Final fall, I went on an exhilarating journey to Barcelona. 

If I point out this to mates, they have a tendency to deliver up the water-pistol protests. In July 2024, some Barcelona residents sprayed water at vacationers consuming on Las Ramblas, a storied pedestrian avenue. The folks deploying the pistols had been collaborating in a bigger protest towards a tourism surge that, in 2023, introduced an estimated 16 million guests to a metropolis with 1.7 million inhabitants. Earlier than I went, I examine packed streets lined with retailers promoting low-cost trinkets and bachelor-party revelers. It didn’t sound like a spot anybody would wish to go to. It additionally didn’t sound very like the Barcelona I used to know. 

I first visited town as a school pupil, once I took a summer time job in Madrid, and fell for it to such an extent that, for some time, I jumped at each likelihood I may to return. I went to Barcelona throughout my honeymoon; when my companion’s work required that he journey to Barcelona, I tagged alongside. Craving town’s structure, meals, artwork, and nightlife, I ended up visiting half a dozen occasions, however I hadn’t been again in a decade. How a lot may Barcelona have modified in these years? 

I additionally heard the federal government was taking main steps towards making town a extra livable place for residents, together with establishing superillas, or superblocks—streets open primarily to pedestrians and cyclists, with pocket parks on the intersections. (My good friend Erin Nixon, who till lately ran a wine bar within the El Born district, described the superblocks as “sport changers.”) Hoping to counteract prohibitive housing prices, town’s mayor has additionally dedicated to fully phasing out short-term leases, resembling these discovered on Airbnb, by 2029. 

Tourism provides 14 % of Barcelona’s gross home product. May there nonetheless be methods for folks to go to town responsibly that each locals and guests would welcome? If that’s the case, what would such a visit appear like?

Once I landed in Barcelona on a brisk October morning, I started listening to tales considerably complicating what I’d been studying about tourism. Crimson Savannah, a U.Ok.-based tour firm, had put me in contact with a Catalan culinary-tour group cofounded by Barcelona native Àlex Cardona. That morning, one among its guides, who requested to go by the identify Alex P., took me on a quick stroll down Las Ramblas. Inside minutes, I may simply see that the boulevard had turn into crowded and kitschy, hectic with distributors peddling souvenirs. The oldest and most well-known market on the road, La Boqueria, appeared extra like a fun-house hallucination of the vacationer’s concept of Barcelona than a dwelling, integral a part of town. 

Alex P. identified plastic cups full of lower fruit, paper-cone bouquets of jamón and chips, and juice stands—a lot of the foods and drinks bought at La Boqueria is designed for vacationers to eat whereas strolling. Selfie-takers proliferated. The place bore little relation to La Boqueria’s legendary previous as a spot the place residents did their every day procuring. Whereas it does nonetheless comprise gems—El Quim, for example, is beloved for tapas—it was a market, Cardona later advised me, the place he and his father now not felt related.

However then we took a brief stroll into the Sant Antoni neighborhood, and I felt as if I’d stepped by a magic portal into a unique metropolis. We stopped at one other market, the Mercat de Sant Antoni, its stalls housed in a chic, intricately tiled constructing. Inside was the Barcelona of my recollections, as if I’d moved not simply by area but additionally time. It was brilliant, calm, and spacious, the skylights excessive, the loudest noise the slap of recent squid on a countertop. Many of the consumers had the looks of locals going about their day’s enterprise, conversing in Spanish and Catalan. 

We walked previous charcuteries, fishmongers, retailers specializing within the prized tinned meals known as conservas, and a stall providing nothing however a powerful number of eggs. Intoxicated by the market’s sights and smells, I used to be glad to cease at Bar Pinotxo, a celebrated tapas spot that, just a few months earlier, had relocated from La Boqueria. We ordered cava and a few dishes the waiter beneficial: garbanzo beans with blood sausage; sautéed mushrooms. They had been scrumptious, with Catalan flavors I can’t fairly discover exterior the area. 

Simply as we left the market, we walked by my first superilla. Individuals had been sitting on schoolbus-yellow benches and consuming at tables underneath extensive bushes that offered ample shade. Quiet pervaded the area: it felt akin to a small, tranquil park. Alex P. stated that the superblocks had at first been controversial, with opposition coming from commuters, taxi drivers, and supply folks. However that they had turned out to be exceedingly in style—so in style, actually, that Barcelona plans to put in greater than 500 superblocks by 2030 and make main avenues largely car-free.

