1027 Best Sights in Spain

Near Plaça del Diamant is a small square honoring Anne Frank, the young woman whose diary was published several years after she perished in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. As you leave Plaça del Diamant on Carrer de l'Or, a left on Torrent de l'Olla and an immediate right on Carrer de Jaén lead down some stairs and into a small space where you will see, lying over the edge of the roof of the CAT (Centre Artesá Tradicionàrius), the bronze figure of a young girl, by Catalan sculptress Sara Pons Arnal, pen and journal in hand, head cocked pensively, her foot raised idly, playfully, behind her. The inscription in the open bronze book on the wall reads "While even the names of her executioners are gone, she lives on. But may never return the long shadow and the river of blood and tears and mud and mourning that snuffed out so much beauty, the symbol of which was a young girl in bloom."

This busy circle is a good place to avoid, but you'll probably need to cross it to get to the National Art Museum of Catalonia and other nearby Montjuïc attractions. It's dominated by the so-called Venetian Towers, built as the grand entrance to the 1929 International Exposition. They flank the lower end of the Avinguda Maria Cristina (the buildings on both sides are important venues for the trade fairs that regularly descend on Barcelona).

In the roundabout’s center is the Font Monumental (Monumental Fountain), which was created by Josep Maria Jujol, the Gaudí collaborator who designed the curvy and colorful benches in Park Güell, and features sculptures by Miquel Blay, one of the master craftsmen behind the Palau de la Música Catalana. The Font Màgica (Magic Fountain), a second water feature at the base of the Palau Nacional, usually hosts a nighttime lights-and-music spectacular---however, severe drought in Catalonia has paused most performances. Across the circle from the Towers, the neo-Mudejar former-bullring, Les Arenes, is now a shopping mall and viewpoint.

Barcelona's main bus-and-metro hub is the frontier between the Old City and the post-1860 Eixample. Fountains and statuary, along with pigeons and backpackers in roughly equal numbers, make the Plaça de Catalunya an open space to scurry across on your way to somewhere quieter, shadier, and gentler on the senses. 

Ceramic murals depicting executions of heroes of the Catalan resistance to Napoleonic troops in 1809 flank this little space just outside the cloister of La Catedral de Barcelona. The first three scenes show the five resistance leaders waiting their turns to be garroted or hanged (the garrote vil, or vile garrote, was reserved for the clergymen, as hanging was considered a lower and less-humane form of execution). The fourth scene depicts the surrender of three agitators who attempted to rally a general Barcelona uprising to save the first five by ringing the cathedral bells. The three are seen here, pale and exhausted after 72 hours of hiding in the organ, surrendering after being promised amnesty by the French. All three were subsequently executed. The bronze statue of the five martyred insurgents (1929), in the center of the monument, is by the Moderniste sculptor Josep Llimona, whose prolific work in Barcelona also includes the frieze on the Arc de Triomf and the equestrian statue of Count Ramon Berenguer III (1068–1131) in the Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran, between Via Laietana and the Cathedral.

Behind the church of Santa María, this plaza has a statue of Alfonso III of Aragón, who wrested the island from the Moors in 1287.

Originally named (until 2009) for the memorable Gràcia mayor Francesc Rius i Taulet, this is the barrio's most emblematic and historic square, marked by the handsome clock tower in its center. The tower, unveiled in 1864, is just over 110 feet tall. It has water fountains around its base, royal Bourbon crests over the fountains, and an iron balustrade atop the octagonal brick shaft stretching up to the clock and belfry. The symbol of Gràcia, the clock tower was bombarded by federal troops when Gràcia attempted to secede from the Spanish state during the 1870s. The Gràcia Casa de la Vila (town hall) at the lower end of the square is another building by Gaudí's assistant Francesc Berenguer.

This pretty little square named for the makers of olles, or pots, has been known to host everything from topless sunbathers to elegant Viennese waltzers to the overflow from the popular nearby tapas bar, Cal Pep, and world-renowned cocktail lounge, Paradiso. Notice the balconies at No. 6 over Celler de la Ribera, oddly with colorful blue and yellow tile on the second and top floors. The house with the turret over the street on the right at the corner leading out to Pla del Palau (at No. 2 Plaça de les Olles) is another of Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia's retro-Moderniste works.

This little square is of enormous sentimental importance in Barcelona as the site of the opening and closing scenes of 20th-century Catalan writer Mercé Rodoreda's famous 1962 novel La Plaça del Diamant. Translated by the late American poet David Rosenthal as The Time of the Doves, it is the most widely translated and published Catalan novel of all time: a tender yet brutal story of a young woman devoured by the Spanish Civil War and, in a larger sense, by life itself. An angular and oddly disturbing steel and bronze statue in the square, by Xavier Medina-Campeny, portrays Colometa, the novel's protagonist, caught in the middle of her climactic scream. The bronze birds represent the pigeons that Colometa spent her life obsessively breeding; the male figure on the left pierced by bolts of steel is Quimet, her first love and husband, whom she met at a dance in this square and later lost in the war. Most of the people taking their ease at the cafés in the square will be unaware that some 40 feet below them is one of the largest air-raid shelters in Barcelona, hacked out by the residents of Gràcia during the bombardments of the civil war.

