The 6 Hippest Places To Hang Out In Barcelona

You can easily find the MACBA (Barcelona’s museum of contemporary art) by following the noise of the skateboarders who regularly gather in their dozens. Renowned as Barcelona’s skater spiritual home, the square outside the MACBA, officially known as the Plaça dels Angèls, is the place to go if you’re in the mood for kicking back in the sun and watching the cool kids getting on with their kick-flips, ollies and tail-slides. If sitting on the floor isn’t your thing, there are a couple of bars by the square that offer all the same advantages. The square very much has a rough and ready atmosphere, and you can almost guarantee you’ll be asked at least once if you’re interested in the purchase of class A drugs. But if you’re willing to get your sneakers a bit dirty, it’s a great place to get a glimpse of the city’s edgier side.

Once upon a time the Plaça George Orwell would have been a no-go area for anyone visiting the city. Constructed in the 1980s following the demolition of a block of buildings, the square soon became a popular hangout with those who enjoyed drug-fuelled all-nighters and outdoor parties. This inevitably lead to an ongoing confrontation between the square’s residents and those who came to enjoy the atmosphere at ‘plaça tripi’. The story goes that the square earned the nickname owing to the surrealist statue that was placed there and soon referred to as el tripi – this being a popular name for the hallucinogenic drug LSD. While today the square has by and large cleared up its act, there’s still something of the care-free spirit of its former self that lives on there. Grab a seat at one of the café terraces and flick through the pages of a magazine.

Located to the west of the city, Gracià has long had a reputation for having a very different vibe to the rest of the city. In fact, it used to be an entirely separate town. Today, its independent spirit is still very much alive and kicking and you can get a taste of it if you wander round the streets in the old town (Carrer Verdi is one of the best) and make your way to the ever popular Plaça del Sol. This is one of the nicest squares in Barcelona, free from traffic noice and tucked away between many charming old buildings, it has a vibrant but laid-back atmosphere where friends and lovers come to enjoy a few cañas in the sun.

This is fast becoming Barcelona’s answer to London’s Shoreditch or NYC’s Meatpacking District. The Poblenou was for a long time the industrial fringe of the city, home to many factories and work-houses. As the industrial belt moved further out of town, the neighbourhood is slowly undergoing the to-be-expected process of gentrification, with warehouse conversions and pop-up shops in disused factories an increasingly common feature of every day life. In fact, this younger, creative side to the area now has its own website and concept: the Poblenou Urban District. Book yourself on one of the open-day tours to discover the many artist workshops, design studios and quirky cafés that are giving Poblenou it’s second life.

Bars, bars and more bars in Barcelona. There’s mainly one reason people head to Joaquin Costa street, although, the area’s growing popularity has seen an accompanying surge in vintage shops, concept stores and other novelties. And while a stroll down Joaquin Costa during the day is sure to see you bump shoulders with a hipster or two, the street really comes to life when the sun goes down as it becomes one of the city’s favourite watering-holes. From the trendy 33/45 down the bottom end, to hip Betty Ford’s and the unasssuming Bar Almirall – there’s something here for everyone (everyone that’s cool enough obviously).