Welcome to a FridaysFlats experience!
If you’re here for the city
If you had young friends living in Barcelona, and you’d ask them what the best neighbourhood to live in the city is, they’d probably all reply “Gracia”, or “La Villa de Gracia” as it’s sometimes called. Perched on a hill overlooking Barcelona and the splendid Mediterranean coastline, Gracia is considered to be a local oasis of tranquility and great quality food, vibes and entertainment. Legend says people who live in Gracia never venture outside their neighbourhood, because they have absolutely everything they need within walking distance. The Gracia vibe is just unbeatable.
Its colorfully pittoresque streets are sprinkled with small local shops that sell organic food or sustainable living products, side by side with record stores, tattoo places, vegan bakeries, architect studios, pottery studios or contemporary dance studios. Often, these narrow streets fan out into cute little plaças, lined with terraces where you can enjoy the traditional tapas as you stop for coffee, cerveza or the local Vermut.
Venture outside the neighbourhood a bit and after a few blocks come face to face with the grandiose Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s ultimate masterpiece, a UNESCO monument. Whatever your religious (or non-religious) affiliations, the architecture of this majestic monument will leave you speechless.
If you’re here for the beach
You’ll have to plan your trip accordingly if you want to do a lot of swimming or sunbathing, but it’s fairly easy to get to the beach. The Barcelona metro is fantastic in the sense that it’s reliable, cheap, and very well connected. Other options such as the local railroad make it easy to hitch a ride either to the city’s beaches (Barceloneta, Nova Icaria, Bogatell, etc) or to some of the more private ones outside of the city.
If you’re here for nature
Parc Guell is one steep but short hike away, just like many of the other parks of the Zona Alta, Barcelona’s elevated urban cluster. Just pack comfortable shoes and enjoy the splendid views. Many other locations such as Montjuic or Tibidabo are easily accessible by metro, bus or taxi. There are many places where you can enjoy the beauty of nature, wild colored flowers or fragrant bushes. Just to visit all the attractions of Montjuic could easily take you a week. Here you can find not one but two wondrous botanical gardens, one of them a picture perfect cactus reservation that’s one of the natural wonders of Barcelona, The Fundacio Miro, The Poble Espanyol, The Theatre Grec, Palau Sant Jordi or the former Olympic village are only some of the attractions on Montjuic, but neither rivals the panoramic view of the city and the sea you will get from up there.
If you’re here for shopping
Shop ‘til you drop! Or maybe not that much, but still, find local designers and cute boutique stores all throughout Gracia. If you go down a bit, past the Metro Station Diagonal you can easily walk to Passeig de Gracia or Rambla de Catalunya, both areas filled to the brim with shops and stores. If you’re looking for something more upscale, go to the Corte Ingles in Illa Diagonal, or to Diagonal Mar, Europe’s biggest luxury shopping mall.
Pro tip: Hunt for the local Gracia boutique stores, and you will be amazed at the quality of both design and materials, in case you want to take home with you a small part of Barcelona.
If you’re here for museums
Rest assured, you can take the metro, cab or walk (downhill) towards Gothic, Born and Raval, which are full of museums, monuments and interesting cultural venues like Museo de la Marina, MACBA (for Contemporary Art) or the Catalan Cultural Center, plus some fun and interesting stuff for kids of all ages (Big Fun Museum and Museum of Illusions or the Wax Museum). The Gran Teatre del Liceu (Opera) is also a few metro stops away. Our favorite museum is called “Cosmo Caixa”(it’s a science museum that also has a planetarium) and is a little bit above you, towards Tibidabo. Head down toward the Marina if you want to see the Aquarium, and maybe stop at the Erotic Museum on your way 😇 - it’s close.