Barcelona has one of Europe's most coherent bar scenes — old-school institutions and World's Best Bar list-toppers operating side by side, sometimes in the same neighbourhood. Paradiso and Sips both sit in the global top 10. Boadas has been pouring since 1933. The 10 below span El Born to Eixample, vermut bars to tasting-menu cocktail rooms.
Part of our 50 Best Bars in the World listThis article is one chapter in our larger global guide. See the full pillar with every featured city.
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The 10 best bars in Barcelona
01 · Barcelona
El Born
$$$
Through a giant fridge
Through the fridge at the back of Pastrami Bar. Giacomo Gianotti's room. Won World's Best Bar 2022. The illustrated menus are as ambitious as the drinks.
Order: Supercool Martini (smoked, frozen)
02 · Barcelona
Eixample
$$$
Tasting-menu cocktails
Marc Álvarez and Simone Caporale's tasting-menu cocktail bar. World's Best Bar 2023. You sit, you trust the pacing, you drink what they pour.
Order: The full tasting
03 · Barcelona
El Raval
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1933 · No-stools
The oldest cocktail bar in Barcelona, opened 1933 by a former Floridita bartender. Standing room only. Mojitos and daiquiris served with hand-shaken ice.
Order: A Mojito, made the way Hemingway drank it
04 · Barcelona
El Born
$$$
Apothecary · Dim
Antonio Naranjo's apothecary-themed cocktail bar. Hyper-local Mediterranean ingredients, technical drinks, intimate room.
Order: A drink built around the seasonal local fruit
05 · Barcelona
El Raval
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Punk · Loud
Moe Aljaff's chaotic, irreverent room — and one of the highest-ranked Latin/Iberian bars worldwide. The opposite of Sips in tone, equally serious in craft.
Order: Whatever's on the chalkboard
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06 · Barcelona
El Born
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Tapas + cava
Operating since 1929. Cava on tap, tapas at the bar, no reservations. The most Catalan way to drink in Barcelona.
Order: A glass of their house cava + anchovies
07 · Barcelona
El Born
$$
Natural wine · Catalan small plates
Iconic natural wine bar. Catalan-leaning food, biodynamic Spanish wine list. The room that legitimised natural wine in Spain.
Order: A glass of orange wine + their charcuterie
08 · Barcelona
Sant Antoni
$$
Bodega · Family wine
Family-run wine bar from a five-generation winemaking family. Their own DO Terra Alta wines on tap. Honest, unfussy, excellent.
Order: A glass of their Garnatxa Blanca
09 · Barcelona
Eixample
$$
Hidden behind a barber shop
You walk through a working barber shop and through a hidden door. Speakeasy-style cocktail bar with Catalan touches.
Order: A Negroni Catalán
10 · Barcelona
Born
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Wine bar · Plates
Born neighbourhood spot focused on natural wine and small plates. Quietly excellent without the queues of the more famous addresses.
Order: A glass + their pa amb tomàquet
More Barcelona bars by categoryCocktail, rooftop, hidden gem, date night — the full Barcelona index.
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How to bar-hop the Catalan way
Start at a vermut bar (El Xampanyet, Bar Brutal) for the early hours. Move to a serious cocktail room (Paradiso, Dr Stravinsky) for the middle of the night. Finish at a hotel bar (Sips) or a beach-adjacent terrace if it's summer. Barcelona dinner runs late; the cocktail bars all peak after midnight.