From the superilla, we headed to Latorre Punset. This tiny store makes a speciality of meals suited to l’hora del vermut, the Catalan custom of a pre-lunch snack and vermouth. Catalan vermut, which has been making a comeback over the previous decade, has little in widespread with the astringent drink dashed into American martinis; it’s constituted of fortified crimson or white wine gloriously seasoned with herbs and spices. Latorre Punset’s home vermut was piquant and sophisticated, my favourite of the journey. It paired properly with the store’s berberechos, beautiful little cockles that we doused in a spicy crimson sauce by native model Salsa Espinaler and ate with potato chips. 

I’d have ordered extra, however we had one other cease forward: Va de Cuina, celeb chef Jordi Vilà’s specialty-food and takeout store only a block from Mercat de Sant Antoni. As we walked there, I tipped my head upward to revel within the architectural particulars: an astonishingly heterogenous array of finials, scrollwork, turrets, spires, and balconies. Once I regarded down, I noticed an expanse of panots, the ornamental paving tiles designed by Gaudí and others. As I walked the lengthy, tony Passeig de Gràcia, I may determine Gaudí’s tiles by their serpentine curves, spirals, and shell motifs: the impact is as fanciful as something at Parc Güell. With each step, I felt as if I used to be taking in additional of town’s singular grace.

Later, I requested Àlex Cardona what he thought sustainable tourism in Barcelona would possibly appear like. He stated that almost all guests spend their time on the metropolis’s best-known sights—Las Ramblas; the Barri Gòtic, the middle of the outdated metropolis; and Antoni Gaudí’s Parc Güell and Sagrada Família basilica. Whereas Gaudí’s extravagant creations, particularly, are maybe too spectacular to overlook, there may be a lot magnificence and historical past elsewhere on this millennia-old metropolis. 

Cardona means that vacationers attempt to help native companies as they discover—not chains, however locations the place the homeowners really work. Individuals also needs to attempt to perceive the range of the tradition. As lately as final spring, polls confirmed that just about half the inhabitants of Catalonia would select to be unbiased from the remainder of Spain. Catalonia has two official languages, Catalan and Spanish; particularly exterior of Barcelona, locals could also be extra more likely to converse in Catalan. “There is no such thing as a such factor as ‘Spanish’ meals,” Cardona went on: areas resembling Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Basque nation every have their very own distinct cuisines. 

Chef Vilà grew up exterior Barcelona in El Papiol, a Catalan city surrounded by kitchen gardens, and he conceived of Va de Cuina as a spot to promote his variations of the standard soups, terrines, conservas, and desserts of his childhood. We tasted his grandmother’s recipe for paté, a hen paste so distinctive that I promptly resolved to make a full meal of his meals. 

Al Kostat, chef Vilà’s extra informal Sant Antoni restaurant, shares an area with Alkimia, which is extra formal and Michelin-starred. (Cardona advised me Al Kostat is the place he goes to have a good time his birthday together with his dad and mom.) The restaurant’s inside is placing, with luminous jellyfish decorations and a hallway adorned with what seems to be an unlimited, stylized fish skeleton. However as I started consuming, I shortly forgot the décor and was as an alternative captivated by the chef’s impressed takes on conventional Catalan dishes, in addition to innovations of his personal. I nonetheless lengthy for his delicate oysters topped with scrambled eggs, hen cannelloni, and buttery pumpkin cappuccino.

I stored going again to Sant Antoni all through my journey, however what I valued concerning the place—its relative quiet, virtually ubiquitous magnificence, and excellent retailers and eating places—isn’t distinctive to this one neighborhood. I loved simply strolling round Barcelona. In daytime town’s visible splendors stuffed my sight; come night, I beloved Barcelona’s ebullience, the liveliness of its plazas, the way in which I may stroll the streets after midnight and really feel something however alone. And fairly often, I may keep away from extreme vacationer hordes by going ever so barely off town’s best-known paths. 

I spent a part of a day gallery-hopping alongside Carrer del Consell de Cent, a serene superilla adjoining to Passeig de Gràcia. The galleries I visited had been empty apart from the folks working there. Once I wished a break, I had no hassle discovering a spot at Al Kostat. It may be more durable to get a reservation at Bar Cañete, an in-demand restaurant a block away from Las Ramblas the place I dined one other night time. However in case you’re keen to eat dinner when Catalans do—at 10 o’clock or later—it is best to be capable to get a seat. 

