- Address
- Passeig de Gràcia, between the Diagonal and Carrer Gran de Gràcia
- Getting there
- Metro Diagonal (L3, L5), Passeig de Gràcia exit
- Time on site
- 10 min
Passeig de Gràcia ends here, and with it the Eixample. These two narrow gardens were designed by Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí for the 1929 Exposition. They form the threshold between Cerdà’s grid and the old town of Gràcia.
They bear the name of Salvador Espriu, who lived for forty years close by, at no. 118 and then no. 132 of the Passeig. In 2014 Frederic Amat dedicated Solc, the furrow, to him: a tall blade standing in the walkway.
What to look for
- L’Empordà by Ernest Maragall (1961): two seated women in white marble, a tribute to the poet Joan Maragall, the sculptor’s father.
- Solc by Frederic Amat, for Espriu.
- To the north, Casa Fuster, whose white marble closes the vista.
The guide’s view
Start at the Diagonal end and walk up the path: Casa Fuster grows with every step, which is how it was conceived.
3 min · 150 m north, to the corner of Carrer Gran de Gràcia.
- Address
- Passeig de Gràcia 132
- Practical
- A hotel: the façade can be seen from the street; the interior is reserved for guests.
- Time on site
- 10 min
Mariano Fuster, a Majorcan gentleman, had this house built in the name of his wife, Consuelo Fabra, daughter of the Marquis of Alella. Lluís Domènech i Montaner designed it with his son Pere; work began in 1908 and the family moved in in 1911.
It was then the most expensive house in the city, and the first façade in Barcelona in white marble. It mixes the columns and turrets of Modernisme with neo-Gothic pointed arches.
In the early 1960s, the electricity company ENHER bought it to demolish it and build a tower. A campaign, joined by the architect Oriol Bohigas, saved it; the hotel opened here in 2004.
What to look for
- The ground-floor columns, which carry the façade like a loggia.
- The corner turret, aligned with the axis of the Passeig.
- The contrast with the low buildings of Carrer Gran just behind: the border between two towns.
The guide’s view
For the whole, step back onto the central reservation of the Passeig. For the details, walk along the foot of the façade on the Carrer Gran side.
2 min · 100 m. Turn into Carrer Gran de Gràcia as far as no. 15.
- Address
- Carrer Gran de Gràcia 15
- Time on site
- 5 min
Carrer Gran was the road from Barcelona to Sant Cugat; Gràcia grew up on either side of it. This house of 1902–1904 is the work of Francesc Berenguer, Gaudí’s right-hand man.
Berenguer had no architect’s diploma: a colleague, Joan Baptista Feu, signed the design in his place. The same would apply to almost everything he built in Gràcia.
What to look for
- The cast-iron and stained-glass galleries of the balconies.
- The sgraffito work on the façade.
- The ground floor: the La Colmena patisserie traded here from 1907 to 2016.
What most people miss
A few steps further down, where Carrer Gran meets the Jardinets (the Pla de Salmerón), Gràcia raised its barricades in March 1870. Government troops took the town; around 27 people died.
8 min · 450 m north-west, along Carrer Gran then the small streets on the left, to the market square.
- Address
- Plaça de la Llibertat 27
- Opening hours
- Mon–Fri 8:00–20:30; Sat 8:00–15:00; closed Sunday
- Time on site
- 20 to 30 min
The market opened in 1888, designed by Miquel Pascual i Tintorer, Gràcia’s municipal architect from 1880 to 1897. It is an iron hall, set in the middle of its square.
It has been renovated while keeping the original structure. People come for the stalls, not for a setting: this is the residents’ market, without the crowds of the Boqueria.
What to look for
- The iron roof structure and the lanterns that light the aisles.
- The stalls of seasonal produce: mushrooms in autumn, calçots in winter.
The guide’s view
Come in the morning, before 11:00, when the stalls are full. On Saturdays, the market closes at 15:00.
8 min · 450 m east, crossing Carrer Gran de Gràcia.
- Address
- Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia
- Time on site
- 15 min
The civic heart of the old town. In the middle stands the municipal bell tower by Antoni Rovira i Trias, built from 1862 to 1864. An octagonal tower 33 m high, a four-faced clock, a fountain at its base. No church: this is a secular bell, the town’s own.
In March 1870, Gràcia rose up against the quintes, conscription by lot that spared those who could pay. The bell, the Marieta, rang without stopping during the siege; the army bombarded the town.
The bell became a symbol, and gave its name to the satirical Republican weekly La Campana de Gràcia. In 1929 there were plans to melt it down for the Exposition; the residents won the case for keeping it.
What to look for
- The district building, the former town hall of 1904 designed by Francesc Berenguer: a sky-blue façade, Gràcia’s coat of arms in wrought iron.
- The ironwork of the windows and balconies on the same façade.
Four names for one square
Plaça d’Orient, de la Constitució, de Rius i Taulet, and finally de la Vila de Gràcia: each regime renamed it. Many residents still say “Rius i Taulet”.
The guide’s view
Sit on the town hall side and look up at the clock face. The square has the scale of a village: it is the best place to sense what Gràcia was before 1897.
3 min · 200 m north-west.
- Address
- Plaça del Sol
- Time on site
- 10 min, longer on a terrace
The largest and liveliest square in the district, lined with café terraces. In the evening it is Gràcia’s living room, sometimes too noisy for its residents’ liking.
In the late Franco years, the marquee of the local festival set up here hosted the singers of the Nova Cançó. Raimon, Quico Pi de la Serra, Lluís Llach: singing in Catalan was already a statement.
What to look for
- L’Astrolabi, a sculpture by Joaquim Camps.
- The low façades, two or three storeys high, of a town built plot by plot.
The guide’s view
In the evening, keep your voice down as you leave the square: the surrounding streets are residential, and the conflict between terraces and neighbours is sharp.
