Barcelona

Finding a hotel vacancy in Barcelona can be very difficult, so it’s always best to book in advance, especially at Easter, in summer and during festivals or trade fairs. Prices are high for Spain – absolute cheapest rooms in a simple family-run hotel, sharing a bathroom, cost around €50 (singles from €30), though for private facilities €70–80 a night is more realistic. Places with a bit of boutique styling start at around €100, while for Barcelona’s most fashionable hotels, count on €250 to €400 a night. In youth hostels, or cheap hotels with dorms, a bed goes for between €15 and €30 a night, depending on the season. You can reserve hotel accommodation online with the city tourist board or make same-day bookings in person only at their tourist offices.

You’ll probably do most of your eating where you do most of your sightseeing. However, if you venture no farther than the Ramblas, or the streets around La Seu, you are not going to experience the best of the city’s cuisine – in the main tourist areas, food and service can be indifferent and prices high. Instead, explore the backstreets of neighbourhoods like Sant Pere, La Ribera, El Raval and Poble Sec, where you’ll find excellent restaurants, some little more than hole-in-the-wall taverns, others surprisingly funky and chic. Most of the big-ticket, destination-dining restaurants are found in the Eixample, while Gràcia is a pleasant place to spend the evening, with plenty of good mid-range restaurants. For fish and seafood, you’re best off in the harbourside Barceloneta district or at the Port Olímpic.

Most cafés are open from 7 or 8am until midnight, or much later – so whether it’s coffee first thing or a late-night nibble, you’ll find somewhere to cater for you. Restaurants generally open 1 to 4pm and 8.30 to 11pm, though in tourist zones like the Ramblas and Port Olímpic, restaurants tend to stay open all day.

Whatever you’re looking for from a night out, you’ll find it somewhere in Barcelona – bohemian boozer, underground club, cocktail bar, summer dance palace, techno temple, Irish pub or designer bar, you name it. Best known of the city’s nightlife haunts are its hip designer bars, while there’s a stylish club and music scene that goes from strength to strength fuelled by a potent mix of resident and guest DJs, local bands and visiting superstars.

Local listings magazines Guía del Ocio (wguiadelociobcn.com) and Time Out Barcelona (wtimeout.cat) cover current openings, hours and club nights, and most bars, cafés and music stores carry flyers and free magazines containing news and reviews. For the Barcelona music scene, check out the websites watiza.com and wbarcelonarocks.com.

Opening hours and closing days Most bars stay open until 2am, or 3am at weekends, while clubs tend not to open much before midnight and stay open until 5am, or even later at weekends – fair enough, as they’ve often barely got started by 3am. Unlike restaurants, bars and clubs generally stay open throughout August.

Admission charges Some clubs are free before a certain time, usually around midnight. Otherwise, expect to pay €10–20, though this usually includes your first drink (if there is free entry, don’t be surprised to find that there’s a minimum drinks’ charge of anything up to €10). Tickets for gigs run from €20 to €50, depending on the act though there are cheaper gigs (€5–20) almost every night of the year at a variety of smaller clubs and bars.

As you would expect from a city of its size, Barcelona has a busy entertainment calendar – throughout the year there’ll be something worth catching, whether it’s a contemporary dance performance, cabaret show or night at the opera. Classical and contemporary music, in particular, gets an airing in some stunning auditoriums, while the city boasts a long tradition of street and performance art, right down to the human statues plying their trade on the Ramblas. A useful first stop for tickets and information is the Palau de la Virreina, Ramblas 99 (daily 10am–8.30pm; 933 161 000; Liceu). ServiCaixa (902 332 211, servicaixa.com) and TelEntrada (902 101 212, telentrada.com) are the main advance booking agencies.

The city council’s Institute of Culture website, bcn.cat/cultura, covers every aspect of art and culture in the city. Otherwise, the best listings magazines are the weekly Guía del Ocio (guiadelociobcn.com) and Time Out Barcelona (timeout.cat), online or from any newspaper stand.

While not on a par with Paris or the world’s other style capitals, Barcelona still leads the way in Spain when it comes to shopping. It’s the country’s fashion and publishing capital, and there’s a long tradition of innovative disseny (design), from clothes and accessories to crafts and household goods. The annual sales (rebaixes, rebajas in Castilian) follow the main fashion seasons – mid-January until the end of February, and throughout July and August.