Beaches, Barcelona

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Walk south on La Rambla and you will eventually find yourself on the waterfront by the city docks. There is a seaside market with many booths selling souvenirs and food. If you walk in the direction opposite of Mountjuic (which you'll see once you're by the sea) you'll eventually get to Barcelona's beaches. On the way there, you'll most likely pass through Barceloneta, which is a residential neighborhood consisting of narrow streets and no frills buildings with laundry hanging off the windows. It has with a very homey, non-touristy feel. Walking along the beach toward the two tall glass and concrete buildings in the distance, you'll see several modern sculptures, including Frank Gehry's giant fish.

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Sitges has 17 sand beaches. Four of them are in the East: the first one called Les Botigues at the beginning of the coast, next to the beachs of Castelldefels and the other three are following the coast of Garraf (Road C-31). There are eleven urban beaches and two in the west. These last two have difficult access.

All the eastern and urban beaches have access facilities, flags indicating the state of the sea and most of them have quality diplomas and blue flags awarded by the European Union.

my wife and I just spent a three night break in Barcelona. I have to say it is a brilliant city, with such a huge choice of things to see and do.
The nicest surprise was the clean sandy stretch of beach which is not that far from the bottom end of the city centre.
Loads of restaurants and shops around the marina, and a huge long promenade to wander along. Perfect.
One great idea they have there are bikes to hire, which are parked in racks all over the city. You can just pick them up and drop them off as you want.
hope this helps.

Barcelona has a lovely beach, we walked the full length of it one afternoon, but be warned there is a nudist section at the far end........( not for the feint hearted )lol
Lots of novel places to sit and enjoy the sun sea and sand.

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After the Olympic Port I walked along the Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta watching the beach of Barceloneta(pic 1) but when I passed the park de la Barceloneta I was surprised of this old fishermen district which is full of narrow streets. Since 1753 fishermen and workers were living here. First I started to walk along with no direction getting lost in the small streets having only the aroma of the sea as a guide. The beach was full of people and at Placa de la Barceloneta I saw the church Sant Miquel del Port(pic 2). If you walk down to Torre Sant Sebastia you can take the teleferic that takes you up to Montjuic park. At Moll d’Espanya is the Aquarium of Barcelona, one of the biggest in the world with more than 11.000 creatures of the sea world. It is open 9.30-21.00 daily.

Then I headed back towards the center so I passed from the museum of history of Catalunya (pic 3)that faces Marina Port Veil. There were a dozen of people outside at the café but the museum was empty. It is opened 10.00-19.00 (closed on Mondays) and you can see the history of the area from the ancient times till the medieval period and then at the third floor the modern era. The entrance fee is 4 euros. By the way Port veil has a walkway that will lead you to the Aquarium or the IMAX cinema.

Finally, I visited the Monument of Columbus(Monument a Colom) at Placa del Portal de la Pau(Gate Of Peace) which is at the end of Las Ramblas. The monument (pic 5)(made by Gaieta Buigas in 1888) goes up to 60meters on an iron column with a stone base and obviously the statue (made by Rafael Arke) points to the sea but not towards America! At this site Columbus arrived in 1493 after his famous trip to America. He was born in Genoa but some local guides and books claim that he is from Catalonia! There is an elevator that goes to the top(daily 9.00-20.30) but I didn’t use it but I regret it because a good view of Las Ramblas as other travelers told me.

A few steps west of the monument is the Maritime Museum (daily 10.00-20:00, entrance fee 6,50euro) that is located at Drassanes Reals, a nice gothic building that used to be the Royal Shipyards. What you can see here is a collection of ships, things from ships like maps etc and some nice dioramas and paintings. The model of Santa Maria de la Victoria is my personal favorite but probably because I have read so many things about it. Don’t miss Austria’s Lepanto Galera

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Barcelona is on the Mediteranean coast and has some nice sandy beaches. One of them is the Barceloneta. It implies 'Small Barcelona' and it was a fishing village once but now forms one of the worlds most crowded beaches. When I visited the beach there must have been some 5000 people in the small stretch of the beach, but nevertheless, it is worth visiting. The metro station is Barceloneta but it is quite a walk from there, so if you are visiting alone or don't know which way to walk, just follow the crowd getting out from the metro station. I was advised to do so and i advise that too.

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We had to go to the beach while Barcelona, even if it rained on and off the entire time in Barcelona except the last day, where it was slightly Hot. lol. Just us on the beach, and i went in the water. haha

The board walk is very nice though, and we walked to the end until the pier. One of the african guys gave us free chairs! yes!

Maybe not the most picturesque beach in the world, but how lovely to be able to take a swim, a slow and lazy picnic, or just a nap in the sea-breeze after seightseeing and shopping. For lunch you can also visit one of the many great sea food restaurants serving fresh fish of the day. Just follow the smell. Mmmm…

Barceloneta Beach is the closest beach to Barcelona city centre and can get busy during summer months. I´ve heard that Icaria Beach, the next beach along from Barceloneta, is calmer. For Icaria beach go to Metro Ciutadella Vila Olimpica (Yellow Line, L4).