Let’s start with a rather unusual recommendation. In Plaça de Catalunya (Plaça de Catalunya,14) there’s a huge El Corte Inglés department store, take the escalator to the 9th floor where there’s a well stocked café/restaurant and marvel at the incredible view up Passeig de Gracia and over the rooftops of Modernist Barcelona. It’s a excellent place to take a break and to work out your bearings in this rather spread out city. And now for some more conventional attractions:

La Rambla

It’s more than likely that you’ll be staying near the Ramblas on your stay in Barcelona. It will be central to your daily activity and nights out. It is a long boulevard which joins the Monument a Colom (Columbus monument) by the port to Placa de Catalunya. All day long you’ll find all kinds of buskers and mime artists in action as well as stalls selling flowers, newspapers, birds and rabbits. Look out for Palau de la Virreina, a grand 18th-century mansion, which is next to the Boqueria market.

The Boqueria market (Mercat de la Boqueria) is one of Europe’s fantastic food markets, and is well worth well worth a visit. It’s a excellent spot to visit at breakfast time for brilliant Spanish tortilla at one of the internal bars near the back. Further south is Barcelona’s Opera house (Gran Teatre del Liceu) after which the Ramblas starts to get seedy as you approach the sea with peep shows and the like. La Rambla ends at the Columbus Monument which you can go up in a lift for spectacular views up the Ramblas and across the harbour.

Port Vell

At the bottom of La Rambla beyond the Columbus Monument is the bustling of Port Vell. This was formerly the ancient port of Barcelona but today is an ultra modern leisure zone with bars, restaurants, shopping arcades, the Barcelona Aquarium and an Imax cinema. Another fun thing to do down here is to take a boat excursion on one of the ‘golondrinas’ which takes you around the harbour and along to Port Olímpic where the sailing events at the 1992 Olympic Games took place.

La Barceloneta & Port Olímpic

If you’re pleased strolling around just continue north along the seafront from Port Vell until you reach Barceloneta. Traditionally this was the living area of the port’s fishermen and is still a heavily populated area of narrow streets criss crossing one another with washing hung out to dry from the upstairs windows of run down looking apartments. In spite of its earthy appearance it has become a well loved place to visit attracting many locals and tourists to its fine selection of fish restaurants lining Passeig de Joan Borbò. Where the sea meets la Barceloneta you’ll find Barcelona’s best sandy beaches which were made as part of the city’s pre-Olympics regeneration programme. They are very well loved at weekends being only a stone’s throw from the city. The Passeig Marítim is a walkway overlooking the beaches which connects La Barceloneta with Port Olímpic which is now a marina with many bars and restaurants. The area is overlooked by the five star Hotel Arts which has become Barcelona’s residence of choice for celebrities visiting the city. There’s an fascinating transport option called the ‘Transbordador Aeri’ which is a cable car linking La Barceloneta with Montjuïc.