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    The Mini Rough Guide to Barcelona: Travel Guide eBook
    The Mini Rough Guide to Barcelona: Travel Guide eBook
    The Mini Rough Guide to Barcelona: Travel Guide eBook
    Ebook250 pages1 hour

    The Mini Rough Guide to Barcelona: Travel Guide eBook

    By Rough Guides

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    About this ebook

    This mini pocket Barcelona travel guidebook is perfect for travellers looking for essential information about Barcelona. It provides details on key places and main attractions, along with a selection of itineraries, recommendations for restaurants and top tips on how to make the most of your trip. 

    In this Barcelona guidebook, you will find:

    • Curated recommendations of places – expert picks of main attractions, child-friendly activities and relaxing spots, plus where to take the best photos
    • What's new, when to go and sustainable travel – all-new features direct you to what you need to know
    • Things not to miss in Barcelona – Sagrada Família, La Rambla, Fundació Joan Miró, Monestir de Pedralbes, Museu Picasso, Casa Batlló, Palau Nacional, Palau De La Música Catalana, Barri Gòtic, The Waterfront
    • Three unique trip plans – itinerary suggestions for those on a short break, including one for a Perfect tour
    • Food and drink – recommendations for local specialities and the best dining experiences
    • What to do in Barcelona – recommendations for entertainment, shopping, sports, children’s activities, events and nightlife
    • Practical information – how to get there and around, money, health and medical care, and tourist information
    • Overview maps – handy maps on the inside cover flaps show Barcelona and around
    • Spanish section – basic vocabulary and phrases from the local language
    • Striking pictures – inspirational colour photography throughout
    • Coverage includes: La Rambla, La Boqueria, Plaça Reial, Barri Gòtic, La Ribera, El Eixample, The Waterfront, El Raval
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInsight Guides
    Release dateJan 1, 2025
    ISBN9781835292785
    The Mini Rough Guide to Barcelona: Travel Guide eBook
    Author

    Rough Guides

    Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about--having either traveled extensively or lived there--and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

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      Book preview

      The Mini Rough Guide to Barcelona - Rough Guides

      cover.jpg

      HOW TO USE THIS E-BOOK

      Getting Around this e-Book

      This Rough Guide Mini eBook is designed to inspire you and help you plan for your visit to Barcelona, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.

      The guide begins with an Introduction that features our selection of 10 things not to miss in Barcelona, information on what’s new, when to go and how to travel sustainably, plus three itineraries, designed to help you get the most out of your trip. The History chapter gives the lowdown on Barcelona’s past and present, while the Places chapter is a comprehensive guide to all the best sights, with handy area highlights links and details on where to shoot the best pictures. You will find ideas for getting active, immersing yourself in culture, discovering the local nightlife or what to shop for in Things to do, while the Food and drink chapter introduces you to the local cuisine, what to eat and how, and gives listings of our favourite restaurants by area. Finally, Travel essentials offers just that: practical information to help you plan your trip.

      In the Table of Contents and throughout this eBook you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

      Maps

      All key attractions and sights in Barcelona are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

      Images

      You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Barcelona. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.

      About Rough Guides:

      Published in 1982, the first Rough Guide – to Greece – was created by Mark Ellingham and a small group of friends who couldn’t find a guidebook to meet their needs. Combining a contemporary, journalistic style with a thoroughly practical approach to travellers’ needs, the immediate success of the book spawned a series that rapidly covered dozens of destinations. These days, Rough Guides include recommendations from budget to luxury and cover more than 120 destinations worldwide, all regularly updated by our team of ever curious, roaming writers. These Rough Guide Minis may be small, but they are packed with information and inspiration and offer amazing value for money.

      © 2025 Apa Digital AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Catalan culture

      Design and industry

      Catalan independence

      Exploring on foot

      10 Things not to miss

      A perfect day in Barcelona

      Offbeat Barcelona

      Barcelona on a budget

      History

      Mercantile nation

      War and resistance

      Industrialisation

      Civil war

      1960 onwards

      Chronology

      Places

      La Rambla

      Canaletes

      Flowers and pastries

      La Boqueria

      Palau Güell

      Plaça Reial

      Barri Gòtic

      The catedral

      Plaça Sant Jaume

      Plaça del Rei

      Towards the Museu Frederic Marès

      Roman remains and the Jewish ghetto

      Antique alley

      A trio of plazas

      Around Plaça Nova

      La Ribera

      El Born

      Carrer Montcada and the Museu Picasso

      Mansions and museums

      Palau de la Música

      El Eixample

      The Illa de la Discòrdia

      Casa Batlló

      La Pedrera

      Passeig de Gràcia

      Around the avenues

      La Sagrada Família

      Gràcia and Park Güell

      The waterfront

      Maritime heritage

      Port Vell

      Barceloneta

      Olympic village and beyond

      Parc de la Ciutadella

      El Raval

      Urban regeneration

      Montjuïc

      Catalan art treasures

      Museums and miró

      Poble Espanyol

      The Diagonal

      Pedralbes

      Tibidabo

      Excursions

      Montserrat

      Getting there

      Sitges

      Three seaside museums

      Sant Sadurní d’Anoia (Penedès)

