Barcelona is on its way to become one of the top shopping capitals in Europe. Everything from books to jewels, haute couture (local and international), designer furniture, cava and condoms is on offer. Furthermore, Barcelona offers around 35,000 shops. In contrast to London, Berlin or Amsterdam Barcelona is not only fashionable and trendy but also offers reasonable prices. Although not quite in the same league as Paris or Milan, Barcelona is certainly among Europe's cities of style.

In Barcelona shops normally open at 10:00 am and close around 8:30 pm from Monday to Saturday. Small shops still have a "siesta" (rest) in the afternoon from about 2:00 pm until 4:30 pm. All trades are allowed to open on 11 Sundays per year. However, most of the shops on Las Ramblas are opened throughout the week, seven days long.

There are different rates of sales taxes in Spain and, of course, in Barcelona. For shops it is mostly 16 %, on selected items 4 or 7% and for restaurants and hotels the rate is 7%. There are two big sales in Barcelona: The Winter sale and the Summer sale. The first one starts during the second week of January and lasts until the end of February. In the same way, the summer sale begins in the middle of July and lasts until the end of August. Discounts of 20%-50% are offered, at the end of each sale up to 70%

To go shopping in Barcelona, even if you don't buy a thing, is a real pleasure. The shopping areas in Barcelona are easily identified, just follow the famous Shopping Line. In fact, Barcelona offers a unique service: the Tomb bus, a bus that brings you directly to all interesting shopping areas. It departs every seven minutes at Pla�a Catalunya and goes up Diagonal to Pla�a Pius XII. Pay on board (1,25 Euro per ride) and jump off at any of the 28 stops. The best places where you can go shopping in central Barcelona are Passeig de Gracia and the streets to its southwest, including the Bulevard Rosa arcade just north of Carrer d'Arago, and Barri Gotic streets such as Carrer de la Portaferrissa, Carrer de la Boqueria, Carrer del Call, Carrer de Ferran and Carrer de la Llibreteria, and around Placa de Sant Josep Oriol.

Barcelona also has many large department stores. Two of the largest are in the centre of Barcelona; they are El Corte Ingles and Fnac. Here you'll find just about anything you want under one roof.

El Corte Inglés (www.elcorteingles.es)

This posh department store has branches all over Spain (the main branch is in Madrid) and features lots of Spanish-made products, from leathers to linens. El Corte Ingles has 5 stores in Barcelona, including one in the Plaza Catalunya.

It has another important branch northwest of town on Placa de la Reina Maria Cristina and a third on Avinguda Diagonal. You can buy online in their website as well.

FNAC (www.fnac.es)

FNAC describes itself as "Europe's leading distributor of cultural leisure products". Selling books, records, DVDs, computers and software, digital cameras and so on, it is conveniently located in Plaza Catalunya, with a second branch in the Illa on the Diagonal. Online shopping is possible, but it's a little difficult to do it.

The shop is part of a huge shopping mall - l'Illa del Diagonal - considered one of the city's more interesting architectural developments since the Olympic Games.

Antiques, arts and crafts

Books

Clothes, shoes and accessories

Department stores and shopping arcades

Markets

Music stores