This landmark in medieval Barcelona was the dividing point where ecclesiastical and secular paths parted. The high road, Carrer del Carme, leads to the cathedral and the seat of the bishopric; the low road, Carrer de l'Hospital, heads down to the medieval hospital and the Boqueria market, a clear choice between body and soul. Named for a stone pillar, or pedró (large stone), marking the fork in the road, the square became a cherished landmark for Barcelona Christians after Santa Eulàlia, co-patron of Barcelona, was crucified there in the 4th century after suffering the legendary 13 ordeals designed to persuade her to renounce her faith—which, of course, she heroically refused to do. As the story goes, an overnight snowfall chastely covered her nakedness with virgin snow. The present version of Eulàlia and her cross was sculpted by Barcelona artist Frederic Marès and erected in 1951. The bell tower and vacant alcove at the base of the triangular square belong to the Capella de Sant Llàtzer church, originally built in the open fields in the mid-12th century and used as a leper hospital and place of worship after the 15th century when Sant Llàtzer (St. Lazarus) was officially named patron saint of lepers. Flanked by two ordinary apartment buildings, the Sant Llàtzer chapel has a tiny antique patio and apse visible from the short Carrer de Sant Llàtzer, which cuts behind the church between Carrer del Carme and Carrer Hospital.

A crafts market fills this elegant neoclassical space from 10 to 2 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday most of the year (usually April–December). Until 1838, this was the local headquarters of the Inquisition. A flight of steps on the east side of the Plaça Major leads down to La Rambla, a pleasant promenade lined with flower stalls.

Facing each other across this oldest epicenter of Barcelona (and often on politically opposite sides as well) are the seat of Catalonia's regional government, the Generalitat de Catalunya, in the Palau de La Generalitat, and the City Hall, the Ajuntament de Barcelona, in the Casa de la Ciutat. This square was the site of the Roman forum 2,000 years ago, though subsequent construction filled the space with buildings. The square was cleared in the 1840s, but the two imposing government buildings are actually much older: the Ajuntament dates from the 14th century, and the Generalitat was built between the 15th and mid-17th century.

To the left of city hall, down Carrer Hèrcules (named for the mythical founder of Barcelona) are this square and the site of the Església de Sant Just i Pastor, one of the city's oldest Christian churches. Although the present structure dates from 1342, and nothing remains of the original church, founded in 801 by King Louis the Pious, early Christian catacombs are reported to have been found beneath the plaça. The Gothic fountain was built in 1367 by the patrician Joan Fiveller, then the city's chief minister. (Fiveller's major claim to fame was to have discovered a spring in the Collserola hills and had the water piped straight to Barcelona.) The fountain in the square bears an image of St. Just, and the city and sovereign count-kings' coats of arms, along with a pair of falcons. The entryway and courtyard to the left of Carrer Bisbe Caçador are for the Palau Moixó, the town house of an important early Barcelona family; down Carrer Bisbe Caçador is the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres, the Catalan Academy of Arts and Letters. The church is dedicated to the boy martyrs Just and Pastor; the Latin inscription over the door translates into English as "Our pious patron is the black and beautiful Virgin, together with the sainted children Just and Pastore." 

Created for the 1929 International Exhibition, this faux Spanish village is a sort of open-air architectural museum, with 117 faithful replicas to scale of regional building styles, from an Aragonese Gothic-Mudejar bell tower to the tower walls of Ávila. The ground-floor spaces are devoted to boutiques, cafés and restaurants, workshops, and artist studios.

The liveliest time to come is at night, and a reservation at one of the half dozen restaurants gets you in for free, as does the purchase of a ticket for any of the three nightclubs or the Tablao del Carmen flamenco show. Its main square also functions as a concert venue, hosting well-known international artists like Bob Dylan and Janet Jackson.

This ultramodern fresh- and saltwater aquarium opened in 2017. It's organized by altitude: you start your visit gazing at the aquatic life of mountain lakes and rivers and finish in a room dedicated to alienlike deep-sea critters. The coral-filled pool is a highlight.

The Chapel Bridge is a perfect, mossy arch that straddles the Riu Escrita; it looks as though it might have grown directly out of the Pyrenean slate.

Ciutadella's port is accessible from steps down from Carrer de Sant Sebastià. The waterfront here has seafood restaurants; some burrow into caverns far under Plaça des Born.

Beyond the Columbus monument—behind the ornate Duana (now the Barcelona Port Authority headquarters)—is La Rambla de Mar, a boardwalk with a drawbridge designed to allow boats into and out of the inner harbor. La Rambla de Mar extends out to the Moll d'Espanya, with its ultra-touristy Maremagnum shopping center (open on Sunday, unusual for Barcelona) and the excellent Aquarium. Next to the Duana you can board a Golondrina boat for a tour of the port and the waterfront Trasmediterránea and Baleària passenger ferries leave for Italy and the Balearic Islands from the Moll de Barcelona; at the end of the quay is Barcelona's World Trade Center and the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel.

