Fontana 
932 170 995, 
mercatsbcn.com. Mon–Fri 8am–8.30pm, Sat 8am–3pm.Gràcia was a village for much of its early existence, before being annexed as a suburb in the late nineteenth century. It still feels set apart from the city in many ways, and though actual sights are few and far between it’s well known for its cinemas, bars and restaurants. The one unmissable attraction, meanwhile, just on the neighbourhood fringe, is nearby Parc Güell, an extraordinary flight of fancy by architectural genius Antoni Gaudí. To get to Gràcia take the FGC train from Plaça de Catalunya to Gràcia station, or the metro to either Diagonal (south) or Fontana (north). From any of the stations, it’s around a 500m walk to Gràcia’s main square, Plaça del Sol, hub of the neighbourhood’s renowned nightlife.
Pl. Llibertat 27 Fontana 932 170 995, mercatsbcn.com. Mon–Fri 8am–8.30pm, Sat 8am–3pm.
You may as well start where the locals start, first thing in the morning, shopping for bread and provisions in the neighbourhood market. The red-brick and iron structure has been beautifully restored and at El Tast de Joan Noi (next to the Joan Noi fish counter) you can sample the breakfast of champions – oysters, grilled razor clams and a glass of cava.
Casa Vicens
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C/de les Carolines 24Fontana. No public access.
Antoni Gaudí’s first major private commission (1883–85) took its inspiration from the Moorish style, covering the facade of the house in green and white tiles with a flower motif. The decorative iron railings are a reminder of Gaudí’s early training as a metalsmith (and he also designed much of the mansion’s original furniture).
Fontana.
This pretty square, backed by the parish church of Sant Joan, is one of Gràcia’s favourites, with a couple of bars providing a place to rest and admire the handsome houses, most notably the Casa Rubinat (1909). Nearby streets, particularly Carrer Verdi, contain many of the neighbourhood’s most fashionable boutiques, galleries and cafés.
C/Verdi 32 and C/Torrijos 49 Fontana 932 387 990, cines-verdi.com.
These art-house cinemas have sister locations in adjacent streets, with nine screens showing original-language movies from around the world. Tickets are €9 at the weekend, €6 on Monday and €8 from Tueday to Friday (€7 for the first screening of the day).
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Diagonal.
The 30m-high clock tower in the heart of Gràcia was a rallying point for nineteenth-century radicals – whose twenty-first-century counterparts prefer to meet for brunch at the square’s popular café terrassas.
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C/d’Olot Vallcarca/Lesseps 902 200 302, parkguell.cat. Daily: April 8am–8.30pm; May–Aug 8am–9.30pm; Sept & Oct 8am–8.30pm; Nov–March 8.30am–6.15pm. €7 online or €8 ticket office/ATMs at Lesseps and Vallcarca metro stations. Advance bookings recommended.
Gaudí’s Parc Güell (1900–14) was his most ambitious project after the Sagrada Família, conceived as a “garden city” of the type popular at the time in England, but opened as a public park instead in 1922. Laid out on a hill, which provides fabulous views back across the city, the park is an almost hallucinatory expression of the imagination. Pavilions of contorted stone, giant decorative lizards, meandering rustic viaducts, a vast Hall of Columns, carved stone trees – all combine in one manic swirl of ideas and excesses, like the famous ceramic bench that snakes along the edge of the terrace above the columned hall. Your ticket grants access to these sites, now part of the monumental zone. Only 400 visitors are allowed inside this zone each half-hour. The area outside the monumental zone is free. Some areas might be closed due to restoration works.
Park Güell
Roger Mapp
The most direct route to Parc Güell is on bus #24 from Plaça de Catalunya, Passeig de Gràcia or C/Gran de Gràcia, which drops you at the eastern side gate. From Vallcarca, walk a few hundred metres down Avinguda de Vallcarca until you see the mechanical escalators on your left, ascending Baixada de la Glòria – follow these to the western-side park entrance (15min in total). From Lesseps, turn right along Travessera de Dalt and then left up steep C/Larrard, which leads (10min) straight to the main entrance on C/Olot.
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Parc Güell Vallcarca/Lesseps 932 193 811, casamuseugaudi.org. Daily: April–Sept 9am–8pm; Oct–March 10am–6pm. €5.50, combination ticket with Sagrada Família €18.30.
One of Gaudí’s collaborators, Francesc Berenguer, designed and built a turreted house within Parc Güell for the architect (though he only lived in it intermittently). This contains a diverting collection of some of the furniture Gaudí designed for other projects – a typical mixture of wild originality and brilliant engineering – as well as plans and objects related to the park and to Gaudí’s life. His study and bedroom have been preserved and there’s an inkling of his personality, too, in the displayed religious texts and pictures, along with a silver coffee cup and his death mask, made at the Santa Pau hospital where he died.