      Vilafranca del Penedès

      Things to do

      Culture

      Nightlife

      Festivals and events

      Sports and outdoor activities

      Football

      Cycling

      Golf

      Sailing and watersports

      Skiing

      Shopping

      Where to shop

      What to buy

      Barcelona for children

      Calendar of events

      Food and drink

      Top ten things to try

      1. Paella

      2. Tapas

      3. Escalivada

      4. Bocadillo de calamares

      5. Bombas

      6. Escudella

      7. Patatas bravas

      8. Jamón Ibérico

      9. Turrón

      10. Desserts

      Drinks

      To help you order

      Menu reader

      Places to eat

      Ciutat vella (old town)

      Tapas bars

      Eixample

      Waterfront/Port Olímpic

      Gràcia and above the Diagonal

      Travel essentials

      Accessible travel

      Accommodation

      Airports

      Apps

      Bicycle rental

      Budgeting for your trip

      Car hire

      Climate

      Crime and safety

      Driving

      Electricity

      Embassies and consulates

      Emergencies

      Getting there

      Guides and tours

      Health and medical care

      LGBTQ+ travellers

      Language

      Money

      Opening times

      Police

      Public holidays

      Telephones

      Time zones

      Tipping

      Toilets

      Tourist information

      Transport

      Visas and entry requirements

      Introduction

      Barcelona may be the second city of Spain, locked in eternal rivalry with Madrid, but it ruled an empire long before Spain was even born. Some two thousand years ago, the Romans, on their way to conquering the whole of Iberia, built a forbidding wall around their settlement on the Mediterranean coast and called it Barcino. Although a visitor could spend days wandering the Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter), an atmospheric tangle of medieval buildings and alleyways where the city’s glorious past is palpable, Barcelona is more than a living museum. It is a dynamic, creative and daringly modern metropolis.

      Shutterstock

      La Rambla thrums with life night and day

      Once a grey industrial port, Barcelona has reinvented itself. Rundown neighbourhoods were revived, numerous urban spaces filled with sculpture and greenery created. The airport, railway and metro have been brought up to date, and new hotels, museums and concert halls have sprung up. The most important physical change, though, has been Barcelona’s reorientation towards the sea. With a dynamic port that is now one of the busiest cruise-ship stops in Europe, the Port Olímpic, a further leisure port at Diagonal Mar, its clean beaches and renowned seafront neighbourhoods, the Catalan capital has succeeded in marrying the pleasures of the Mediterranean with the sophisticated, creative energy of modern Europe. The focus is now on the two main arteries running east–west to the sea, Avinguda Diagonal and Avinguda Paral·lel. The aim is to create a connection between these two roads and the flourishing port with its cruise-ship terminal, and the Forum’s trade fair, exhibition and conference venues.

      What’s new

      Barcelona buzzes with an unstoppable creative energy that shows no sign of letting up. Contemporary additions include Casa Seat (Passeig de Gràcia 109, for more information, click here), an achingly cool cultural hub that hosts exhibitions and concerts. One of Barcelona’s most iconic buildings, the iridescent, pickle-shaped skyscraper Torre Glòries (for more information, click here), formerly Torre Agbar, has had a spruce-up, offering a brand-new observation deck with panoramic views. For the more intrepid, there’s a giant climbing frame suspended in the air by six kilometres (3.7 miles) of tensioned cable – cushions are spread out sporadically, so you can stop mid-climb to savour the view. Adding yet another string to its bow of independent art galleries, Moco Museum (for more information, click here) has refashioned a sixteenth-century palace into a calming all-white space in busy Barri Gòtic. Although compact, this private collection packs museum-quality art (Keith Haring, Banksy) with intriguing one-off exhibitions on digital and celebrity culture alongside the icons. One of the most anticipated reopenings of the past few years, the refreshed Casa-Museu Gaudí in Park Güell provides a brilliant context to Barcelona’s architectural mastermind (for more information, click here). Another keenly anticipated reopening, Mercat de Sant Antoni (Carrer del Comte d’Urgell 1) is back in business – nine years and an €80m refurbishment later. A gorgeous Art Nouveau mega-market in El Eixample, with an octagonal roof of terracotta and steel, this is where you’ll find the freshest, most affordable cuts of cured meat, alongside mountains of olives and vibrant fresh fruit and veg. On Sunday, it transforms into Spain’s largest open-air book market.

      When to go

      Barcelona is a hugely popular year-round city-break destination. Seasonal attractions range from summer music festivals to Christmas markets. In terms of the weather, the best times to visit are late spring and early autumn, when it’s comfortably warm (around 21–25°C) and walking the streets isn’t a slog. Evenings might see a chill in the air, but Barcelona in these seasons is often nigh on perfect. However, in summer the city can be unbearably hot and humid, with temperatures averaging 28°C but often climbing much higher. Avoid August, especially, when the climate is at its most unwelcoming and local inhabitants escape the city in droves, leaving many shops, bars and restaurants closed. It’s worth considering a winter break, as long as you don’t mind the prospect of occasional rain. Even in December, when temperatures hover around 13°C, it’s generally still pleasant enough to sit out at a café.

      Catalan culture

      Barcelona’s physical transformation has accompanied a renaissance of Catalan culture, long marginalised – often overtly repressed – by Spanish rulers. The most ruthless aggression came during the Franco dictatorship, which lasted from the

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