Bar Cañete will get its fish and seafood from Catalan fish markets, and the produce is regionally grown. I received’t simply neglect its open-faced omelette or the gazpacho, which was among the silkiest I’ve ever had the pleasure of consuming. A band was enjoying out on the street. Once they coated a recognizable music, the diners, a vivacious mixture of locals and foreigners, sang alongside. As a karaoke fanatic, I’m all the time in search of an excuse to sing with different folks; I may think about that, if I lived in Barcelona, I might turn into a Bar Cañete common. 

Positioned on a hill with sweeping views of town, the Fundació Joan Miró is rightly in style. The playfulness in Miró’s artwork appears to seize the crowds, who turn into excited and animated. However fewer folks know to go to Espai 13, the modern artwork area within the museum’s basement. Miró conceived of Espai 13 as a spot for brand new generations of artists to point out their work. I wouldn’t go to the inspiration with out additionally seeing the most recent basement exhibition. 

Even at Casa Batlló, a Gaudí-designed home the place it’s probably not attainable to keep away from crowds, there’s solely a brief wait in case you get tickets for a 9 p.m. slot, proper earlier than they shut. Casa Batlló is maybe the Gaudí creation I like most. Once I visited, I had simply revealed my second novel, Exhibit, after years of obsessive, at occasions all-consuming work. I’d routinely slept three or 4 hours an evening, the novel’s wants typically prevailing over these of my physique. On higher days, I knew it was the privilege of my life to be so preoccupied with something; on others, I had hassle recalling why I’d allowed the pursuit of artwork to outline my existence. 

However as I noticed folks laughing with enjoyment of Casa Batlló’s exuberant, fantastical rooms, eagerly calling to their mates to come back take a look at the subsequent marvel, as I marveled at what will be interpreted as a dragon lolling throughout the curving roof, I discovered myself in tears, my half-spent capability for pleasure returning. Right here was the fruit of another person’s obsessions, and this was a part of the why: artwork may deliver such rejoicing. For some time, I had virtually let myself neglect. 

I skilled delight once more whereas consuming at Aürt, a restaurant fixated on getting as a lot as attainable from the elements at hand. One ingenious dish featured a tomato that had been dehydrated, then rehydrated in concentrated tomato water—the tomato deepened by extra of itself. Chef Artur Martínez stated he adapts to the calendar of native greens. “We cook dinner what we’ve,” he stated. “We go along with what the suppliers can present.” 

I spoke with a type of suppliers, fisherwoman Cristina Caparrós, on a pier in La Barceloneta. Within the Nineteen Seventies, she advised Cardona and me, the wharf had 109 boats; 15 years in the past, it had 23 boats; now they’re down to fifteen. She’s afraid of dropping every thing inside 5 years. 

I requested what, if something, vacationers may do to be useful. To start with, go to town, Caparrós stated. Regardless of experiences of overtourism, Barcelona nonetheless wants among the enterprise.

Cardona then added, “Don’t eat salmon.” It could assist, he stated, if folks cared extra about the place merchandise got here from. Wild salmon comes from Norway. Why not eat Catalan-sourced meals whenever you’re in Catalonia? And there may be an excessive amount of demand in Barcelona for octopus, Caparrós added; to fill it, octopus is being introduced in from Morocco. 

Gergő Borbély, a diver and oenologist, echoed others’ factors about exploring past the apparent and going to regionally owned eating places, bars, and suppliers. “Some folks consider Barcelona doesn’t want vacationers,” he stated. “Some folks consider the earth is flat.” 

We had been out on a sailboat, tasting wine from a bottle encrusted with beige, curling traces: algae that lent the bottle the look of a treasure retrieved from a shipwreck. Borbély and his spouse, marine biologist Mariona Alabau, are the cofounders of ElixSea, which works with Catalan vintners to age wine on the backside of the ocean. With the elevated strain, fixed temperatures, and micro-vibrations of the seafloor, Borbély stated, wine can mature 4 to 5 occasions quicker than it does on land. The submerged cellars additionally create non permanent synthetic reefs that appeal to marine life. Cephalopods, together with octopuses, lay eggs in these synthetic reefs, and ElixSea has labored with a conservation group that helps incubate any eggs that go unhatched. 

Borbély poured generously from ElixSea-aged wines: first a cava, then white wine from the Empordà area, and eventually a crimson Priorat from Catalonia. The sail flapped. We’d gone far sufficient from shore that I may see the spires of the Sagrada Família, the hill on which the Fundació Joan Miró sits, and the palm bushes lining the seashore—this metropolis I like, shining within the final rays of daylight. 

