Barcelona beyond the crowds: Where to eat, shop and sightsee

Changing its official slogan from “VisitBarcelona” to “This is Barcelona” may seem subtle. But the shift reflects the Catalan capital’s breaking point with overtourism and its desire to draw visitors to its cultural riches on its own terms. Many locals avoid the historic centre because of tourist hordes. Officials are cracking down on short-term rentals in the face of a housing shortage. But Barcelona is not over, as those who branch out into neighbourhoods like Gracia, Eixample and Poblenou to seek Catalonia’s authentic food and often overlooked art will see. And this year the city commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of the architect Antoni Gaudí and the completion of the tallest towers of the Sagrada Família, the church that began construction in 1882 and was his unfinished life’s work, with a visit by Pope Leo XIV and a slate of special exhibitions and events.

FRIDAY

2pm | Try feisty Catalan cuisine

Jordi Vila, the acclaimed Barcelona chef, runs Alkimia, an experimental fine-dining restaurant (tasting menu starts at  €110 euros, about US$129 or S$164, for four courses without drinks) in the Eixample district’s Sant Antoni neighbourhood. But behind the same nondescript door, up a staircase with hanging jellyfish-shaped lamps and on the opposite end of an elegant, tiled floor is Al Kostat, his love letter to Catalan classics. Its a la carte menu, including omelettes and croquettes, may be a better intro than Alkimia to essential Barcelona. Inside, a projection of the “Catalan Cuisine Manual of Self-Defense” shows chefs using martial arts to fight ramen and cheesecake. The squid and pork belly “Catalan niguiri,” served on tomato-soaked bread instead of rice, reflects this humorous tone, and the creme Catalan is a knockout. Lunch for two with wine is about €200.

4pm | See where Gaudí began

In June, Pope Leo XIV will come to bless the newly completed spires of the Sagrada Família. But a better primer than the basilica, the culmination of Gaudí’s vision, is a guided tour of his first masterpiece, the Casa Vicens Gaudí. The architect designed this country house in the 1880s for Manuel Vicens i Montaner, a rich stockbroker. It overlooked the river and mountains in Gracia, then a neighbouring town, and is now a vibrant Barcelona neighbourhood. As Barcelona spread, the rivers were paved over and an apartment building sprouted in the garden. But Gaudí’s wild red brick house, with gables, minarets and checkerboard green-and-yellow floral tiles that reflect the pre-existing marigold field, is still standing. After a century of iterations, it opened as a museum in 2017. For €24, a tour guide will walk you through the Art Nouveau-style entryway; the smoking room Gaudí decorated, dubiously, in papier-mache; and more (about one hour).

8pm | Graze on Barcelona-style mac and cheese

After taking in the organic shapes of Gaudí’s architecture, walk a short distance south to the natural-wine mecca and bistro Monocrom, whose menu mixes the traditional and the creative. The croquetas, filled with stewed meat, evoke a traditional Barcelona Sunday roast; the slow-cooked sweet potato is simple but delicious; and everyone orders the macarrons gratinats, the restaurant’s version of the mac and cheese fashionable throughout Barcelona. Pair it with an affordable winner like the Nas del Gegant 2023, a medium-bodied, berry-forward natural red wine that is less funky than bright (€30 a bottle). Dinner for two with wine is about €100.

10pm | Drink to the ’80s

The hip Gracia and the tonier Eixample neighbourhoods are packed with late-night bars. The handsome Bodega Universal has a neighbourhood feel, a mix of locals and expats, first dates and old friends, that is intoxicating in a cocktail bar. It doesn’t hurt that it has a gorgeous storefront sign — an illuminated accordion with blue letters on one side, red on the other — and signature cocktails named after 1980s sitcoms. On a recent visit, patrons sipped a whiskey-based Knight Rider, a rummy Alf, and a pisco-based Golden Girls (all about €12) that the waiter delivered to significantly greener girls. The conversation hummed under tall ceilings, Art Deco-style light fixtures and framed retro photos.

SATURDAY

9am | Go heavy or light for breakfast

Before the avocado-toast brunch brigades marched on Barcelona, the gut buster of choice was the heavy esmorzar de forquilla, a Catalan expression for breakfast you eat with a fork. Heavy breakfasts are making a comeback, complete with EsmorzApp, which locates the restaurants that serve them across Catalonia. Locals swear by the classic bar and restaurant Gelida, in the Eixample neighbourhood, for snails and cap i pota — veal head and foot stew. But visitors without the appetite for morning snails might instead grab croissants or loaves jammed with dried fruit for a few euros at one of the Baluard bakeries. There’s one on Carrer Valencia, in Eixample.

11am | Update your wardrobe

The Barcelona bourgeoisie stroll along the broad avenues of Eixample, under shady trees and the undulating terraces of Gaudi buildings. Duck into the upscale Beatriz Furest, where the fashionable flock for Barcelona-designed women’s wear like checked button-down shirts with billowy shoulders (€249) and suede Melive bags (€260). Not far away, Bassal offers a wardrobe for men and women of sober earth tones, while its next-door neighbour, the Tiny Big Sister, caters to women and children with wild, bold swan prints. Make sure you save time, and budget, for Lydia Delgado, where exquisite pleated silk blouses for about €800 and handmade Swarovski crystal earrings for about €250 sparkle in the gleaming white showroom. Sometimes the shop even has a sales rack.

