Relaxing & parks – All our local tips

Thanks to the globalization you don’t have to travel to Marrakesh or Dubai anymore to experience an arabic bath.

After spending a chilly winter day at the beach and in Park Ciutadella, you should try the new “Hamam” (relaxing hot steam bath in silence) located in El Born neighborhood right in front of the Park.
Taking a bath there is probably one of the most enjoyable experiences ever.

Have an Arabic mint tea on the warm luxury benches after enjoying aromatherapy, bubbles, candles, massages on hot stones etc. in the ambience of a beautiful ancient remodeled Spanish wine-cellar.

The prices are decent, a Hamam costs 25 euros without massage and with massage 36 Euros.

Aire de Barcelona also offers gift vouchers ranging from 25 Euros up to 81 Euros.
Giving a voucher to friends became my gift-idea-number-one in the last few month as the temperatures are falling….

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Aire de Barcelona | Relaxing | Bath with aromatherapy € 25.00
Paseo Picasso 22 | El Borne | +34902555789
Sun – Thu 10:00 – 23:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 02:00

If you happen to be around, take a minute to go to Carrer del Bisbe – one of those typical narrow streets of the Gothic quarter, starting at plaza nova in the cathedral avenue.

If you are lucky enough and the weather is good, you’ll find street artists at the two alleys that cross the backyard of the cathedral (Carrer de Sta Ilucia and Carrer de la Pietat).

The best time of the day to get teased by the enticing sounds of a bandoneon or a harp player, the melancholic mood of an opera or tango singer, or the infectious melodies of a flamenco guitar player is the end of the afternoon.

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Carrer del Bisbe | Music, Relaxing
Carrer del Bisbe | El Barrio Gotico
Daily

Discover and enjoy the sights and the spirit of Barcelona by the freedom and pleasure of  riding a bike.

It is a real and authentic way of getting to know the city, it’s people, colors, smells and noises. Stop and stay wherever and how long you like.

By bike you’ll discover much more places, and enjoy a much more intense experience. It also makes you feel better about the tons of ice cream and tapas you had the days before, and you can enjoy a cold beer or a sangria on the beach with a pure conscience.

The Bikes are high quality classic models, the prices are very decent by offering a great service; the staff is friendly and is always pleased to help you.

Renting a bike for 2 hours costs 6 euros, for 24 hours 15 euros, for 2 days 25 euros and for a whole week 55 euros.

For 21 euros they also offer guided tours that show you in only 3 1/2 hours the historical details and the fascinating experiences of the day to day life and the symbolic places of Barcelona.  The meeting point is right in front of the Hard Rock cafe on Placa Catalunya. Tours start daily at 11:00 and from april to october also at 16:30h.

Always lock the bike to a pole or a fence…Otherwise it won’t last for long.

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Classic Bikes | Art & culture, Relaxing | Bike 2 hours € 6.00
Calle Tallers 45 (inside the passage) | El Raval | +34933171970
10:00 – 20:00 daily

A new trend in Barcelona: playing ping-pong on one of the numerous public ping-pong tables in the city center.

You have two options:

1. You buy a ping-pong set (2 rackets and a ball) for € 3.00 at the Chinese-cheap-cheap “Cien y mas” – shop on Calle de Carmen in the Raval neighborhood and you play a match on the shady and beautiful square on Calle Floristes de la Rambla between the back-entrance of the Boqueria market and the Art school Massana.

2. You just have a seat on the square an watch the cute guys playing ping-pong.

Whatever option you take, try to get it done before 14:00 because from 14:00 – 16:00 you should enjoy the daily changing lunch menu (€ 8.00) at the Iposa restaurant situated on Calle Floristes de la Rambla.

They have a beautiful terrace outside on one of the most cheerful squares in the Raval under huge trees next to the cute ping-pong guys. Watch the birds in the trees, especially when you are having lunch!

The French chef is always trying to offer something special rather than the usual tapas and paella. As the Boqueria market is only a stone’s throw away, the vegetables and the fish are always super fresh.

