Editorial
The best hidden gem bars in Barcelona are nowhere near Las Ramblas. They are in El Born courtyards, Gràcia side streets, and the working-class neighbourhoods of Poble Sec and Sant Antoni that have been producing excellent small bars for decades before anyone thought to photograph them. We have ten of them below.
El Born is dense with bars but the ratio of quality to visibility is poor at the tourist end. Three blocks in from the main drag, the picture changes significantly.
Gràcia operates as a village within the city and its bar culture reflects that. Poble Sec, pressed against the hill below Montjuïc, has a Carrer de Blai that the world now knows about — but the streets running parallel to it are still entirely local.
The Eixample is Barcelona's most densely populated district and its bar scene reflects that density — there are excellent bars on streets that most visitors never walk down, simply because the sights are elsewhere.
Barcelona's best hidden gem bars are found in the gaps between what the city promotes and what its residents actually enjoy. The rule of thumb is simple: if a bar appears on a "Barcelona nightlife" article in an international magazine, it has probably stopped being worth going to. The bars on this list are the ones that survive by being good rather than being known.
Our suggested evening: El Fossar in El Born at aperitivo hour, Taller de Cocktails in Sant Antoni for a serious cocktail at 9pm, and La Carboneria Negra in Poble Sec for a late rum and whatever music is playing. That covers three neighbourhoods and three very different versions of Barcelona in one night.
Priya covers Mediterranean and Southern European bar culture for barsforKings. She has been visiting Barcelona annually for eight years and believes the best bars in the city are in Gràcia and the working-class neighbourhoods south of the Eixample.