Budget Restaurants

While Barcelona boasts some extremely fine and pricey restaurants, there's no reason to burn a whole in your pocket when you can head to the places listed below, and there are many more to discover. Most budget Barcelona restaurants are located in the old part of townand Gràcia, as Barcelona restaurants in the Eixample logically reflect the neighborhood's more upscale character.

At lunch time, the biggest meal of the day, you'll find cheap "menú" deals for €7 and up - even when the restaurant's a la carte dishes are expensive. A typical menú includes 3 courses and a beverage, so filling up mid-day is the best way to eat well without spending an arm and a leg.
If you're sticking to a tight budget, you can avoid Barcelona restaurants entirely and head to the markets. The Mercat de la Boquería, right on Las Ramblas, is a backpacker favorite.

Les Quinze Nits

If you walk through the Plaça Reial at lunch or dinner time, you'll immediately recognize Les Quinze Nits by the huge line of patrons snaking through the plaza. This popular budget restaurant doesn't take reservations, but your patience will pay off. The food is stupefyingly cheap and delicious, with mostly regional dishes, but it's one of the few Barcelona restaurants concerned about turnover, so don't expect as relaxed a pace as most digs. If you're traveling on a budget and want to feel like you're going posh without spending more than €13 for an entree, then this is the place to go.

Plaça Reial 6, Barri Gòtic

Metro Liceu

Tel (+34 933 17 30 75)

Daily 1pm-3:35pm and 8:30pm-11:30pm

Xampanerias (Champagne Bars)
One thing you'll learn quickly while traveling in Spain: the best affordable spots are often claustrophobically packed. Don't fret, though - that's a sure sign that you're in for a good meal. These two Xampanerias (Champagne bars) in the hip Born area are worth elbowing your way through hordes of locals and tourists to order a bottle of cava, Spanish sparking white wine, for €2-€7, accompanied by delicious tapas like pa amb tomàquet, chorizo, cheese, pork, burgers... whatever suits your fancy.

Xampanyetc/ de Montacada 22, La Ribera

Metro Jaume I

Tues-Sat noon-4pm and 7-11:30pm, Sun noon-4pm

Can Paixano c/ Reina Cristina 7, La Ribera

Metro Jaume I or Barceloneta

Buenas Migas
Grab a large tosted focaccia topped with cheese, meat or veggies at this indoor/ outdoor café and you'll be hard pressed to spend more than €5. It's a great place to fill up quick and hop over to the nearby MACBA or CCCB for some contemporary Barcelona culture.

Plaça Bonsuccès 6, El Raval

Metro Catalunya

Tel (+34) 933 18 37 08

Mon-Wed & Sun 10am-11pm, Thurs-Sat til midnight

Maoz Vegetarian
Maoz offers one option - falafel - with a varied salad bar. Here's how it works: you get a couple of falafel in a pita, with or without hummus, and are free to pile on toppings at your heart's desire. It's healthy, vegetarian, and cheap. Even with all the fixings and a beverage, you won't exceed €4.50.

3 locations:

c/ Ferran 13, La Rambla 95, c/ Jaume I 7, Barri Gòtic

Metro Liceu, Drassanes, Jaume I

Daily 11am-1:30am, Fri & Sat til 2:30am, closed Mondays.

The Bagel Shop
Ok, ok, so you didn't come to Barcelona for a taste of New York. Nevertheless, for a quick, filling bite right by Las Ramblas, the Bagel Shop is the way to go. They offer a wide selection of bagels from under €1; slap on a spread or build a sandwich for €3-6.

c/ Canuda 25, Barri Gòti

Metro Catalunya

Mon-Sat 9:30am-9:30pm; Sept-June open Sundays 11am-4pm

Nou Candanchu
With summer tables set up on the plaza under Gracia's emblematic clock tower, Nous Candanchu serves Cataln dishes for €6-€11.

Plaça Rius i Taulet 9, Gràcia

Metro Fontana

Tel (+34) 932 377 362

Daily 7am-1am, Fri & Sat til 3am, closed Tuesdays.

Gavina
This legendary Gracia pizzeria is quirky and fun, but expect substantial waits for a table after 8pm.

c/Ros de Olano 17, Gràcia

Metro Diagonal

Tues-Sun, noon-1am

Barcelona Architecture

Barcelona is a city with mind-blowing architecture. When you first encounter Antoni Gaudí's La Sagrada Familia or his rooftop sculptures at La Pedrera, you'll be floored by the originality and hallucinogenic quality of his works. There's much in Barcelona unlike anything you've ever seen.

