Balius Beautifully mixed elixirs in Poblenou.
Elephanta The place to linger over a creative concoction.
Dry Martini Expertly made cocktails in a classy setting.
Boadas An iconic drinking den that’s been going strong since the 1930s.
Best Wine Bars
Viblioteca A small modern space famed for its wine (and cheese) selections.
Perikete A large and lively new wine bar in Barceloneta.
Monvínic With a staggering 3000 varieties of wines, you won’t lack for options.
La Vinya del Senyor Long wine list and tables in the shadow of Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar.
Best Dancing
Marula Café Barri Gòtic favourite for its lively dance floor.
Sala Apolo Gorgeous dance-hall with varied programme of electro, funk and more.
Moog A small Raval club that draws a fun, dance-loving crowd.
Antilla BCN The top name in town for salsa lovers.
City Hall A legendary Eixample dance club.

Top Tip
Look out for club flyers in shops and bars, which often provide discounted entry. If you arrive at a club before 1am, you’re likely to get free admission – although it may be a little lonely in there.

Barcelona in a Glass

Cava

ALEX STAROSELTSEV / SHUTTERSTOCK ©, URBANBUZZ / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Best Places to Drink Cava
El Xampanyet Nothing has changed for decades in this, one of the city’s best-known cava bars.
Can Paixano This lofty cava bar has long been run on a winning formula: the standard tipple is bubbly rosé in elegant little glasses.
Perikete Since opening in 2017, this fabulous wine bar has been jam-packed with locals.
Viblioteca The real speciality here is wine, and you can choose from 150 mostly local labels, many of them available by the glass.

¡Salud!
Produced in the vineyards of the Penedès region, cava is Spain’s most prominent sparkling wine. It undergoes a creation process similar to that of champagne and comes in varying grades of dryness or sweetness.
Sangria, the refreshing summery blend of wine, fruit