Also try their main courses for decent prices such as their couscous golden-oldie and their delicious salads (€ 5.00 – € 9.00) with homemade raspberry dressing.

Iposa is also very suitable for parents as a very cool fenced playground is situated right next to the terrace.

Unfortunately Iposa is closed at the moment and will only open in march again because they are renovating the kitchen. So get ready for the spring time-terrace time!

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Iposa | Relaxing, Restaurants (Lunch) | Lunch menu € 8.00
Calle Floristes de la Rambla 14 | El Raval | +34933186086
Mon – Sat 13.30 -16:00 & 21:00 – 00:00, Aug 21:00 – 00:00 daily

I know a place for readers and writers, to take the kids to play football and run around, for families to have a picnic, a place for the elderly, for lovers and friends.

La Ciutadella Park is where everything is possible if the weather’s on your side and this is easy to find in Barcelona where almost never rains.

La Ciutadella Park is one of the most beautiful parks in Barcelona and it’s plenty of cosy corners to talk and spend the time laid over the grass, sit at some bank or walk around through sculptures, statues and trees.

You will find the Museum of Modern Art, The Geology Museum, the Zoo, a greenhouse and a castle called “Three Dragons Castle” where’s also placed the Zoology Museum. This park is a gorgeous open space behind El Borne; it’s close to the France Train Station, the Olympic Village, La Barceloneta, the peer and the beach.

If you use this park as a shortcut to anywhere you’re going, I’m sure you will feel invited to stay. There’s a place for you too. I know.

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La Ciutadella Park | Art & culture, Relaxing
Between Pujades and Picasso streets | El Borne
08:30 – 22:00 daily

Situated uptown between the Vall d’hebron and Horta, you will find this small neighbourhood, very different from the rest of Barcelona. As a matter of fact, you don’t feel you are in a big city but more probably in a small village somewhere in the Catalan countryside.

No big buildings, not even a store, just a small bar hidden between two trees. All is about stone-houses with their gardens, orange and lemon-trees and vegetable-gardens.

You guess this part of Barcelona like many others has been absorbed by the urbanisation of the XX century. But here time seems to do not pass by. Everything is slow-paced, quiet and peaceful. You can listen to the chirping of the birds, even the smell is different.

It’s an excellent place to stroll around if you want to escape from the crowded centre or just to get the feeling to be on vacations in the countryside.

To reach it, take the subway until Vall d’Hebron (line 3).

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La Clota | Art & culture, Relaxing | Wine & tapa € 3.00
Subway Vall d’Hebron (line 3) | Above diagonal
Mon – Sat 13:00 – 15:45 & 20:00 – 23:30

I must confess one of my all-time favourite hobbies is seeing people. I can’t help it, I’m very curious about people. Personally, sometimes I like to go to La Virreina square, located at Barrio de Gracia, to spy the “urban fauna” and seeing their behavior and fashion. I enjoy imagining what they do, what they think or where they’re going.

The whole place is a great scene to interact with other persons.

It’s one of my loved spots because it offers so many options. I see that place as a beginning of a great night. Sometimes I propose that place as a meeting point with my friends.

Once we’re together and considering our mood we can stay there in the meanwhile or pick a terrace from the three options of bars you can find located there or perhaps giving a hike by the area looking for some new bar or restaurant.

Have you tried a “clara” before? I can’t imagine a best way to taste a clara for the first time than sat at some of those terraces located at La Virreina square, surrounded by such special neighborhood.

If you want to experience a typical Barcelona’s night away from the city`s center you should start here. A magic night is almost guaranteed.

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La Virreina’s Square | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks
Plaça de La Virreina | Gracia
24 hours daily

This is one of my favorite year-round spots to chill out.

During the summer the garden is a great place to cool off, maybe have a packed lunch and read a book, or visit an exhibition, before going back to work. Given its location at the junction of Passeig de Gracìa it’s surprisingly quiet and peaceful.