Barcelona architecture is, in reality, an attraction in itself. Just stroll around the city, especially through the Gothic Quarter and the Eixample, and you'll find an endless amount of fascinating buildings and unexpected treasures.

From Roman times to the Gothic period to the Catalan Art Nouveau, "modernisme," Barcelona's architecture naturally transmits the city's rich history. It speaks for eras of varying prosperity and decline, for fervent Catalan nationalism or subjugation to the central government, for Expos, Olympic Games, Cultural Forums and more.

The two most important styles of Barcelona architecture are Catalan Gothic, a medieval style, and Modernisme, a turn of the 20th century movement protagonized by Antoni Gaudi.
Apart from the Middle Ages and Barcelona's turn of the 20th century "Renaixença" (Catalan Renaissance) it's well worth mentioning the city's ancient remains.

You can see significant sections of the 4th century Roman walls at the Museu d'Història de la Ciutat and inside the Cathedral's Casa de L'Ardiaca, the Archdeacon's House.

Barcelona Nightlife

From cheap dives and Irish pubs to designer bars and enormous night clubs, Barcelona nightlife offers just about everything under the sun. You could easily make a big night of it for under €20, or blow over €50 in one fell swoop. It all depends on the scene that suits your fancy and the budget you're working with.

Barcelona nightlife can basically be divided into two main categories: bars and night clubs. There is, however, quite a bit of gray area. Some night clubs serve a double function as concert venues, some bars include a small dance floor with DJs, and some restaurants become nocturnal hotspots.

"Xampanyerías" specialize in champagne and cava, "cerveserías" stock up on varieties of beer, "bodegas" serve up all kinds of wine, and "cotelerías" deliver swanky cocktails.

Confused yet? If you're simply looking for a drink, any Barcelona nightlife locale will to the trick.

Montjuïc

Montjuic is a hill that overlooks Barcelona from the southwest. The low-lying area around Plaça de Espanya just below Montjuïc is Poble Sec. Poble Sec is easily accessible at the metro stops Espanya and Poble Sec.

Getting to Montjuic is a little more complicated than arriving at other parts of the city. Due to its elevation, the metro does not run there. One option – by foot - is to use the series of escalators that run from the Palau Nacional at Plaça Espanya up the hill. A hike up to the top of Montjuic would take about an hour on a so-so trail.

Bus lines 50, 61 and 55 will also take you there.

Alternatively, at the metro stop Parallel, you can take the funicular railway to Estació Parc Montjuic.

When the "Teleférico de Montjuic" is running (it has been temporarly closed or working with limited schedules), you can take this cable car from the Torre de Sant Sebastià in the Barceloneta over the sea and up to Montjuic.

Montjuic (“Jewish Mountain”) is a must-see area of Barcelona. With beautiful views of the city, 2 of the city’s best museums and a vast park, this hill is definitely worth the hike. Northwest Montjuic is also home to the “Poble Espanyol,” a touristy, slightly cheesy but nonetheless attractive rendering of a “Spanish Village.”

Plaça de Espanya, at the foothills of Montjuic, is one of Barcelona's most emblematic sites and a logical starting point if exploring the area by foot. From the rotund Plaza extends Avingunda de la Reina Maria Cristina, leading to the slopes of Montjuic. This avenue is flanked by a beautiful series of fountains, its largest and first being la Font Magica. Nightly music and light shows during the summer bring these fountains to life, a free spectacle no seasonal visitor should miss.

Before ascending Montjuic, you might want to take a detour to Caixa Forum, a cultural center with its own contemporary art collection. Even further west, at about a 5 minute walk from here, is - Poble Espanyol ("Spanish Village"), one of the area's many vestiges from the 1929 World Exhibition. Poble Espanyol represents styles and buildings from all over Spain in an eclectic artificial rendering.

Now back at the fountains, glance up at the hill of Montjuic: you can't miss the Palau Nacional. A neobaroque palace also built for the 1929 World Exhibition, this stately edifice houses one of Barcelona's finest museums, the MNAC (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalyuna) Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. After marveling at the MNAC's amazing collection of Romanesque art, simply hop on the series of outdoor escalators connecting the Palau to the Avinguda de l'Estadi at the top of the mountain. And voila, you've made it up to Montjuic, Barcelona.

The escalators drop you in a great position to see the Montjuic Park with its Jardi Botanic ("Botanical Garden") and Olympic Stadium. Also inland, but futher east, is an excellent museum, the Fundació Joan Miró. Its spacious halls and sculpture garden house the most exhaustive singular collection of this Catalan master's works.

For great views of the Mediterranean, head southeast to the Castell de Montjüic, a 17th/18th century fortress.

Find an accommodation in this area of Barcelona.