3 min · 200 m north-east.
- Address
- Plaça de la Revolució de Setembre de 1868
- Time on site
- 10 min
A long, narrow, tree-lined square named after the revolution of September 1868. La Gloriosa drove out Isabella II and opened six years of freedoms, including the First Republic, until the Restoration of 1874. The name speaks of the town’s Republican loyalties.
About a hundred metres away, on Travessera de Gràcia, the new Mercat de l’Abaceria is due to open in mid-November 2026. Its rebuilding took three years and its budget rose to €38 million.
What to look for
- The coloured ceramic roof of the new market, visible from the Travessera.
What most people miss
The Abaceria’s temporary tent, at the top of Passeig de Sant Joan, served as the market from 2018 to 2026. It will be demolished after the move.
12 min · 700 m north, through the narrow streets of the district. This is the longest leg of the route.
- Address
- Plaça de Rovira i Trias
- Time on site
- 10 min
Antoni Rovira i Trias, the architect of the bell tower, sits life-size on a bronze bench. At his feet lies his plan for the Eixample: he had won the 1859 municipal competition, but Madrid imposed Cerdà’s scheme.
He designed the streets and squares of Gràcia, and several of Barcelona’s great markets: the Born, the Concepció, Sant Antoni, the Barceloneta. The square is also called the Square of the Three Lords, the landowners who commissioned his layout.
What to look for
- The plan engraved in the ground: compare its radiating grid with Cerdà’s, which you have just left.
- The low houses all around, from the same development.
August 2026
The square won the decorated streets competition at the Gràcia festival with Batiscafo Rovirukas. It is a seabed in tribute to the band Antònia Font. More than 9,000 strips hung above the square.
The guide’s view
Sit down beside him. It is the photo everyone takes, and the only way to read the plan the right way up.
7 min · 400 m south-west.
- Address
- Plaça de la Virreina
- Time on site
- 10 min
Laid out in 1878 by the architect Josep Artigas, where four streets meet. The church of Sant Joan, of 1884, closes one side; residents still say “Plaça de Sant Joan”.
Cars pass on one side only, and the square has kept its village air, with its low workers’ houses. Close by, the Verdi Park cinema, on Carrer de Torrijos, shows films in their original language.
What to look for
- The plain façade of Sant Joan and, inside, the Modernista chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
- Ruth, a sculpture by Josep Maria Camps, at one end of the square.
The guide’s view
Carrer de Verdi, one street to the west, is lined with cinemas, bookshops and bars: it is the street to walk up in the evening after the film.
3 min · 200 m west.
- Address
- Plaça del Diamant
- Shelter
- Sunday 11:00, €3, booking with the Taller d’Història de Gràcia
- Time on site
- 10 min, 1 hr with the shelter
A small, square-shaped plaça that has become one of the most famous in Catalan literature. In 1962, Mercè Rodoreda published La plaça del Diamant. The novel opens at a local dance, here, where Natàlia meets Quimet, who renames her Colometa.
The story runs through the Republic, the war and the post-war years as seen by a woman of Gràcia. The book has been translated into some forty languages; in English it is known as In Diamond Square.
Beneath your feet lies an air-raid shelter dug during the Civil War, when Italian aircraft were bombing the city. The Taller d’Història de Gràcia runs tours of it on Sunday mornings.
What to look for
- Xavier Medina-Campeny’s Colometa: a bronze woman bursting from a steel plate, the scream at the end of the novel.
- The entrances to the shelter, at street level.
- The neighbouring streets, Topazi, Perla, l’Or, bear the names of precious stones, like the square. According to the daily Ara, they come from a local dealer in precious stones.
The guide’s view
Read the first pages of the novel before you come, or on the spot: the square has barely changed in scale.
9 min · 550 m west: cross Carrer Gran de Gràcia, then take Carrer de les Carolines.
- Address
- Carrer de les Carolines 18–24
- Opening hours
- Daily 9:30–18:00 until 31 March; 9:30–20:00 from April to October
- Price
- €22 at the ticket office, more online; free up to age 11
- Time on site
- 1 hr–1 hr 30
Gaudí’s first house, begun in 1883, when he was 31. It was a summer residence for the stockbroker Manuel Vicens, amid the gardens of what was still the Gràcia countryside.
Brick, ceramic tiles patterned with French marigolds, Moorish turrets: all of Gaudí is there in embryo, without a single curve yet. Private until its purchase in 2014, it opened to the public only in 2017.
What to look for
- The railing of dwarf palm leaves, on the street side.
- The orange French marigold tiles, first from afar, then up close.
The guide’s view
The visit deserves its own page: see Casa Vicens, Gaudí’s first house for the route inside and tickets. In past years, on 16 November, its anniversary, the house has sold reduced-price tickets.
In this guide : Casa Vicens, Gaudí’s first house →
9 min · 500 m. Go back to Carrer Gran de Gràcia and walk up it north to Plaça de Lesseps.
- Address
- Plaça de Lesseps
- Getting there
- Metro Lesseps (L3)
- Time on site
- 10 min
It all began here. In 1626, the Discalced Carmelites settled in a friary dedicated to Santa Maria de Gràcia, known as the Josepets. The town takes its name from it. The church is the work of Josep de la Concepció.
The friary was fortified until 1714. In 1872, Barcelona’s first tram line, starting from the Pla de la Boqueria, stopped at its door.
The ring-road works of the 1970s cut the square into pieces. The church now stands at the edge of an interchange, opposite the Jaume Fuster library, opened in 2006.
What to look for
- The church façade, at the edge of the traffic.
- The Jaume Fuster library, on the other side of the square.
The guide’s view
Finish at the library, public and free, to sit down in peace. Lesseps metro is on the square.