The place to Keep

Almanac Barcelona: An appealingly understated resort in L’Eixample district, with 91 rooms and suites that evoke a wide range of design eras, from Artwork Deco to the current. The breakfast is superlative.

Cotton Home Resort, Autograph Assortment: Cotton manufacturing was an vital (and sophisticated) chapter in Catalonia’s historical past. The onetime headquarters of the Cotton Textile Basis, in L’Eixample, was transformed into this luxury resort in 2015.

Majestic Resort & Spa: Some suites at this historic resort on Passeig de Gràcia have glass-walled balconies. From the roof-deck pool, you may see virtually all of Barcelona.

The place to Eat and Drink

Al Jaima De Abou Khalil: This good-looking restaurant in L’Eixample serves glorious Lebanese meals.

Al Kostat: The menu at chef Jordi Vilà’s excellent à la carte restaurant mixes conventional Catalan dishes with innovations of his personal.

Aürt: At his Michelin-starred restaurant, Artur Martínez builds a tasting menu round elements sourced from native suppliers.

Bar Cañete: A lauded tapas place in El Raval. Issues warmth up round 10 p.m.

Bar PINOTxO: Established in 1940, this basic tapas counter lately moved to the Mercat de Sant Antoni.

Cal Pep: Open since 1989, this restaurant makes an excellent tortilla; it has a virtually molten middle of egg and is topped with aioli.

Disfrutar: This Michelin three-star carries on the modernist-cuisine legacy of El Bulli. Be ready for 28 programs served over 4 hours.

El Racó de l’Agüir: Extraordinary dishes steps from the Sant Antoni market. Strive the signature baked arroz quatretondeta, made with chorizo, ribs, chickpeas, and botifarra sausage.

La Cova Fumada: The family-run tapas bar that created the bomba, a now-classic Catalan dish composed of a deep-fried ball of potato and spicy pork or beef topped with aioli.

Mont Bar: This progressive Michelin-starred restaurant can also be refreshingly informal.

Suru: A Catalan-Japanese restaurant that will get its elements recent from the sumptuous Mercat del Ninot, simply throughout the road.

Ultramarinos MarÍn: Contemporary native seafood and meats, sizzling off the grill or from the wood-fired oven. Chef Borja García educated at Noma and the Basque vacation spot restaurant Asador Etxebarri.

The place to Store

Latorre Punset: A store with a small bar that serves incredible tinned berberechos, or cockles, an exquisite accompaniment to a glass of the home vermut. Try its sister retailer, Conservas Latorre.

Mercat del Ninot: A beloved market in L’Eixample with meals retailers in addition to stalls that promote clothes, jewellery, and books. 

Mercat de Sant Antoni: A 143-year-old meals market the place residents store for the day’s groceries. 

Va de Cuina: Unbelievable to-go meals from chef Jordi Vilà, together with soups, terrines, conservas, and desserts.

What to Do

Basílica de la Sagrada Família: Visiting this masterpiece by Antoni Gaudí is inevitably chaotic, however seeing it looks like approaching a portal to marvel. For many years it has been the most important unfinished Catholic church on the earth; whereas the inside is lastly full, work on the outside continues. Get tickets prematurely.

Casa Batlló: One in all Gaudí’s hottest buildings. If it’s after 6 p.m., you’ll obtain a glass of cava as you stroll by the home. 

ElixSea: Take a experience on a sailboat whereas tasting and studying concerning the Catalan wines ElixSea ages within the sea. 

Fundació Joan Miró: The artist Joan Miró created this constructing in collaboration with the architect Josep Lluís Sert. Make sure that to cease by Espai 13, a basement area dedicated to the work of up to date artists. 

Galeria Mayoral: Positioned on a tree-lined superilla subsequent to different worthwhile galleries, together with Galeria Joan Gaspar and three Punts Galeria.

Museu Nacional d’Artwork de Catalunya: This museum of Catalan artwork has broad views of Barcelona. 

Projecte SD: An excellent gallery based in 2003, positioned subsequent to the galleries Galeria Marc Domènech and Estrany-de la Mota Artwork Advisors. 

How you can Ebook

Clare Watkins (impressed@redsavannah.com), the Europe journey specialist at U.Ok.-based tour firm Crimson Savannah, can custom-design a Barcelona itinerary with a concentrate on accountable tourism. Different choices embody an art-focused tour, with stops in Barcelona and Madrid, and a Catalonia food-and-drink itinerary with visits to family-owned wineries and a Wagyu-beef farm.

A model of this story first appeared within the April 2025 subject of Journey + Leisure underneath the headline “A Higher Barcelona.”