Barcelona City

L'Eixample (the extension), the grid of straight streets into which Barcelona grew in the 19th Century, starts at Placa de Catalunya. This district exists since 1860, after the demolition of the medieval ramparts. Today it is a vast commercial and residential district. Its perpendicular streets, give the city a new vision.

Barcelona’s extensive Eixample district brings together a large number of modernista buildings of great architectural value. However, it is the central part which showcases most of the buildings designed in this style. Known as the Quadrat d’Or (Golden Square), it is the place where Barcelona’s moneyed classes came to live in the flats designed by the leading architects of the day, such as Gaudí.

In the area know as Poblet, just outside the Quadrat d'Or (Golden Square) heritage district, you’ll come across a bustling, lively neighbourhood which is home to two Catalan art nouveau, or modernista, landmarks by Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner: the Hospital de Sant Pau and the church of the Sagrada Família, which attracts thousands of visitors every day and has made the neighbourhood from which it takes its name so famous.

In the Esquerra de l'Eixample district (the left side of Barcelona’s Eixample) you’ll find the historic Barcelona University building; modernista landmarks such as the Casa Golferichs; the Parc de Joan Miró, and two important food markets, the Mercat del Ninot and the Mercat Sant Antoni, which give vibrancy and inject life into this Eixample Esquerra neighbourhood.

The neighbourhood around the former railway station, the Estacio del Nord and the area near the Placa de les Glories are in a constant process of transformation. They are transient, changing spaces where tall landmark buildings, such as the Torre Agbar and the TNC (Teatre Nacional de Catalunya), have sprung up in recent years and now form a new central area for Barcelona, below the new section of the Avinguda Diagonal.

No other neighbourhood in Barcelona better encapsulates traditional charm and vibrant modernity than Gracia. Formerly a separate village, it now forms the core of the Barcelona’s 6th district, which also includes other neighbourhoods such as Vallcarca, Penitents and La Salut.

The centre of the neighbourhood of La Salut is home to one of Antoni Gaudí’s most outstanding masterpieces: Park Guell. Today, a stroll through the narrow streets and squares of Gràcia is one of the many pleasures awaiting visitors to Barcelona. The food markets, such as the Mercat de l’Abaceria and the Mercat de la Llibertat, unusual bars and restaurants, squares, examples of Catalan art nouveau, or modernista style, such as the Casa Vicens and the Casa Fuster, the shops spanning many generations and Gràcias’ festival, which is a real must, comprise an attractive, vibrant mosaic.

La Sagrada Familia - La Sagrada Familia is truly awe-inspiring - even if you don't have much time, don't miss it. The life's work of Barcelona's favourite son, Antoni Gaudí, the magnificent spires of the unfinished cathedral imprint themselves boldly against the sky with swelling outlines inspired by the holy ...

La Pedrera - Another Gaudi masterpiece, La Pedrera was built between 1905 and 1910 as a combined apartment and office block. Formerly called the Casa Milà, it's better known now as La Pedrera (the quarry) because of its uneven grey stone facade that ripples around a street corner - it creates a wave ...

Parc Guell - Parc Guell is where Gaudi turned his hand to landscape gardening and where than the natural. Parc Guell originated in 1900 when Count Eusebi Guell bought a hillside property (then outside Barcelona) and hired Gaudi to create a miniature garden city of houses for the wealthy. The project was ...

Nou Camp - The Nou Camp stadium was constructed between 1954 and 1957. Although it was originally going to go under the official name of ‘Estadi del FC Barcelona’, it soon came to be popularly known as the 'Camp Nou' (the ‘new ground’), as opposed to the club’s old home at Les ...

Tapies Foundation - The Fundació Antoni Tàpies is a foundation set up in 1984 with the aim of fostering the study and knowledge of modern and contemporary art. The Foundation building opened in 1990 in the former Montaner i Simó publishing house. It currently combines temporary exhibitions, ...