Barcelona Things to Do

Few moments in the year hold more promise than spring in Barcelona: As the weather warms up, the city emerges from its winter hibernation, and so do all the activities that come along with it.

So you only have one day for Barcelona and you want to maximize your experience of Catalan Spain. Here are the most important things to do!

Las Ramblas is 3/4 mile (1.2 km) of pure strolling joy. It’s the heart of Barcelona, a wide, tree-lined boulevard where tourists and locals alike go to promenade, to see and be seen. Sometimes people call it La Rambla but this is not quite correct as it’s a whole collection of connected short streets thus making up the plural name Las Ramblas. It leads from the square Placa de Catalunya to the port area, Port Vell.

The Spanish know how to live. They take such joy in life and one of the reasons, I think, is the food. Is it cause or effect? I don’t know. But when you head into a marketplace in Spain you understand why they take such joy in eating – because they have such wonderful and abundant foods with which to prepare meals.

Astronaut, Catwoman, Banker, Private Detective, Oceanographer, Golfer. In another life, who or what would you choose to be? In Barcelona, this is the question posed by Marc Cardona and answered with a series of wonderful photographs depicting various designers, architects, golfers and illustrators in a book and exhibition at Otrascosas de Villar-Rosàs.

It’s not just the airport in Barcelona that is connected. Taking a radical approach to cultural enterprise, the interlinked venues of creative entrepreneur Emilio Álvarez offer a glimpse into the artistic side of Barcelona. Angels, a contemporary art gallery, Carmelitas, a restaurant featuring locally sourced food, and Room Service, an avant-garde furniture design shop, all feature something unique.