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Pg. de la Mare de Deu del Coll 89 Vallcarca. Daily 10am–dusk. Free.
For a different kind of experience altogether, combine a trip to Gaudí’s extravagant park with this contemporary urban space laid out on the site of an old quarry, whose sheer walls were retained in the landscaping. You’re greeted at the top of the park steps by an Ellsworth Kelly metal spike, while suspended by steel cables over water is a massive concrete claw by the Basque artist Eduardo Chillida. There are also palms, promenades and a kiosk-café.
Bus #V17 from near Plaça de Catalunya at Via Laietana and Urquinaona, stops 100m from the park, or you can walk from Vallcarca in about twenty minutes (there’s a map of the neighbourhood at the metro station). It’s worth knowing that if you visit Creueta del Coll first and then take the main Passeig de la Mare de Deu del Coll, there are signposts leading you into Parc Güell the back way.
Casa Museu Gaudí
Shutterstock
Hibernian Books
Roger Mapp
C/Montseny 17 Fontana hibernian-books.com. Mon 4–8.30pm, Tue–Sat 11am–8.30pm (in August hours might differ).
Barcelona’s only secondhand English bookstore has around 40,000 titles in stock – you can part-exchange, and there are always plenty of giveaway bargains available.
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Pl. de la Revolució 2 Fontana 932 102 339. Mon–Thu 9.30pm–midnight, Fri & Sat 9.30pm–1.30 am.
Stroll around a pretty square in the sun with a real hand-made Italian ice cream (they’ve been churning it out since 1881). Expect queues at peak times and then more waiting as you struggle to choose from the twenty-odd flavours.
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C/Ramon i Cajal 36 Joanic 932 851 476.Mon–Fri 1–4pm & 7.30–midnight, Sat, Sun & hols 1pm–midnight; closed Aug.
Great for home-made cakes, waffles, quiches, organic ice cream, squeezed juices and the like. But parents also like the “little girl” as it’s very child-friendly, from the changing mats in the loos to the small seats, games and puzzles.
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C/Torrent d’en Vidalet 26 Joanic 932 848 502, grupxativa.com. Daily 1–4pm & 7.30pm–midnight.
The microwaved and burnt offerings that pass for paella in most Barcelona restaurants enrage proud Valencians. For the real thing, try one of the two Xàtiva restaurants (the other is in Les Corts). There’s also a full range of Catalan rice dishes including creamy arros melos, and the lunch menu (€14.50) is a great way to fill up before exploring the area.
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C/Tordera 62 Verdaguer 934 588 462, restaurantcalboter.com. Daily 9am–noon & 1–4pm & 9pm–midnight, Sun & Mon lunch only.
This old-school bistro is perpetually packed with everyone from hipsters to those in need of hip replacements. Survive the queue (or arrive when it opens) and you’ll be rewarded with rib-sticking stews, meatballs, snails and other classic dishes at knockdown prices (€11.20 lunch menu; à la carte mains €8–16).
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C/de la Granada del Penedès 25 Diagonal 932 370 990, flashflashbarcelona.com. Daily 1pm–1.30am (bar open 11am–2am).
A classic 1970s survivor with a keen sense of style, Flash-Flash does tortillas (€6–9) served any time you like, any way you like, from plain and simple to elaborately stuffed, with sweet ones for dessert. If that doesn’t grab you, try the reasonably priced salads, steaks, burgers and fish. The original white leatherette booths and monotone photo-model cutouts are very Austin Powers.
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Pl. de la Vila de Gràcia 9 Diagonal 932 377 362. Mon, Wed, Thu & Sun 7am–1am, Fri & Sat 7am–2am.
Good for lunch on a sunny day or a leisurely night out on a budget, when you can sit beneath the clock tower and soak up the atmosphere in the ever-entertaining local square. There’s a wide menu – tapas and hot sandwiches, but also steak and eggs, steamed clams and mussels, or cod and hake cooked plenty of different ways, all for €8–12.
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C/Còrsega 343 Diagonal/Verdaguer 932 384 893, lapepitabcn.com. Bar Mon–Sat 1pm–1.30am, kitchen open Mon 7.30pm–midnight, Tue–Sat 1–4pm & 7.30pm–midnight.
There’s usually a queue out the door, and deservedly so. The tapas, like roasted chicken croquettes with romesco sauce (€4) or aubergine fritters with goats’ cheese, honey and apples (€8), are fantastic, and the atmosphere is chatty and convivial. Hundreds of “love notes” scrawled by customers on the white-tiled walls hint at its popularity. It’s a good place for a drink if you show up outside of kitchen hours, too.
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C/Francesc Giner 50 Diagonal 932 375 098, lasingular-barcelona.com. Mon–Thu 1–4pm & 8.30–11.30pm, Fri 1–4pm & 8.30pm–12.30am, Sat 8.30pm–12.30am.
