Where to go in Barcelona

tell me where to stay in Barcelona.

I grabbed an apartment rental thru Cocoon Barcelona on Carrer de Napols a couple blocks up from Cuitadella which was about as centrally located as I could get and turned out great. The subway is so massive it almost doesn't matter, though

Spending a few days there next week. Any updates in the last ten years?

There's kinda an anti-tourism push right now, iirc. Also, keep an eye on your phone.

there's always the warnings about pickpockets but idk, never happened to me or never felt iffy and been many times.

some restaurants i'd recommend would be, for tapas, xampanyet, cal pep, bar la plata, quimet and quimet, but there are many more to choose from. for sitting down to a meal, gresca, paco meralgo.

what other stuff are you after? it's a properly large city, always good electronic music, so many museums and galleries. football.

One of my kids was there for a month this past summer, and she told me three of her friends had their phones stolen! Granted, kids can be stupid, but still. My kid told me the two-person, one distracts and the other steals system seemed to be a common, familiar tactic. Now, why Barcelona has a reputation for pickpockets that's any different from other cities, I have no idea.

wow, fair enough! as a euro i'm prob remembering like all these kind of cliched warnings about various cities and barcelona was always pick pockets. i'm sure it's a thing but just been so many times and idk.

a weirder one i also remember was like about 20 years ago a rough guide told me to beware of wild dogs in bucharest. i got there and didn't see a single one, and was spending a fair bit of time with locals as was djing. when i told them this they all were totally mystified and it was really funny and became a joke for the weekend.

what other stuff are you after?

Thanks for the list so far! We were there a couple years back but I got Covid and we lost a day and half. Back then we covered most of the Gaudi buildings and Park Güell, Sagrada Familia, Picasso museum. Interested in neighborhoods that might otherwise go overlooked and small shops, restaurants/wine, architecture, museums, oddities within. We'll mostly be walking and we're vegetarian.

We're going to be in San Sebastian for the El Clásico game but are going to Real Sociedad v Osasuna, which I'm excited for!

San Sebastian is one of the prettiest places I have ever been.

You should look for upcoming concerts, I think Nick Cave will be in Barcelona next week...

Have you been to the Casa Mila or Casa Batllo? If you’re an architecture buff there’s a modernista discusses hospital turned into a museum: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pyn4PWCf8NYEuMnC7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Disused hospital

Yeah, that looks very cool!

We toured Casa Mila last visit, but not Casa Batllo. Hoping for that one this time around.

I don't think I'll be able to talk my wife into Nick Cave (or Einstürzende Neubauten...or Accept (!), who are also playing next week).

The Joan Miro museum is cool. If you are into wine, Gresca is prob a good choice. Bar Brutal is prob the most obvious choice for natural wine, will have tourists etc, but it is really good imo. The food too.

There's also a good natural wine place in Barceloneta but I can't quite remember the name.

None of these are necessarily crazy barnyard tasting natural wine places, more just a range of good stuff.

Pastilleria Hoffman, if you're near it, does an amazing croissant.

In San Sebastian, there's a nice hippy-operated craft beer place halfway up Monte Urgull with prob the best view I've ever experienced at a bar. Idk if it's open in winter as only found it visiting in June, but worth the hike.

You can prob easily find recommendations for there, there are so many options but a lot of the great places come up in most of the lists.

The Catalan National Museum was very cool. It has numerous Gothic murals from rural Catalonian churches that were saved from destruction/dilapidation and reconstructed at the museum. It's also near the Joan Miro museum that LocalGarda mentioned.

If you haven't gone to the Catalan Music Hall (or even if you have), I recommend trying to catch a performance there. We say a classical guitar concert there which was so great in that setting (modernista designed building and a UNESCO World Heritage site).

say = saw

for architecture, I'd see the Mies van der Rohe house, you might want to go up the big hill it's at the base of (Montjuic) anyway to see the museums or just the view

Thanks everyone! Hope we can pack it all in.

One of the best meals I've had ever was at the fabulously-named My Fucking Restaurant. You wouldn't know it from walking past the place but OMG it was great
https://www.yelp.com/biz/my-fucking-restaurant-barcelona
https://myfuckingrestaurant.com

Re: pickpockets - I did a lot of traveling when I was college-age, and the only time I ever got my backpack (or anything else) stolen was in an internet cafe in Barcelona.

I got nearly mugged (and they guy tried to trip me) in the Barrio Gotico at night but I had only a few euros in my money belt under several layers of clothes (it was January) and nothing in my pockets

And I walk real fast—he tried to sweep my leg and missed, the asshole. He disappeared when we got close to the Rambla and there were cops at the corner. Nothing else happened the rest of the week, but obviously avoided deserted narrow streets at night.

Back yesterday. Thanks to all for the suggestions. We didn't encounter any anti-tourist vibe and we left with as many phones as we took.

Of the stuff suggested:
We landed and went straight to the Sant Pau hospital site which was a perfect start the trip since it's enclosed and peaceful, unlike most of the city.

My Fucking Restaurant was a really great meal. We had the veg menu with a wine pairing for each course. All was excellent, the dessert especially.

We toured the Catalan Music Hall but didn't see a concert. Absolutely gorgeous space and somewhere It's a quick tour but I'd recommend everyone visit.

Joan Miro Museum exceeded my expectations. The 22'x16' tapestry was especially incredible.

The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion was closed for an event but seemed we could see most of it from the outside.

I'd also recommend Arc Iris for lunch -- four course lunch for 13 euros and, price to quality, the best lunch I've ever had.

Missed the funicular in Barcelona, but rode one in Bilbao.

That bar in San Sebastian was def worth the hike. The weather cleared the day we went so we stuck around for a couple rounds. Would also recommend Orburu for a veg dinner in San Sebastian. Best meal of the trip, but the food was generally spectacular in that city.

We did a day trip to Girona and the Dali museum, which was ~packed~ but worthwhile.

All around -- ten days, five cities, three day trips, ~eighty miles of walking. Already looking forward to going back.

Can recommend the Chris Ware exhibition at CCCB.
Gonna try and get to arc iris tomorrow

Arc Iris so good!

Yes! Glad you got to go!

I was with my wife and we shared so i got to taste 8 dishes! Friendly folk too.

We just got back a couple of weeks ago. My daughter had spent a month there last summer as an exchange student so go to grab dinner with her host family. My other daughter had a dozen friends from college that just happened to be there. Also a coincidence, one of my best friends from high school was there with his family, and a best friend from college as well. Plus, my younger daughter's entire high school orchestra. Small world, I guess, or popular city. Would have loved to see the Ware (another now former neighbor and acquaintance!). We had some good meals there and saw a bunch of stuff but I feel barely scratched the surface. Wasn't blown away by Barcelona like some people are, but it's a great city, easy to get around, a lot to see and do ...

Only saw John's update yesterday, sounds a fun trip! Glad you tried the bar up the mountain!

Xp
Wow thats a lot of people! I haven't travelled much in the last - eek - 20 years so am just enjoying wandering around somewhere so different to home. After dark the graffiti on the shop roller doors in El Born is really cool.

Thanks LocalGarda! Definitely would not have found that bar had you not mentioned it. It was a gorgeous day when we got up there and very much worth the hike.

The view is amazing, nice local beers too.

So a certain cathedral got its big dedication moment today and this thread is worth a scroll through:

https://bsky.app/profile/drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com/post/3mnxjdq3hys2s

a big tourist trap

the McDonald's across the street has draft beer