The Olympic Port is 2 km (1 mile) up the beach from Barceloneta and is marked by the mammoth shimmering goldfish sculpture by starchitect Frank Gehry, with the towering five-star Hotel Arts just behind. The area has recently undergone a similar-scale overhaul to that witnessed before the 1992 Olympic Games, timed to greet the docking of the prestigious America’s Cup regatta in August 2024. Piers and promenades have been reimagined and expanded to serve as community meeting points for locals and nautically minded visitors, with sailing facilities on offer for anyone with sea legs, while the glut of seedy bars that once lined the Moll de Mestral is now a business hub. Expect smart dining options that also satiate a hunger for sea views.

From Pla del Palau, cross to the edge of the port, where the Moll d'Espanya, the Moll de la Fusta, and the Moll de la Barceloneta meet (moll means "docks"). Just beyond the colorful Roy Lichtenstein sculpture, the modern Port Vell complex—home to the aquarium and Maremagnum shopping mall—stretches seaward to the right. The Palau de Mar, with rows of pricey, tourist-oriented quayside terrace restaurants (B-ONE or Merendero de la Mari are okay if you must), stretches down along the Moll de la Barceloneta to the left. The rather soulless Maremagnum complex is noteworthy only for being one of very few shopping options open on Sunday.

Both the fountain and the ceramic representation of Barcelona's second set of walls and the early Rambla are worth studying carefully. If you can imagine pulling out the left side of the ceramic scene and looking broadside at the amber yellow 13th-century walls that ran down this side of the Rambla, you will see a clear picture of what this spot looked like in medieval times. The sandy Rambla ran along outside the walls, while the portal looked down through the ramparts into the city. As the inscription on the fountain explains, the Porta Ferrica, or Iron Door, was named for the iron measuring stick attached to the wood and used in the 13th and 14th centuries to establish a unified standard for measuring goods. The fountain itself dates to 1680; the ceramic tiles are 20th century.

At the end of Carrer Rector Mort, this massive gate is the only surviving portion of the 14th-century city walls. They were rebuilt in 1587 to protect the city from the pirate Barbarossa (Redbeard).

A favorite with surfers and sport fisherman, this somewhat undiscovered beach is buffered from the wind by green forested hills on either side. It's a fine place for a midday picnic or romantic stroll at sunset on fine white sand. Amenities: showers. Best for: sunset; surfing; walking.

The focal point of the old town, this bustling, large plaza has a north side that's given over to the neoclassical Palacio Municipal, or city hall, built 1908–12 with three Italianate domes. The monument in the center, built in 1998, depicts the heroine Maior (María) Pita. When England's Sir Francis Drake arrived to sack A Coruña in 1589, the locals were only half-finished building the defensive Castillo de San Antón. A 13-day battle ensued. When María Pita's husband died, she took up his lance, slew the Briton who tried to plant the British flag, and revived the exhausted Coruñeses, inspiring other women to join the battle. The surrounding streets of the old town are a hive of activity, lined with tapas bars and shops.

The imposing baroque facade of the cathedral dominates this sprawling square. Look for the stone slab in the center, which indicates \"kilometer zero\" on the pilgrimage trail. It is also the setting for the spectacular fireworks display on July 24 (the eve of St. James's Day). Traffic-free and flanked on all sides by historical buildings—including the 16th-century Hostal de los Reyes Católicos—it is the quintessential place to soak up the city's rich history.

The plans just inside the gate of this 1st-century AD Roman arena show that what’s now visible is only a small corner of a vast space where 30,000 spectators once gathered to watch chariot races. As medieval Tarragona grew, the city gradually engulfed the circus. At one end stands the Praetorium tower, which is connected to the circus via an underground passageway.

This gallery, located in one of the Eixample's most beautiful little passages, doesn't go easy on its visitors. No show at Projecte SD can be grasped without the explanatory booklet; no piece of art can be fully appreciated in isolation. The pieces exhibited and sold here are complex, philosophical, challenging, and bleedingly conceptual—anything but simply decorative. Projecte SD is really more of a museum than a gallery. That makes every visit an experience and every purchase an audacious act of faith.

This museum has a large collection of clocks and sundials you may want to take the \"time\" to see.

Roman in origin, this is the city's oldest bridge. Next to it is a heavily restored castle built after the Christian capture of 1085 and, above this, a vast and severe military academy, an eyesore of Francoist architecture. From the other side of the Río Tajo, the bridge offers fine views of Toledo's historic center and the alcázar.

This footbridge just downriver from the prow of the Mercado de la Ribera was traditionally known as the Puente del Perro Chico for the 25-cent coin once charged as a toll for crossing. Until Calatrava's Zubizuri was built in 1997, this was the only pedestrian bridge of Bilbao's nine river crossings. The bridge is officially named the Puente-Pasarela Conde Mirasol for the street it leads into.

Many of Logroño's monuments, such as this stone bridge with long, swooping arches, were built as part of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.