Where to stay in Barcelona

It’s a telling comment on the character of Barcelona that a single street - the Ramblas (Rambles in Catalan) - can count as a highlight. No day in the city seems complete without a stroll down at least part of the street. Lined with cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops, flower stalls and newspaper kiosks, and thronged by tourists, locals and performance artists, it’s at the heart of Barcelona’s life and self-image. There are significant buildings and sights along the way, not least the Liceu opera house and the mouth-watering Boqueria food market, but undoubtedly it’s the vibrant street life that is the greatest attraction along Spain’s most famous thoroughfare. This said, it can be one of the priciest places for accommodation - but it’s well worth it as it’s the best neighbourhood to stay in Barcelona to be right in the centre of everything!

Spreading east from the Ramblas, the Barri Gòtic, or Gothic Quarter, forms the very heart of the old town. Its buildings date principally from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the era when Barcelona reached the height of her medieval commercial prosperity, and culminate in the extraordinary Gothic cathedral, La Seu. It takes the best part of a day to see everything the Barri Gòtic has to offer; highlights include the Roman remains at the Museum of the History of Barcelona, the Gaudí Exhibition Center in the Museu Diocesà, and the frankly unclassifiable collections of the Museu Frederic Marès. Other quirks and diversions range from exploring the old Jewish quarter to touring the grand salons of the Ajuntament. That said, sauntering through the narrow alleys, shopping for antiques, tracing the long-lost Roman walls, or simply sitting at a café table in one of the quarter’s lovely squares is every bit as enjoyable. The area is home to some very affordable accommodation spots, too, making it one of the best areas to stay in Barcelona.

Known as El Raval, from the Arabic word for “suburb”, the old-town area west of the Ramblas has always formed a world apart from the nobler Barri Gòtic. Until the fourteenth century, when a new circuit was added to Barcelona’s medieval walls, it was primarily agricultural, and responsible for growing the city’s food. Once enclosed, it became the site of hospitals, churches, monasteries and various noxious trades. Barcelona’s contemporary art museum, MACBA is a highlight in the area. There are also cutting-edge galleries, designer restaurants and fashionable bars which are all part of the scene, while the occasionally edgy “lower Raval” holds the neighbourhood’s two other outstanding buildings, namely Gaudí’s Güell Palace and the church of Sant Pau del Camp. The area is also home to some of the cheapest accommodation in the whole of the city.

It takes at least a day to see Montjuïc, the steep hill and park that rises over Barcelona to the southwest. This spot has a long and venerable history; the Romans, who built a shrine to Jupiter here, knew it as Mons Iovis. That may well be the root of its modern name, though it’s often also explained as deriving from the siting of a Jewish cemetery on these slopes. Modern Montjuïc is essentially a cultural leisure park, anchored around the magnificent collection of Catalan treasures in the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC). Two further galleries, one devoted to Catalan artist Joan Miró, and the other, the Caixa Forum, showcasing changing exhibitions of international contemporary art, are similarly unmissable. In addition, Montjuïc holds separate archeological, ethnological, military and theatrical museums, as well as structures and stadiums from the 1992 Olympics.