Barcelona Weekend Break


Barcelona restaurants and eating

The city of Barcelona is full of restaurants offering every style of catering and cuisine imaginable and for most visitors enjoying a Barcelona weekend break, dining out is one of this city's high points. Barcelona is Spain's second largest city and it caters for a cosmopolitan cliental that sees tourists from every corner of the planet.

If you want a Chinese banquet or a traditional Indian lunch, then your needs will be satisfied in the Barri Xino (Chinese district), where you will find a selection of unusual and ethnically styled restaurants and cafes.

For most international visitors though, a Barcelona weekend break is an opportunity to sample some genuine Catalan cuisine and this usually means freshly caught fish or seafood, or alternatively a selection of dishes from one of the city's superb tapas bars. You can read more about Barcelona's tapas bars by visiting our "Tapas Bars" Page (see the link in the menu at the top of the page).


Restaurant locations

It really does not matter where you are in Barcelona, you will never be more than a minute or two's walk from a restaurant of some kind and this is one of the attraction of a Barcelona weekend break - food and dining opportunities are everywhere.

The city's main restaurant zones tend to be around the newly refurbished seafront area (including Barceloneta) and the Ciutat Vella (old town) where there are many excellent fish and seafood restaurants.

Las Ramblas and the numerous streets and plazas that lead from it are home to many of the city's top eateries. You will equally find a continuance of restaurants and bars (serving food) if you leave the old town and head in the direction of Montjuic.


Restaurant prices

What you pay for a meal will depend on, the location, the restaurant and the menu, but a Barcelona weekend break will provide you with a range of cuisines, districts and ambiences.

If you choose to eat on (or close to) las Ramblas, or in one of the seafront restaurants, you will pay a premium. That said, prices are still far from excessive.

Many of the larger restaurants in the Ciutat Vella district (some cater for up to 400 people at a time) can be very affordable and provide cuisine of a high quality - but you may need to queue for this mix of economy and quality. (At peak summer times these queues can run to well over one hour.)

Equally if you want to dine on a veranda, beneath a parasol, or under the moonlight, there will be a higher price to pay, the result of a tax for using an area outside of the restaurant's building curtliage.

Exactly how much a lunch or diner will cost is impossible to predict, but you can enjoy a decent meal for about 10 euros if you hunt around and escape the busiest tourist streets – and eat your main meal at lunch time.

You can of course just as easily spend 50 to 60 euros per head on a diner, but in such cases you will be getting something that will no doubt be a memorable holiday experience in a restaurant set in a popular location.


Styles of Cuisine on offer in Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital of the Catalan region and this part of Spain has one of the strongest local identities in the country. This identity, and the regions pride in its fishing, agriculture and gastronomy, mean that most “good” restaurant will concentrate primarily on Catalan dishes and local produce.

If you visit Barcelona, this local preference should be seen as one of the city's big pluses and the region's specialities, many based around fish, offer some of the best dining in the world.

If your palette is a conservative one, then regrettably you will miss out on the opportunity to enjoy some amazing food. But there are plenty of international style restaurants in Barcelona serving the more generic French, Italian and A Mediterranean menu menus. Whatever your tastes, Barcelona will be able to provide you with a good dining experience.


Some of the restaurants in Barcelona

Below is a selection of some of the restaurants in Barcelona with a tag telling you the style of cuisine that they serve. They have been split into “Beachside”, Barri Gotic” and “Other”, based on location. (Where “Other” is within the city but away from the oceanfront and outside the Gothic quarter.)


Beachside restaurants around Barceloneta district



Restaurants in the Barri Gotic district



Other Barcelona restaurants (a small sample selection)

The restaurants above are no more than a selection of what is available and anyone taking a weekend break in Barcelona will be sure to find something to their tastes. Fish and seafood are however big favourites with most visitors and locals.


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