Barcelona neighborhoods

A maze of moody, touristy, twisty streets built atop the ancient Roman city of Barcino, the Barri Gòtic, along with la Rambla, comprises the center of town. Charming gift shops, tacky touristy junk shops, cute cafés, trendy bars, and a zillion restaurants line the cobblestone streets. The Barri Gòtic is also home to Barcelona's 13th-century gothic cathedral. You will be spending a lot of time here.

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Classier and newer than the Gothic Quarter, the Eixample (pronounced "uh-SHAHM-pluh") is located just North of El Raval and the Gothic Quarter. The Eixample offers the city's most expensive shopping, swankiest residences, and best examples of Catalonian Modernist architecture. The Eixample's 19th-Century building facades, with their wild ornamentation and extreme Art Nouveau flair, are some of the most photographed in Europe. Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's most famous architect, is represented everywhere here—from fabulous apartment buildings to his world-famous Sagrada Familia cathedral.

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A walk on the West side of the Ramblas will take you through the intriguing, densely populated (but less heavily touristed) streets of El Raval. During the last century, El Raval became home to the poor and working-class slums, crammed to overcapacity and teeming with problems. Recent urban planning efforts, however, have benefited the neighborhood enormously, though some petty crimes and prostitution still exist. Today, El Raval offers some of the most interesting spots in the city: open-air markets, legit old eateries, and trendy new bars and cafés.

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Stretching about a mile from the port to the central Plaça de Catalunya, la Rambla is the ever-bustling boulevard to end all boulevards. Along with the Barri Gòtic, la Rambla represents not just the center of the tourist quarter, but also the beating heart of the city for locals. The boulevard is divided into five sections, each with its own name. Year-round and round-the-clock, street performers, sidewalk artists, lovers, madmen, café patrons, pickpockets and throngs of tourists hit the street to ramble.

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Located just to the East of the Gothic Quarter, the Ribera is the hot new neighborhood in town; its twisting old streets are packed with trendy galleries, bars, cafes and nightclubs. The beach is a quick five-minute walk to the South, and la Rambla is ten minutes to the West. Other neighborhood points of interest include the Parc de Ciutadella (with its parrot-filled palm trees) and the renowned Picasso Museum.

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