Barcelona, from the Gothic lanes to Gaudí's skyline

Barcelona sits between the Mediterranean and the Collserola hills, and that fact shapes everything about it. The old city runs down to the port, the nineteenth-century grid spreads out above it, and the land climbs to the hills of Montjuïc to the south and Tibidabo behind. You can spend the morning in a medieval square and the evening with your feet in the sand.

It is also the capital of Catalonia, and you will notice it at once. Street signs, menus and announcements are in Catalan first, Spanish second. A "bon dia" on the way into a shop goes a long way.

The neighbourhoods

The Gothic Quarter

The Barri Gòtic is the oldest part of the city, built on the site of the Roman town of Barcino. Its narrow streets wind around the Cathedral of Barcelona and Plaça Sant Jaume, where the city hall and the Catalan government face each other across the square. Stretches of the Roman walls still surface between later buildings. It is at its best early in the morning, before the tour groups arrive, and late in the evening, when the lanes go quiet and echo.

El Born

Across the busy Via Laietana, El Born is smaller, livelier and full of independent shops and bars. Its centrepiece is Santa Maria del Mar, a fourteenth-century church built by and for the people of the waterfront, and one of the purest examples of Catalan Gothic: tall, plain and full of light. A few streets away, on Carrer de Montcada, the Picasso Museum fills a row of medieval palaces and is strongest on the artist's early years, much of which he spent in this city.

El Raval and La Rambla

La Rambla is the tree-lined promenade that runs from Plaça de Catalunya down to the old port. Walk it once, for the sake of it, then leave it to the crowds. Halfway down, step into La Boqueria, the city's most famous market, ideally in the morning when locals are still doing their shopping. To the west lies El Raval, a dense, multicultural neighbourhood with a rougher edge, home to the bright white MACBA contemporary art museum.

The Eixample

When Barcelona tore down its medieval walls in the nineteenth century, the engineer Ildefons Cerdà laid out a vast grid of blocks with their corners cut off, so that every crossroads opens into a small square. This is the Eixample, and it became the showcase of Catalan Modernisme, the local take on Art Nouveau. The grand avenue of Passeig de Gràcia holds the most famous examples, among them Gaudí's Casa Batlló, with its bone-like balconies and scaled roof, and Casa Milà, known as La Pedrera, whose rooftop of twisted chimneys is worth the visit on its own.

Gràcia

Gràcia was a separate town until the end of the nineteenth century, and it still feels like one. Its low streets open onto small squares lined with café terraces, busy with locals in the evening. In August it hosts its Festa Major, when neighbours compete to decorate their streets.

Gaudí, without the queues

Antoni Gaudí's buildings are the reason many people come, and they are now some of the most visited sights in Europe. The rule is simple: book ahead, online, for a specific time.

The Sagrada Família, begun in 1882, is still under construction more than a century after Gaudí's death. Go for the interior above all: the columns branch like trees and the stained glass throws coloured light across the stone, warm on one side of the nave and cool on the other. A morning or late-afternoon slot gives the best light.

Park Güell, on the hill above Gràcia, was planned as a garden suburb and became a public park instead. Its most famous part, with the mosaic lizard and the long serpentine bench, needs a timed ticket. The climb is steep; the view back over the city to the sea is the reward.

Montjuïc and the viewpoints

Montjuïc, the hill over the port, was the setting for the 1929 International Exhibition and the 1992 Olympic Games. The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) holds a remarkable collection of Romanesque murals rescued from Pyrenean churches, and the Fundació Joan Miró is a calm, light-filled tribute to the artist. Below the museum, the Magic Fountain puts on light and music shows on some evenings; check the schedule before you go, as it changes with the season. A cable car runs from the hill to the castle at the top.

For the best view of the whole city, climb to the Bunkers del Carmel on the Turó de la Rovira hill, an old anti-aircraft battery from the Spanish Civil War. The site now has opening hours and closes in the early evening, earlier in winter, so check them first and aim for the late afternoon light.

The beaches

Barcelona's beaches stretch for kilometres north-east from Barceloneta, the old fishermen's quarter by the port. Barceloneta itself is the busiest; walk or cycle further along the seafront and the sand gets quieter. The beaches are for swimming and sunbathing from late spring to early autumn, and for long walks the rest of the year.

Eating the Catalan way

Barcelona eats late. Lunch is the main meal and starts around two; dinner rarely before nine. Fill the gap the local way, with a vermut before lunch on a weekend, a glass of vermouth with olives, crisps and tinned seafood. Order pa amb tomàquet, bread rubbed with ripe tomato, olive oil and salt, with almost anything. In Barceloneta, look for the bomba, a fried ball of potato and meat with a spicy sauce, and finish a meal with crema catalana. Many restaurants offer a set lunch menu on weekdays, the best value in the city.

Getting around

The centre is very walkable, and the metro covers almost everywhere else. For a stay of a few days, a multi-ride card beats single tickets. From the airport, there are trains, metro and a dedicated airport bus into the city centre.

Pickpockets are the city's best-known problem, especially on La Rambla, in the metro and on the beaches. Keep your phone out of your back pocket and your bag closed and in front of you, and you will almost certainly have no trouble.

When to go

Late spring and early autumn are the sweet spots: May and June, September and October, warm enough for the beach without the worst of the heat and the crowds. August is hot and busy, and some locals leave town. Two dates are worth planning around: Sant Jordi on 23 April, when the streets fill with stalls and people give each other books and roses, and La Mercè in late September, the city's main festival, with human towers, parades and fireworks.

Before you go

Book the Gaudí sites as soon as your dates are fixed, pack comfortable shoes for the hills, and leave one afternoon with no plan at all. Barcelona rewards the visitor who wanders off the grand avenues into a small square, orders a vermut and lets the city carry on around them.