1.30pm | Get lost in whimsy at Park Guell

For a casual bite, head to La Panxa del Bisbe, a Gracia mainstay. Relaxed with an internal courtyard, it has a fun wine list, delicious ceviches and grilled octopus, and a tomato salad with fig ice cream that is as bright and satisfying as it looks. Lunch for two with wine is about €60. Burn off the calories with a leisurely walk to Park Guell, a sprawling, more than 40-acre space designed by Gaudi and opened in 1926. For a €40 entrance fee including an audio guide (reserve ahead), you can explore the grottoes, walk long palm-tree-lined paths and admire all the ceramic mosaics glinting in the sun.

4pm | Delve into Barcelona design

The city is hoping visitors will also give new attractions a chance. Some deserve it, including the reclaimed area around the Placa de les Glories square, which used to sit below loops of Barcelona highway. Now, more than a decade after the ramps came down and a year after the development was finally completed, it is filled with pathways, kids dancing and the Museu del Disseny, or Design Museum (entry, €6). Exhibits of clever Spanish poster and graphic art from the 1980s to 2003 are on one floor. A level below these main attractions are appliances, letter boxes, chairs, stools, lamps, even shopping bags that for decades beautified Barcelona. It is a reminder of the city’s irrepressible creativity.

5pm | Explore a cool neighbourhood

Nearby, is the Museu Can Framis, a museum run by the Vila Casas Foundation, started by the pharmaceutical entrepreneur Antoni Vila Casas, who died in 2023 and was a tireless champion of contemporary Catalan art. This museum, housed in a former 18th-century factory, is dedicated to Catalan painting and multidisciplinary art from recent decades, but still showcases old pharmaceutical equipment as a nod to the founder’s industry. Entry is €10. It closes as 6pm, though, so if it is too late, walk through the neighbouring Poblenou neighbourhood, once a centre of the city’s industrialisation and now Barcelona’s place to be. While locals hang out amid natural-wine bottles at the tiny Masa Vins bar, try your hand at portraits or landscapes during an art class at Eros Art Space (€24, ask upon reserving if the teacher speaks English).

6.30pm | Chill at the beach

After having seen the sea from afar at Park Guell, get closer with a walk east from Poblenou, and maybe even join a sunset volleyball game or skate along Playa de Bogatell, the closest big beach. It’s late enough for a guilt-free and refreshing cocktail (€15) or Spanish vermouth (€5.50) on the beach at a classic Barcelona chiringuito, or beach bar, so hit the Vai Moana, a Polynesia-themed shack. Some experts warn that Barcelona’s beaches are disappearing as a result of climate change, so get there while you can.

8.30pm | Snack at the bar

Back in Eixample, an old train-station-style flip board reveals not new destinations but the names of new wines opened at Glug, a restaurant run by an Italian and Spanish couple with experience at the city’s best restaurants. The long bar, decorated in a red grid, gives it a playful modern feel. The onion soup with Comte-filled ravioli and the croquetas stuffed with cheesy macaroni (yes, always macaroni) topped with a blizzard of Parmesan are standouts, and unlike many a Spanish restaurant, this one allows vegetables to play the main event and shine. In spring, get the highly sought-after lagrima del maresme, a dish of small, tear-shaped peas, gently smoked, served with a green curry made from the pea pods, herbs, housemade almond milk and mini almonds. Dinner for two with wine is about €125.

10pm | Clink glasses of absinthe, then seek out flamenco

Sure, the Raval neighbourhood can be dodgy at night, but that’s been the trade-off for soaking in the bohemian scene since Picasso made the hood his hub at the turn of the 20th century. Inside Bar Marsella, adorned with chandeliers and oxidised mirrors, paint peels off the ceiling onto ancient, dusty bottles. Locals with tattoos of Barcelona’s trademark street tiles on their triceps dissolve sugar cubes into their glasses of absinthe, the drink of choice (about €5). More recently, Rosalia, the Spanish superstar, and her now ex-boyfriend, Rauw Alejandro, featured the bar in their “Vampiros” music video. Rosalia cut her teeth singing flamenco at the nearby Taller de Musics, a music school that sometimes hosts live performances at the Ateneu L’Harmonia community centre. A more reliable bet to see flamenco is the nearby Tablao Flamenco Cordobes, which has a last show at 10:30 p.m. for €48.

SUNDAY

10am | Take in a soaring architectural wonder

For coffee and fresh croissants, try Bar la Camila, a favourite in Gracia for both cyclists and bookish types looking for anything open on a Sunday morning in Barcelona. Then head to the Sagrada Familia. For all the eagerness of the city’s tourism officials to point tourists to overlooked or new attractions and areas to back up their “This Is Barcelona” slogan, they argue that the perpetual evolution of the landmark makes the church forever new. Workers recently completed the central tower, which represents Jesus and at 566 feet high makes the basilica the tallest church in the world. Architects are now turning their attention to the “Glory facade,” which will become the church’s main entrance and is still a construction site. Admission is €26 without a guide. Book ahead.

By Jason Horowitz © The New York Times.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.