In the cooler months it’s a good place to pass time between appointments, maybe check out one of, say, three exhibitions. The exhibitions here, often about an aspect of live as is lived, or was lived, in Catalunya, are always interesting and often excellent. Exhibitions have included: the aborted People’s Olympics in 1936 (set up to counter the official Nazi Olympics), a surprisingly excellent exhibition about Catalunya’s future infrastructure needs, Marilyn Monroe’s dresses, and a series of beautiful aerial photographs showing the rich diversity of the regional landscape.

The pavilion in the garden often hosts music gigs as well as exhibitions and talks.

The Information Center here is very good with very knowledgeable and helpful staff who manage a comprehensive range of materials in all the main European languages. If I’m planning a trip out of the city I’ll go along and get advice and information on walking routes, themed trails, museums, hostels and refugios, and local food and drink. A visit here could save you time lining up for information at the main, and very busy, tourist information center in Plaza Catalunya.

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Palau Robert | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Passeig de Gràcia, 107 | Eixample | +34932388091
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 19:00, Sun 10:00 – 14:30

Before 1985 there were the ugly railways, as if the city was stabbed to death and was losing its bowels, but then an enlightened and visionary soul started turning it into a relaxing space.

This piece of Gaudian art was finished in 1991 by Beverly Pepper, who achieved the harmonic coexistence of nature and manly intervention to create a magic atmosphere that exerts a strange influence over people that go there for a picnic.  After eating, sooner or later, picnics turn into a kissing event in this park.

It is also said though, that there is a dark mob that operates in this park stealing dogs in order to sell them to some labs that need living victims for their sinister tests and evil experiments with chemical products.

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Parc de l’Estació del Nord | Relaxing | Free
Napols 42 | Eixample
07:00 – 23:00 daily

Nobody just walks there (well, maybe the tourists..) – the place is for skating, biking, sitting, strolling, watching and taking sun baths.

Dress yourself on your most fabulous, get a coffee to go and some typical Catalan pastries at “Fleca els angels” bakery and start playing the games big people play.

You’ll end up with a cute date, a shaky hand from too much coffee and a big fat sunburn- which is totally worth it.

If you need a break, just turn around and enter the Macba, the Museum of contemporary art, or the CCCB, the cultural center of Barcelona hosting the most interesting exhibtions.

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Plaça dels Angels | Relaxing
Plaça Dels Angels | El Raval
24 hours daily

Located in El Gotico, this is probably one of the most beautiful places of Barcelona or at least the most peaceful and romantic one.

With a couple of bars and terraces, the Marina Maas shop (check the Marina Maas article) and the rest of a roman wall, you are probably in one of the best places of the town to spend a charming afternoon far away from the crowd.

It’s amazing to think now that a few years ago, this place was very dangerous because of the drug addicts staying at the foot of the roman tower. This was a long time ago and a proof that Barcelona is always changing…

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Placa dels Traginers | Bars, Relaxing | Entrance € 5.00
Placa dels Traginers | El Barrio Gotico
24 hours daily

Feeling down and need something to raise your soul above the social mall? Or just need a break from fashion cocktails, top 40 lousy music, fancy high heels and naughty party ragers?

Whether in spring, summer, autumn or even in some good weathered winter days, at the end of Portal del Angel when going down towards the Gothic Cathedral there is a magic corner with the proper acoustic atmosphere for street musicians to perform outdoors on any season without the need of expensive sound amplifying gear.

Be ready for getting enraptured by the groove of an authentic blues singer or the captivating tunes of a world music quartet.  Well, perhaps at this time you would find musicians with heavier clothing but still… it’s a magic spot.

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Portal del angel Street | Music, Relaxing
Corner Carrer dels arcs & Carrer cucurrulla | El Barrio Gotico
From morning to late night

I will talk this time about a treasure of peace located at Barrio Gótico; the best place to escape from tourists and the crowd. I have no doubts about it: the Sant Felip Neri’s Square is one of the most beautiful places of Barcelona.

