- Address
- Carrer dels Castillejos 158
- Hours
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 9:00–20:00; auctions from 7:45 to 9:00
- Getting there
- Metro Glòries (L1)
- Time on site
- 30 min, 1 hr 30 with the auctions
Barcelona’s flea market descends from the Fira de Bellcaire, a fair born in the 14th century. After several moves, it settled at Glòries in 1928, on bare ground where stalls were put up and taken down each day.
Since 2013 it has occupied a building by Fermín Vázquez (b720 practice). A vast mirrored roof, 25 m high, reflects the aisles and the street. The builders assembled some 2,000 different parts, welded and raised on site.
What to look for
- The reflections in the roof: look up and you see the market upside down.
- The stalls beneath the roof, on several levels.
What most people miss
The morning auctions, the heart of the market: the auctioneer calls the prices and the goods come to the buyer. Encants is thought to come from the Latin incantare, to call out prices.
The guide’s view
Arrive before 9:00 for the auctions, or late in the morning to browse. Haggling is part of the game.
5 min · 300 m north-east, across the square.
- Address
- Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes 37–38
- Hours
- Galleries: Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–20:00. Building: 9:00–21:00; on Monday 15:30–21:00, galleries closed
- Price
- €6 according to the city council, €6.20 according to a check in August 2026; free on Sunday from 15:00 and on the first Sunday of the month
- Time on site
- 1 hr 30
Locals call it la Grapadora, the stapler: a long cantilevered volume shaped like a box. The building is the work of MBM, the practice of Josep Martorell, Oriol Bohigas and David Mackay, with Oriol Capdevila and Francesc Gual. It opened on 13 December 2014.
The museum holds over 70,000 objects, from the Neolithic to the present. Four permanent exhibitions: fashion, product design, graphic arts and decorative arts.
What to look for
- The cantilever above the entrance, seen from the square.
- The Glòries tower just behind: the two buildings answer each other.
The guide’s view
If time is short, choose product design: it tells the story of the Catalan industry for which this district was the workshop.
3 min · 200 m north-east, to the foot of the tower.
- Address
- Avinguda Diagonal 209
- Viewpoint
- 10:00–18:30 in winter, closed Tuesday; tickets online at miradortorreglories.com
- Time on site
- 10 min, 1 hr with the viewpoint
A 144 m tower designed by Jean Nouvel for the Agbar water company, whose name it long bore. Its coloured glass façade changes hue with the light.
Merlin Properties bought it in 2017 and launched the viewpoint project, opened in 2022. The platform, at 125 m, offers a 360° view over the city and the sea.
What to look for
- The gradient of colours on the façade, from red to blue.
- The tower reflected in the roof of the Encants, which you have just left.
The guide’s view
Come back after dark if you can: the façade lights up.
9 min · 550 m east along the Diagonal, then right into Carrer de Roc Boronat.
- Address
- Carrer de Roc Boronat 116–126
- Hours
- Tuesday–Saturday 11:00–18:00; Sunday 11:00–14:00; closed Monday, public holidays and in August
- Price
- €8; reduced €4
- Time on site
- 1 hr
A textile-finishing factory from the first half of the 19th century, restored by Jordi Badia (BAAS practice), winner of the City of Barcelona architecture prize. The architect kept two old buildings and linked them with a concrete volume.
The garden keeps the site’s original change in level, 1.5 m. The Fundació Vila Casas shows its collection of contemporary Catalan painting here.
What to look for
- The junction between old brick and new concrete.
- The neighbouring chimney, standing alone among the Pompeu Fabra University buildings.
The guide’s view
Even without going in, walk round through the garden: it is one of the most successful conversions in 22@.
15 min · 900 m north-east along Carrer de Pere IV, the backbone of industrial Poblenou.
- Address
- Carrer del Marroc 53–59, on the corner of Carrer d’Espronceda
- Practical
- Visible from the street; Hangar, a centre for artistic production, occupies part of the halls
- Time on site
- 10 min
One of the first mechanised cotton-printing factories in Catalonia, built from 1853 to 1860 by Josep Oriol i Bernadet. Josep Fontserè enlarged it until 1877 and added the clock tower.
Its T-shaped plan and neoclassical design set it apart from the district’s Manchester-style brick mills. Textile production continued here throughout the 20th century.
Threatened with demolition, it was saved by a long campaign by residents. It is the only complex in Poblenou listed at the highest level of protection.
What to look for
- The clock tower, above the rooftops.
- The chimney and the low halls on the Carrer del Marroc side.
What most people miss
The contrast with the office and housing towers that encircle it: the whole story of 22@, and its dilemma, in a single view.
4 min · 250 m east, to the park entrance on Carrer d’Espronceda.
- Address
- Avinguda Diagonal 130; entrances on Carrer de Bilbao, Carrer del Marroc and Carrer d’Espronceda
- Hours
- 8:30–19:00 until 31 March; 8:30–21:00 from April to October
- MUHBA Oliva Artés
- Carrer d’Espronceda 142–146; Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00–15:00 and 16:00–18:00 from October to May
- Time on site
- 20 min, 1 hr with Oliva Artés
Jean Nouvel also designed this 5.5-hectare park, opened in spring 2008 on former factory land. He combined bougainvillea, a spiral crater, arches of giant ferns and metal structures covered in climbing plants.
South of the park, the Oliva Artés engineering works of 1923 house a site of the Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA). The park also keeps the chimney of the Buigas i Samsó factory, from 1889.
What to look for
- The round gateways in the perimeter wall, beneath the greenery.
