Ciutat Vella

Museums & galleries

Museu Maritim de Barcelona

Ciutat Vella

The Museu Maritim occupies the Drassanes Reials, the medieval royal shipyards at the foot of the Rambla in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella. The stone halls were built to fit galleys under construction and now hold the city's maritime collection.

Museums & galleries

Museu d'Historia de Barcelona

Ciutat Vella

The Museu d'Historia de Barcelona at Placa del Rei presents the city's history above and below ground, including an excavated section of Roman Barcino reached from the medieval palace complex.

Museums & galleries

Museu Frederic Mares

Ciutat Vella

The Museu Frederic Mares occupies part of the former royal palace complex beside Barcelona Cathedral and holds the collection assembled by the sculptor Frederic Mares, from medieval religious sculpture to a large collector's cabinet of everyday objects.

Museums & galleries

Museu d'Historia de Catalunya

Ciutat Vella

The Museu d'Historia de Catalunya occupies the Palau de Mar, a converted nineteenth-century port warehouse on the Barcelona waterfront, and presents the history of Catalonia across two permanent floors.

Civic & heritage

Biblioteca de Catalunya

Ciutat Vella

The Biblioteca de Catalunya is the national library of Catalonia, housed since 1940 in the fifteenth-century Gothic halls of the former Hospital de la Santa Creu in the Raval.

Civic & heritage

El Call. Museu d'Historia de Barcelona

Ciutat Vella

El Call is a small interpretation centre in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella occupying a house in the medieval Jewish quarter, presenting the history of the city's Jewish community before the 1391 pogrom.

Markets

Mercat de la Boqueria

Ciutat Vella

The Mercat de Sant Josep, universally known as La Boqueria, is a municipal market on the Rambla in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella. Its iron structure dates from the 1840s and it remains one of the city's principal food markets.

Markets

Mercat de Santa Caterina

Ciutat Vella

Mercat de Santa Caterina is a municipal market in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella, rebuilt between 1997 and 2005 by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue behind the retained walls of the 1848 hall.

Markets

Mercat de la Barceloneta

Ciutat Vella

Mercat de la Barceloneta is the municipal market of the Barceloneta quarter in Barcelona, rebuilt in 2007 within the nineteenth-century iron structure that had stood on the square since 1884.

Parks & gardens

Parc de la Ciutadella

Ciutat Vella

Parc de la Ciutadella is a public park in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella, laid out on the site of an eighteenth-century fortress and remodelled for the Universal Exposition of 1888. It contains the Catalan parliament, a lake and the Cascada monumental fountain.

Restaurants

Els Quatre Gats

Ciutat Vella

Els Quatre Gats is a restaurant on Carrer Montsio in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella, occupying the ground floor of Casa Marti, a neo-Gothic building of 1896 by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. It operated as an artists' tavern from 1897 to 1903.

Nightlife

Bar Marsella

Ciutat Vella

Bar Marsella is a bar on Carrer de Sant Pau in Barcelona's Raval, trading since the nineteenth century and retaining its original fittings, mirrors and marble tables.

Cafés

Granja Dulcinea

Ciutat Vella

Granja Dulcinea is a granja - a milk-and-chocolate bar - on Carrer Petritxol in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, trading since 1941 with its original panelling and counter.

Nightlife

El Xampanyet

Ciutat Vella

El Xampanyet is a bar on Carrer de Montcada in Barcelona's Born, opened in 1929 and known for its tiled walls, marble counter and house sparkling wine.

Shopping

Casa Gispert

Ciutat Vella

Casa Gispert is a dried-fruit and nut merchant on Carrer dels Sombrerers in Barcelona's Born, trading since 1851 and still roasting on the premises in a wood-fired oven at the back of the shop.

Visit info checked Sept 2026

Shopping

Cereria Subira

Ciutat Vella

Cereria Subira is a candle shop on Baixada de la Llibreteria in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. The business dates from 1761 and the shop retains its 1847 interior with a double staircase and painted figures.

Visit info checked Sept 2026

Restaurants

Can Culleretes

Ciutat Vella

Can Culleretes is a restaurant on Carrer d'en Quintana in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, trading since 1786 and the oldest restaurant in the city.

Restaurants

7 Portes

Ciutat Vella

7 Portes is a restaurant on Passeig d'Isabel II in Barcelona, opened in 1836 in the arcaded Porxos d'en Xifre and named for the seven doors along its frontage.

Visit info checked Sept 2026

Shopping

La Manual Alpargatera

Ciutat Vella

La Manual Alpargatera is an espadrille maker on Carrer d'Avinyo in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, founded in 1941 and still making rope-soled footwear on the premises.

Shopping

Casa Beethoven

Ciutat Vella

Casa Beethoven is a sheet-music shop on the Rambla in Barcelona, trading since 1880 in a narrow shop with its original wooden shelving and drawers.

Shopping

Herboristeria del Rei

Ciutat Vella

Herboristeria del Rei is a herbalist on Carrer del Vidre in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, opened in 1823 and retaining a nineteenth-century interior with a central fountain and cabinet drawers.

Shopping

Almacenes del Pilar

Ciutat Vella

Almacenes del Pilar is a haberdashery on Carrer de Boqueria in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, selling the textiles, lace and trimmings used in Catalan and Spanish regional dress.

Shopping

Papabubble

Ciutat Vella

Papabubble is a confectioner on Carrer Ample in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, founded in 2004, where boiled sweets are made by hand in the shop in front of customers.

Cafés

Pastisseria Escriba

Ciutat Vella

Pastisseria Escriba is a pastry shop on the Rambla in Barcelona, occupying Casa Figueras, a 1902 modernista shopfront with mosaic, stained glass and carved timber.

Cafés

Bubo

Ciutat Vella

Bubo is a pastry shop and bar on Carrer de les Caputxes in Barcelona's Born, beside the church of Santa Maria del Mar.

Restaurants

Bodega La Puntual

Ciutat Vella

Bodega La Puntual is a restaurant on Carrer de Montcada in Barcelona's Born, in a ground-floor space within the street's run of medieval merchant palaces.

Cafés

Nomad Coffee

Ciutat Vella

Nomad Coffee is a coffee bar on Passatge Sert in Barcelona's Sant Pere, occupying a narrow unit on a nineteenth-century private passage off Carrer Trafalgar.

Cafés

Pastisseria La Colmena

Ciutat Vella

La Colmena is a confectioner on Placa de l'Angel in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, trading since 1849 with a corner shopfront of painted glass and gilded lettering.

Performing arts

Antic Teatre

Ciutat Vella

Antic Teatre is an independent performance space on Carrer Verdaguer i Callis in Barcelona, behind the Palau de la Musica, with a walled garden bar in its courtyard.