Every time I go to to the place a feeling like discovering some virgin waterfall in the middle of the forest comes over me. It’s like a shelter or refuge, a forgotten corner away of the chaos.

At Sant Felip Neri’s Square you will find a small terrace (that belongs to the Neri’s Hotel) a huge tree and a fountain in the middle of it. The whole place is built over a medieval cemetery and you will find the Footwear Museum (see the museu del calcat article) and a big door that invites you to know the Sant Felip Neri’s baroque’s church.

I invite you to feel the experience of being there. You will love this place as I do.

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Sant Felip Neri’s Square | Relaxing
Sant Felip Neri’s Square | El Barrio Gotico
24 hours daily

Leave the overcrowded and buzzing city center behind you and get impressed by the dignified halls of the University.

Feel like you just left Hogwarts express and entered the School for witchcraft and wizardry for the first time, before you will discover the real hidden secret of this mystic place: The University’s garden.

Wandering around among some of the oldest trees of the city, playing with the baby kittens, watching the herons sitting in the trees, the fishes, and the frogs in the pond will probably make you hungry and thirsty.

Get an authentic “bocadillo de jamon y queso” (ham and cheese sandwich for € 2.00) and a “cafe con leche” (€ 1.00) at the cafeteria in the basement, sit somewhere on a shady park-bench, have a siesta, breath deeply, and continue shopping.

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The garden of the University | Relaxing | Cafe con Leche € 1.00
Plaça de la Universitat | Eixample
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 21:00 (entrance Plaça de la Universitat) Sat – Sun 10: 00 – sunset (entrance Carrer de la Diputaci)

The Turó del Putget Park is one of those beautiful green spaces this city offers to whom nature plays a very important role in any urban scene.

I consider it a lovely privilege to bethere for two important reasons. The first -most of the lazy people will like this- it is very easy to visit this park and enjoy a moment of peace. The second reason is the views of Barcelona you can enjoy once you’re there at the top of the hill this park is located. You can see almost 360º around, so it’s a great spot to understand how this city works from the Tibidabo’s Mountain to the beach.

I widely recommend you to start the visit from the highest side of the park. You will need to climb a long scale until reaching the top but I promise this tiny effort worth it. Feel free to take your photo camera with you and walk down until the main entry.

Shhh… Do you hear it? Hmmm… You don’t hear anything, right? That’s the idea, don’t you think? Go and enjoy.

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Turó del Putget Park | Relaxing
Manacor 9 | Above diagonal
10:00 – 18:00 daily

Situated on the busy crossroads of Traveserrra de Gràcia and Torrent de l’Olla Gràcia Public Library houses an excellent collection of books, magazines, CDs and DVDs to lend.

It’s always worth calling in to find out what’s going on in the barrio and across the city – with leaflets, free community newspapers and what’s-on guides, with some in English, French, German and Italian.

Non-Catalan speaking residents and visitors are very welcome and you’ll find a good selection of fiction, poetry and language-learning materials in all major European languages. The study area, with free wi-fi access, is open until 01:00. So, you can take your laptop along, catch up with your e-mail, and when you feel like a coffee, or a beer, put your laptop in a secure locker and stroll across the narrow street to any one of several café-bars nearby.

A library card gets you a good range of discounts on admissions to concerts, dance events, exhibitions, talks, walks and workshops at venues across the city. The staff are all very helpful and very knowledgeable.

I really appreciate the library’s core philosophy of promoting the written and spoken word as a tool for better understanding – a philosophy which is symbolised by the heiroglyphic, cuneiform, runic and ancient Greek script used in the artwork which decorates the entrance and stairwell.

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Vila de Gràcia | Art & culture, Relaxing
C/Torrent de l’Olla 104 | Gracia | +34932847790
Mon & Thu 16:00 – 21:00, Tue & Fri 10:00 – 14:00 & 16:00 – 21:00, Wed 10:00 – 21:00, Sat 10:00 – 14:00, Closed Jul 14 – Sep 1