Hidden Gems and Secret Tips for Barcelona (by our Readers)

Recommended Restaurants Barcelona

Read: our favorite restaurants in Barcelona

Restaurant and Café Oviso

Sylvia Claire: Check out Oviso at George Orwell Square! It’s a wonderful restaurant/ cafe at day and fun bar at night. Awesome friendly staff, tasteful music, cool wall art, and student-friendly prices

Address: Carrer Arai 5, 08002 Barcelona

La Luna Restaurant in El Born

Ariana: La Luna Restaurant is one of my favorite restaurants when friends are visiting me in Barcelona.

It’s located in a hidden street, not many tourists and non-locals will find it, the menu covers everything from the Spanish cuisine to Mexican food, and even burgers. This way everybody will be happy. The staff is always friendly, when I was there, and you can also come here to watch football matches.

Recommended Cafés and Bars in Barcelona

How about having a drink somewhere in Barcelona?

The coffee is delicious from Cortado over to Café con leche, and later the day even a Carajillo? When the sun goes down, the nightlife of Barcelona is a piece of experience you do not want to miss. However, usually Barcelonins eat at around 22:00/ 23:00, and from midnight on you can expect people running to the bars.

Here are recommendations for bars and cafés in Barcelona, sent to us by our followers.

Read: best coffee shops in Barcelona Spain

Bohemain Cafe Granja Petitbo with vintage vibes

Jerry: Granja Petitbo is my place to be.

This bohemian café at the corner of Passeig de San Joan and Carrer de Arago is a great place to get a good coffee and to get some writing work done. Many digital nomads and writers come here to do so, and they sit together at the big, long, old table. There are old sofas, tweedy chairs and furniture in general, and the best: no wifi. Ironically this may be the reason why you can meet here that many digital nomads. Last but not least I’ve to mention as well the delicious food here. The ingredients are seasonal, you can come here for lunch & brunch, and especially the office workers around Granja Petitbo love to come her for their break.

Address: Passeig de Sant Joan, 82, 08009 Barcelona

Bar Manchester in Raval and Goticó

Daniel: I like to check out the two Bars of Manchester, one is located in Raval, and the other, more famous one, is located in Goticó. The ambient is international, you get cheap drinks, and once in a while they also have concerts here. It’s worth it to come here for a drink, after midnight it’s usually getting packed.

Mirablau Café and Bar

Claas Boomgaarden: One of my favorite spots is definitely the bar “Mirablau”. It’s on the way up the Tibidabo. Here you can enjoy a nice cold beer or wine and get away from the big-city jungle and relax with a wonderful view over Barcelona.

Address: Plaça Doctor Andreu, 08035 Barcelona

Activities in Barcelona

As you can imagine, Barcelona is a place loaded with activities.

It can be actually overwhelming as Barcelona has no end in daily offers for activities, and experiences. Our followers sent us some great tips on what you can do in Barcelona to experience the Catalan Capital from the locals perspective.

Bunker de Carmel

Luke Meredith: The bunker is a great place to go and is still very unknown, offering beautiful 360degree views of the city and mountains. It’s not to be missed for sure!

Address: Carrer del Turó de la Rovira 61I, 08032 Barcelona

Rent a Scooter & drive to Sitges

Alisa Wispeler: It’s not really a hot spot but I would suggest renting a scooter in Barcelona (appr. 30euros/ day), and do a tour to Sitges. It’s a great drive through the hills and along the coast – it is a very curvy road so some experience in driving a scooter is recommended. You have a beautiful view and it takes only around an hour to get there. Sitges is a really lovely town with a nice beach, restaurants and bars.

Read: How to rent a scooter in Barcelona

Magic Fountains at Placa Espanya

Kim: The magic fountains at placa espanya are very impressive. It’s a water-show with music, and colors. Simply beautiful. It’s always crowded, and the metro is packed when you drive back to the city center. I would recommend you to visit the neighborhood of Poble Sec instead, which is left-hand of the Magic Fountain. Here you find many bars, and restaurants as well for a good price.

Accommodation – Where to Stay in Barcelona

Especially for Barcelona it can be tough to decide in which area you would like to sleep. Therefore we want to give you a little insight view on which neighborhood is recommended to stay at, and which districts are more for the tourist inside the box!

Read: the best guide on where to stay in Barcelona as first-time visitor

Apartment in Barcelona

Florian Mainz: Another great Airbnb place to stay is this beautiful roof-top terrace Airbnb in the Old Town.

Close to Plaza Catalunya, with young and fun hosts. Ana, the host, will give you valuable information about the city and how to make the most out of your stay. In addition, you don’t feel like in some hotel, but rather meet friends of the hosts coming over for drinks. It’s like you’ve been living there already for ages! I stayed there two weeks ago myself and enjoyed it a lot!

Want to share your own secret tips for Barcelona?

We would love to hear from you! Simply leave us a comment below!

We hope that we could give you some inspiration for your next trip to Barcelona. If you have any question regarding the city, we are very happy to help you out! Check out the blog tomorrow to see what the next city has in store for you.

Until then, enjoy your Sunday and keep on traveling.

Find all our tips and guides in our big guide to Barcelona itinerary.