Olympic Port

Port Olímpic was built up for the 1992 Olympic Games, so it now contains a fancy marina with some nice public sculptures, along with a number of posh bars and restaurants. Its dominant twin towers, visible from nearly any point on the beach, house the luxe Hotel Arts Barcelona.

The Port Olimpic tourism area offers little in the way of sightseeing, and is mostly worth visiting for its beaches: Platja de Nova Icaria, right in front of the Olympic Port, and Platja de Bogatell and Platja de Mar Bella futher north.

Port Olímpic is dominated by two towers - the Torre Mapfre and Hotel Arts Barcelona - and a large, shimmering sculture by Frank Gehry called the "Copper Fish" Gehry, a North American architect, also designed Bilbao's silvery Guggenheim museum. The marina holds beachside restaurants and bars pumping music into the early hours.

How to get to Barcelona Olympic Port

The nearest Metro stop is Ciutadella Vila Olimpica (Yellow Line, L4). You then have a 10 minute walk to the Barcelona Olympic Port and the beach areas.

Shopping

About Shopping in Barcelona

If you considered Madrid and Barcelona to be Spain’s sister fashion capitals, Barcelona would be the funkier, more stylish twin. In addition to the mega-fashion stores you’ll find in both cities (H&M, Zara, Mango, Adolfo Dominguez, etc.), the Barcelona shopping experience entails lots of quirky boutiques and unique designs.

Store Hours
Shops generally open at about 9am, close for lunch from 2-4pm and reopen until 8 or 9pm, Mon-Fri. Saturday schedules are generally the same, though many stores opt to only close at lunch time. Some shops open on Sundays and Holidays, but it is not the norm.

It’s also good to keep in mind that the low season for Barcelona shopping is August. Smaller stores make close for a week or more while the weather is scorching.

Sales

Sales usually run from the second week in January to the end of February, and during July and August. Don’t get in the way of the natives at the Cortes Inglés on the first day of "rebajas" ("sales" in Spanish). There are first "rebajas", then a bigger mark down for second "rebajas", and finally remate – final clearance sales in Barcelona.

Tombbus
This bus (T1) follows a circular route for shoppers from Plaça de Catalunya up the Passeig de Gràcia to Avinguda Diagonal and back again. The tombbus hits all the major Barcelona shopping spots, as these wide avenues are packed with a variety of international and local stores.

Do you plan to come to Barcelona to enjoy its amazing sales? Rent an apartment next to the main shopping streets of the city.

Barcelona Food

The region of Catalonia has a strong culinary reputation, both for its traditional staples and "nueva cocina española," a cutting-edge gastronomical deconstruction movement headed by native chef Ferrán Adrià. Adrià, arguably the most famous and imitated chef in the world, turns foods into foams, mixes unexpected flavors... he's essentially converted cooking into a grand experiment. The price, however, matches the innovation, so if you want to try any of his or his disciples' restaurants, book far in advance and dig deep into your pockets for this cult foodie experience.

On the other hand, classic, down-to-earth, Barcelona food would be impossible without a handful of essential ingredients. Olive oil, garlic and tomato are the top three without a doubt. Barcelona cuisine is characterized by an innate creativity that other Spanish regions lack. For example, raisins and nuts are often mixed into vegetable dishes; rabbit is combined with snails; poultry or meat is cooked with fruit.

Due to its proximity to the Mediterranean, Barcelona food includes great seafood dishes. You will also note neighboring influences from France and Valencia; the latter because Catalan cuisine includes a variety of rice dices, variations on the typical Spanish paella. Here are some essentials:

Pa amb tomàquet

Take a nice, thick slice of toasted rustic bread, rub some garlic and fresh tomato on top, drizzle a generous amount of olive oil to boot and add a pinch of salt. There you have it, pan amb tomàquet, a Catalan staple and breakfast favorite.

Sarsuela

Sarsuela is a seafood medley - it's the variety show of Catalan food. It can contain any combination of different types of white fish, prawns, shrimp, squid, mussels, clams, crayfish or lobster. All of these ingredients are combined in a casserole with olive oil, tomato, lemon, paprika, white wine, sherry and other spices. Yum.

Fideua

Like paella, fideua is cooked in a large, flat, circular pan with a combination of shellfish, poultry, meat and vegetables. Instead of rice, however, the base is fideus - short, skinny noodles.

Crema catalana
The most ubiquitous Catalan desert, crema catalana is a delicious cold custard with a crispy, caramelized sugar coating. CalçotadaCalçots are a local kind of baby onions charred over an open flame but tender on the inside. They're then braised with romesco, a special Catalan sauce of tomatoes, red peppers, garlic, almonds and olive oil.