Every time I go to Barcelona I try to stay in a different district. That Placa de Catalunya area is fun the first time (and it was also fun this last Saturday with a massive food festival with live rock band), but its crowded, expensive, and a pickpocket magnet. The area near the arch de triumph is a fun area with a younger vibe, small trendy restaurants, and a bunch of students waiting for the bus at 7 am but it got pricy too. We stayed up on the hill a few years ago (Carrer de Balmes, Tibidabo area) and it was a nice quiet upscale area - however, to get there you needed to use one of the subways which did not transfer to the others. This time, stayed in Poblenau. They actually have their own down-scale Ramblas de Poblenau with slightly down scale restaurants and fruit stands. You can walk all the way down, then through a little park and end up at the beach. In fact, they have set up a bunch of stuff for the upcoming America's cup yacht race right there. There is also a good seafood restaurant with an ocean view that doesn't have any picture menus. Hotels are more affordable.
Posted by
Barcelona + Sweden
4180 posts
Interesting to read this, most tourists just get sucked into the Ciutat Vella area and hardly explore the rest of 90% of Barcelona, good on you for going off the beaten path. I think other similar places would be the historical centre of L'Hospitalet (they have their own "mini Ramblas") also El Camp de l'Arpa neighborhood (they also have their own "mini Ramblas") just north of the Sagrada Família neighborhood. Further afield you have Horta whose old town area is interesting plus you have the oldest garden in the city there too with a nice labyrinth. Horta is the place where the rich people of Barcelona had their summer villas in the 18th-19th century.
Posted by
London
1250 posts
I like Poblenou too. I have good memories of Rambla de Poblenou at the feast of St Joan (June 23rd) years ago, hanging out with a couple of friends and a bottle of Cava or two. It's a bit like a war zone with all the firecrackers at St Joan, but Poblenou was buzzing.
It's handy for Mar Bella and Bogatell beaches, which is always a bonus in BCN, even if they're not beaches to the standard of the Caribbean.
I went to parties in apartments in Poblenou a couple of times and once even a squat party at a disused factory / warehouse which was somewhere just a little further from town in that area, off Diagonal, if I recall correctly.
I see from looking at the map there's even a Westfield shopping mall at Glories now, just like in London.
My favourite neighbourhood is Gracia and that's where I default to staying in Barcelona, but I'd definitely think about staying in Poblenou in the future, now I recall what a cool neighbourhood it is.
Posted by
Barcelona
1 posts
Good shout here, it's the best neighbourhood in the city if you don't mind being a bit further away from the attractions.
You also forgot to mention the lack of pickpockets and street sellers. Basically, everything annoying about the Ciutat Vella is gone!
Posted by
675 posts
Railrider,
Thanks for sharing your suggestion. We just returned from our first-ever visit to Barcelona. We rented in Born right beside the SM del Mar church. The following week, by design we moved to a different rental up in Gerry's Gracia. A different, more residential vibe awaited. Being right next to Libertat market proved to be a brilliant choice.
I am done. The end.
Posted by
Jacksonville, Florida
91 posts
We were in Barcelona for 2 weeks in May 2024, and we rented an apartment in the Eixample area on Passeig de Gracia. I enjoyed that so much, I could have stayed a year.
By the way, the first post in the thread leads off with "Every time I go to..." Every time I read a phrase like that I am jealous, because my wife refuses to re-visit anyplace. She insists on going someplace we've never been. And there are so many places I would love to go back to.
Posted by
OP
Los Angeles, CA
700 posts
I too want to see new places each time - perhaps with some oldies but goodies mixed in. Certain places also get visited more often because they are main travel hubs (London, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna, Geneva). One way to spice it up is to visit different districts and try to get an entirely different experience. If you're lucky you find the great restaurants mainly full of locals., but it does not always work out.