14 Best Bars in Barcelona, Spain

You'll find this exuberant Caribbean spot sizzling with salsa, son cubano, and merengue from the moment you step in the door. From 10 to 11 on Wednesday, enthusiastic dance instructors teach bachata for free. After that, the dancing begins and the dancers rarely stop to draw breath. This self-proclaimed "Caribbean cultural center" cranks out every variation of salsa ever invented. There are regular live concerts, and on Friday and Saturday, the mike gives way to animated Latin DJs.

This sleek megaclub, which was reborn as part of the L’Illa shopping center, boasts the best sound system in Barcelona. A smaller space puts on concerts of emerging and cult artists—the Nigerian singer-songwriter Asa, local soulsters The Pepper Pots, and Gil Scott-Heron (in one of his final performances) among them. When gigs finish around midnight, the walls roll back, and the space ingeniously turns into a sweaty nightclub.

Among the glitziest of Barcelona's waterfront clubs and restaurants, the CDLC embraces all the clichés of Ibizan over-the-top decor (in this case, Oriental-theme). The music is electronic and cocktails are exotic—and pricey.

Luz de Gas, an ornate 19th-century theater, offers everything from live performances (mostly world music and Latin) to wild late-night dancing (expect soul and standards).

After a decade in the business, Marula Café has remained steadfast in its ambitious quest to keep Barcelona grooving with funk and all its sister sounds. No electronic music will enter this slick, red-curtained venue with back-lighted glass walls: once past the bouncer, it’s just funk, disco, and Latin spiced up with Afro-funk licks. The crowd is a mix of funk-loving locals who come to dance and foreigners who’ve stumbled in from the tourist circuit off Plaça Reial. There is also a regular lineup of DJ sessions and concerts. Check out the regularly updated website. 

Just off Vía Augusta above Diagonal, this nightclub and disco (dating from 1985) is a perennial Barcelona favorite that keeps attracting a glitzy mix of Barcelona movers and shakers, models, ex-models, wannabe models, and the hoping-to-get-lucky mob that predictably follows this sort of pulchritude. Hip-hop, house, and Latin make up the standard soundtrack on the dance floor, with more mellow notes upstairs and in the coveted Altos Club Privé (or "VIP section," to the rest of us).

Once part of the music-hall scene along the Paral·lel, these days the beats come from an eclectic and varied program of international and local acts. The multilevel venue hosts a different-themed club night each day of the week, with DJs spinning everything from rock to reggaeton to dubstep.

Set across three levels and multiple rooms, Sala Apolo offers a variety of house/techno nights and intimate live music concerts. Two Sunday afternoons a month, it turns into Barcelona's hottest LGBTQ+ destination, playing host to the immensely popular Churros con Chocolate and VenTú! tea dances.

Music described as "humana" (suggesting no teeth-rattling techno) keeps Sala B filled with the mid-twenties and thirtysomething set until 5 in the morning on Friday and Saturday. Just above the Diagonal near Luz de Gas, this veteran nightspot is an offshoot of the parent club as evidenced by the shared website. Concerts and DJ music for dancing alternate at this comfortable club designed for semicivilized nightlife.

Located just below Frank Gehry’s famous Fish sculpture, this swanky Asian-inspired restaurant and lounge morphs into a late-night party paradise featuring theme nights with international DJs ready to spin into the wee hours.

A mainstay of the decadent nightlife centered on Plaça Reial, this long-running music club has never fallen out of fashion—in fact, it attracts new fans just as the old ones bow out. With a firm focus showcasing up-and-coming indie talent, the venue offers a way to discover new favorites in moody neon red surroundings.

If there's anywhere you should dress up to get past the door, it's here. If the international see-and-be-seen crowd converges around the seaside clubs below Hotel Arts, their local equivalent come to Sutton. The club is segregated into several bars and dancing areas, playing R&B, hip-hop, house, and the occasional live performance. Not as happening as in its mid-2000s heyday, it still merits a visit, if anything to enjoy the festive atmosphere. Sutton is like a Vegas club in Barcelona: it may not be classy, but it's always entertaining.