- The Cràter-pou del Món, a spiral path descending into the heart of a crater.
- The 1889 chimney among the trees.
The guide’s view
Go through the south of the park on a Wednesday or at the weekend: Oliva Artés is open then, and entry is free in summer.
7 min · 400 m south along Carrer d’Espronceda, then Carrer de Pere IV.
- Address
- Carrer de Pere IV 228–232
- Practical
- A working theatre: the foyer and bar open on performance days
- Time on site
- 10 min
In working-class Poblenou, the cooperatives served as social centres: meeting room, small theatre, function hall. This one, Pau i Justícia, was derelict when the Sala Beckett theatre chose it as its new home.
The architects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats restored it, keeping what remained: cement tiles, joinery with coloured glass, cornices. The theatre moved in in July 2016.
What to look for
- The sign and red awnings on the corner façade.
- The windows of the former cooperative, kept in the façade.
The guide’s view
To see the interior, book a seat: the programme is on salabeckett.cat.
12 min · 700 m south-east along Carrer de Pere IV, then Carrer del Joncar.
- Address
- Carrer del Joncar 27–45
- Practical
- Public library, cultural centre and centre for older people
- Time on site
- 10 min
A textile factory from the last third of the 19th century, converted in 2006 by Tomàs Moratò and Moisès Gallego. It now houses a library, a cultural centre and a centre for older people.
Two chimneys were kept, one in front of the building, the other in the inner courtyard.
What to look for
- The brick façade with four levels of regular windows.
- The lone chimney in front of the entrance.
The guide’s view
The library is public: go in to see the factory’s volumes, then leave by Plaça de Rosa Peraulet.
5 min · 300 m. Reach the Rambla along Carrer del Joncar and walk down towards the sea.
- Address
- Rambla del Poblenou 42, on the corner of Carrer de Ramon Turró
- Time on site
- 20 min, longer on a terrace
In 1853 the Cerdà plan laid out this axis at the centre of Sant Martí, the municipality that then covered industrial Poblenou. It was first called Passeig del Triomf; to residents it has always been the Rambla, and the name became official in 1986.
The Casino de l’Aliança has been the district’s cultural and social hub since the late 19th century. It occupies this 1929 building designed by Amadeu Llopart. The association is still active, with its theatre and restaurant.
On the corner of Carrer del Joncar, the El Tío Che orxateria has served orxata since 1912. The family tells two versions of its beginnings: from València or from La Nucía. The ending is the same: a missed departure for America and a first counter near the port.
What to look for
- The Casino’s façade, its balconies and its sign.
- The Modernista buildings above the old shops.
- The central walkway, narrower than that of the Rambla in the centre, and its busy benches.
A rambla that is changing
In 2025 the traders of the Eix Poblenou association were alarmed by the spread of chains with no link to the district. A municipal rule already bans new restaurants from opening here.
The guide’s view
An orxata at the Tío Che, with a fartó for dipping: the walk’s break.
6 min · 350 m east along Carrer de Ramon Turró, then Carrer de Topete.
- Address
- Plaça de Prim
- Time on site
- 10 min
Poblenou before the factories. The low white 19th-century houses belonged to fishermen, when the district was still a village by the water.
Three ombú trees, South American trees with huge, twisted trunks, fill almost the whole square. There is only one terrace, that of Els Pescadors.
What to look for
- The roots of the ombús, lifting the ground.
- The white one- and two-storey façades on all four sides.
The guide’s view
Come late on a weekday morning: the square is almost empty, and it is the only way to catch its silence.
10 min · 600 m south-west along Carrer de Taulat to Avinguda d’Icària.
- Address
- Avinguda d’Icària, main entrance; Carrer de Taulat
- Hours
- Daily 8:00–18:00
- Time on site
- 45 min
Barcelona’s first cemetery outside the walls, opened in 1775 and destroyed in 1813 by Napoleonic troops. The Italian architect Antoni Ginesi rebuilt it; it was consecrated again on 15 April 1819.
Ginesi designed the stacked rows of burial niches at the entrance. The cemetery covers 52,700 m² and holds over 34,000 graves. Here lie the novelist Narcís Oller, the musician Josep Anselm Clavé and the politician Valentí Almirall.
The best-known monument is El petó de la mort, the kiss of death (1930), on the tomb of Josep Llaudet Soler. A winged skeleton kisses a young man. It is signed by Jaume Barba; some attribute the idea to Joan Fontbernat.
What to look for
- El petó de la mort: find it on the cemetery plan before going in, as the reception desk is closed at weekends.
- The tomb of the Santet, a young man who died at 22, to whom popular devotion attributes miracles.
- The streets of niches, with their marble and cast-iron plaques.
The guide’s view
A working place of mourning: be discreet, and do not photograph funerals. The cemetery closes at 18:00.
9 min · 500 m south-east along Avinguda d’Icària and Carrer de Bogatell, to the sea.
- Address
- Passeig Marítim del Bogatell
- Getting there
- Return by metro from Llacuna (L4), a 10 min walk
- Time on site
- At your own pace
The 1992 Olympic Games opened the city to the sea. The railway lines and warehouses that sealed off the seafront gave way to beaches. Bogatell is one of them.
It is the beach of Poblenou’s residents, five minutes from the Rambla. The walk, which began at the Encants, ends here.
What to look for
- To the south-west, the Port Olímpic and La Barceloneta.
- Behind you, in the distance, the Glòries tower, where you set out.
The guide’s view
Out of season the promenade is almost empty on weekdays: walk east to Mar Bella if you have another 20 min.
