Gràcia

Gràcia is the most satisfying of Barcelona's peripheral districts, and given its concentration of bars, clubs and restaurants, the one you're most likely to visit. This district contains the neighborhoods of Vallcarca, Penitents, El Coll, La Salut and Camp d'en Grassot. Beginning at the top of the Passeig de Gràcia, and bordered roughly by c/Balmes to the west and the streets above the Sagrada Família to the east, it has been a fully fledged suburb of the city since the nineteenth century. Gràcia is close enough to walk to if you wish - around a thirty-minute hike from Plaça de Catalunya.

Tibidabo

Tibidabo is a hill overlooking Barcelona. In Tibidabo there is an amusement park, a TV mast (Torre de Collserola), and a Catholic church, Sagrat Cor at the top. You can reach Tibidabo by a funicular railway, by bus, and by car. If the views from the Castell de Montjuïc are good, those from the 550-metre heights of Mount Tibidabo - which forms the northwestern boundary of the city - are legendary.

At the summit of the Tibidabo mountain you'll see a modern church topped with a huge statue of Christ, and, next to it, the wonderful Parc d'Atraccions, where the amusements are scattered around several levels of the mountaintop, connected by landscaped paths and gardens. You can also visit the Museu d'Autòmates del Tibidabo to view a collection of coin-operated fairground machines still in working order.

Pedralbes

Northwest of the city, is the Gothic monastery in PEDRALBES , a well-to-do, residential neighbourhood of wide avenues and fancy apartment buildings. At the eastern edge of El Diagonal, Pedralbes is where wealthy Barcelonans live in either stylish blocks of apartment houses, 19th-century villas behind ornamental fences, or stunning modernista structures. There are many places to visit in Pedralbes, like the Camp Nou stadium, an early Gaudí creation and the ceramics museum housed in the Palau Reial.

Horta

To the north of Parc Güell spreads HORTA, a nineteenth-century neighbourhood in the throes of development but with some quiet spots to seek out. Here you can visit the nearby Parc de la Creueta del Coll a nou urbanisme development by Olympic architects Martorell and Mackay which has been laid out on the site of an old quarry. Horta's Vall d'Hebron area is the site of another of the city's Olympic developments, based around the Velòdrom d'Horta (Barcelona's cycle stadium). Just a few steps from here, a former country estate incorporates a late eighteenth-century topiary maze, El Laberint d'Horta which makes a quiet haven on a hot day.

Around Barcelona

Ciutadella and Barceloneta

Eixample

Montjuïc

Ramblas and the Old Town

Suburbs

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