The tiny kitchen turns out refined Mediterranean food at moderate prices (most dishes €5–15) – think aubergine and smoked fish salad or chicken stuffed with dates and ham. There’s always something appealing on the menu for veggies, too. It’s a cornerstone of the neighbourhood, with a friendly atmosphere, but there are only nine tables, so go early or reserve.
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C/Verdi 6 Fontana 932 843 967. Daily 7pm–1am (Fri & Sat until 3am).
Cosy little wine bar offering a small corner of sophistication on an otherwise busy street – Ella Fitzgerald on CD, a dozen goodwines by the glass and cheesy nibbles.
Flash-Flash
Roger Mapp
C/Torrijos 51 Fontana 932 186 966, cafesalambo.com. Mon–Thu noon–1am, Fri & Sat noon–3am, Sun noon–midnight.
Where the pre- and post-cinema crowd meets (both Verdi cinemas are on the doorstep). It’s a long-standing neighbourhood hangout, with something of a colonial feel, and there are lots of wines and cava by the glass, and good food too.
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Pl. del Sol 16 Fontana 934 155 663, cafedelsol.cat. Mon–Thu 1–3.30pm & 9–11pm (Fri & Sat until 3am).
The grandaddy of the Plaça del Sol scene sees action day and night. On summer evenings, when the square is packed with people, there’s not an outdoor table to be had, but even in winter this is a popular drinking den – the pubby interior has a back room and gallery, often rammed to the rafters.
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C/Verdi 2 Fontana 932 133 049, barcanigo.com. Mon–Tue 10am–2am, Fri 10am–3am, Sat 8pm–3am.
Family-run neighbourhood bar now entering its third generation. It’s not much to look at, but the drinks are cheap and it’s a Gràcia institution with a loyal following, packed out at weekends especially with a young, largely local crowd.
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C/Ramon i Cajal 80 Joanic heliogabal.com. Daily 9pm–midnight.
Not much more than a boiler room given a lick of paint, but filled with a cool, twenty-something crowd, here for the live poetry and music – expect something different every night (Catalan versifying, jazz jam sessions and earnest singer-songwriters), starting at 10pm. Admission is usually €5–10, depending on the act, and drinks aren’t expensive.
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Santa Teresa 1 Diagonal 933 685 277, cocktailsbarcelona.oldfashionedbcn.com/wp/. Mon & Sun 5pm–2am, Tue–Thu noon–2am, Fri noon–3am, Sat 4pm–3am.
Step inside and back in time to the roaring 20s, with waiters in white tuxes, old-school decor and a swinging soundtrack. The expert bartenders will mix a perfect classic cocktail or something more modern for around €8–12.
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C/Terol 6 Fontana 932 853 688, samsarabcn.com. Mon–Thu 8.30pm–1am, Fri 7.30pm–1am, Sat 1–4pm & 7.30pm–2am, Sun 12.30–3.30pm & 7.30pm–1am.
It’s totally Gràcia – low tables, low lighting and painted concrete walls, plus a chill-out soundtrack and a projection screen above the bar. There’s also contemporary tapas and platillos (little plates) but it’s a bar first and foremost, with DJs cracking out house and techno sets at the weekend.
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C/Matilde 2 Diagonal 669 177 945. Mon–Wed 9pm–2am, Thu 9pm–2.30am, Fri & Sat 9pm–3.30am.
Wear a beret, surgically attached to your iPad? Favour Blade Runner, Jeff Buckley and Band of Horses? This bar’s for you – a dive bar with the lighting set at perpetual dusk, where time slips easily away.
Pl. de la Virreina 1 Fontana 932 379 880. Mon–Fri 9am–1am, Sat 10am–2am, Sun 10am–midnight.
Another real Gràcia favourite, on one of the neighbourhood’s prettiest squares, with a very popular summer terrassa. Cold beer and sandwiches are served to a laidback crowd – it’s one of those places where you drop by for a quick drink and find yourself staying for hours.
Trav. de Sant Antoni 6–8 Fontana 932 184 485, tradicionarius.cat.
The best place in town for folk, traditional and world music by Catalan, Spanish and visiting performers, including some occasional big names. Admission is usually €5–15, and you can expect anything from Basque bagpipes to Brazilian singers. There are also music and instrument workshops, while CAT sponsors all sorts of outreach concerts and festivals, including an annual international folk and traditional dance festival between January and April.
C/de Lincoln 15 Fontana 932 380 722, ottozutz.com. Wed–Sat 11.45pm–6am.
It first opened in 1985, and has lost some of its erstwhile glam cachet, but this three-storey former textile factory still has a shedload of pretensions. The sounds are basically hip-hop, r’n’b and house, and with the right clothes and face you’re in (you may or may not have to pay, depending on how impressive you are, the day of the week, the mood of the door staff, etc).
Otto Zutz
Alamy