For covenience alone, I love to stay in the city centre.
But in bigger and more touristed cities such as Barcelona, sometimes it can be nice to stay further out and feel more like a local for a few days. Here are some of Barcelona’s most trendy and popular neighbourhoods with locals, offering you a completely different experience on where to stay when you visit.
Gracia
Gracia is the hippest and trendiest of Barcelona’s “barrios” and has long been the hibernation area of choice for budding artists and daytime coffee drinkers. Littered with cafes, bars and tapas joints, Gracia is also one of the most expensive areas of the city and isn’t as easily connected to the public transport links.
Sitges
Although Sitges isn’t technically one of the surrounding neighbourhoods of the centre, it is only half an hour away from Barcelona, making it a great base from which to explore the city and the perfect place to find affordable beach apartments in Barcelona. Visitors can jump on a train and quickly be in the city, or can simply enjoy the resort’s coast and sunshine.
Barri Gotic
This is one of the most well-known areas of the city housing much of Barcelona’s famous Gothic architecture and including La Rambla and the original Jewish Quarter. The Barri Gotic offers the perfect mix of being in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city, while also featuring a myriad of alleyways in which to get lost and explore.
El Raval
Full of leafy boulevards and offering a mix of old and new architecture, El Raval is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the city, meaning that it’s a great place for foodies to discover different culinary delights and for culture vultures to just soak up the great atmosphere. Housing several art galleries, El Raval is also most well-known for its winding maze-like street layout.
La Ribera
Close to the wonderful Parc de la Ciutadella (one of my personal favourites) is La Ribera, lined with designer clothing stores, a Picasso museum and several medieval-style buildings and Gothic mansions. This neighbourhood certainly isn’t cheap, due to a resurgence in its popularity in the last few years, but if you have the money to splurge, it’s definitely worth it.
Montjuic
Offering wonderful views and typical Spanish architecture, Montjuic is these days most well-known for its part in the 1992 Olympic Games. Housing the busy inner neighbourhood of Poble Sec, Montjuic is a more old-fashioned part of the city, but certainly offers its fair share of art, beautiful gardens and impressive, if not ageing, Olympic installations.
L’Eixample
Housing the shopping hub of the city, the Passeig de Gracia, L’Eixample is a cluster of wide streets and a thriving business centre, which also boasts La Sagrada Familia among its inhabitants. Although popular with locals and tourists alike, L’Eixample’s structure and investment has waned in the last few years, though it is still a popular base for city dwellers.
Photo credit: barri gotic
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