Las Ramblas, Barcelona

If you want to look at nice shops, there are much much better streets than this. We found it heaving with zombie-like tourists who probably deserved the tat that was on sale in many of the shops we passed. There is the occasional gem, it's true, but in the main, it's a place to avoid.

This is not a sleepy town, unless you happen to walk the streets at four o’clock in the morning. No, the town seems to pick up its pace somewhere around eight o’clock at night, that is when the real day just begins. Las Ramblas fills with a kaleidoscope of street performers—each one better than the last. The best I’ve seen on the continent with whimsical costumes and imaginative shticks. Although, you’ll have to wait until Saturday night to see the guy on the toilet—he’ll draw a crowd of fifty and not accept anything less than a euro to move.

Until 1860, the year in which Barcelona finally broke out from behind its city walls, the city extended no further than the hexagon of the 15th century enclosure ( the present-day Casc Antic) that lies between these streets: the Rondes de Sant Pau, de Sant Antoni, d'Universitat, and de Sant Pere, the Passeig de Lluís Companys, the Avinguda Marquès de l'Argentera, which continues as the Passeig Colom, and the Avinguda del Paral.lel. The only wide street at the heart of the city was La Rambla, an old stream whose name derives from the Arabic "ramla" meaning "sandy ground".

Until the beginning of the 18th century La Rambla consisted merely of a path beside a stream running between convents on one side and the old city walls on the other. It was in 1704 that the first houses were put up at the Boqueria on the site of the old city walls and the first trees were planted. In 1775 the old city walls by the Drassanes medieval shipyards were demolished, and toward the end of the 18th century the street began to be systematically developed: la Rambla became a kind of tree-lined avenue.

From upper end, which runs into the Plaça Catalunya, to the lower end below the monument to Columbus, this unique street in fact bears five different names, each describing a section of the street: first, there is La Rambla de Canaletes, a name used by the people of Barcelona because of the Font de les Canaletes fountain, found there since ancient times. Folk tradition has it that anyone who drinks from this fountain will subsequently keep returning to Barcelona.

The airport bus disgorges its final passengers at the Plaça Catalunya. From here you can stroll down the series of avenues known as Las Ramblas to the Columbus monument and the sea. If, that is, you do not get distracted by the bird market, the flower market, the artists or the living statues along the way. There was quite an epidemic of living statues in the city, from grey, traditional statues, to clowns, robots, mummies and a green painted pixie. There have to be better ways to earn a living than painting yourself white and standing still all day, but presumably it is quite lucrative.

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Las Ramblas is an absolute must on your trip to Barcelona. Take a leisurely stroll down this famous street and you will see street entertainers, flower stalls, pet stalls selling everything from rabbits to pidgeons and chickens, artist, cafes, restaurants.. and maybe you will be lucky enough to see a completely naked pensioner with a weight pierced through his *** strolling merrilly along. I'm still having nightmares!!!!!

The Spanish version of Champs Elysee.

Very european.

Lots of market vendors, street entertainers, shops, etc.

It is certainly good to stroll down Las Ramblas early evening.

Warning - don' t go too far south! People have tried to mug friends of mine down there, even when there is a group of them (although for some reason I was OK when i was there with just 1 friend)

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Head to Spain's most famous street for a first taste of Barcelona's atmosphere. Flanked by narrow traffic lanes, the middle of La Rambla is a broad, pedestrain boulevard, lined with cafe's and restaurants, and crowded regularly until well beyond midnight with people, locals and foreigners.

La Rambla gets its name from a seasonal stream (RAMAL in Arabic) that once ran here.

This boulevard is the main market boulevard in Barcelona. If you are not into shopping, it is also a nice place to stroll and just observe the people and diferent artists that perform here every day. Don't come here before 11 am, if you want to see all the action. Wide trees offer a nice shade during hot summer days.
This is the place to spend as much as you can in shops.