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Eating and Going out in Barcelona
Barcelona is known for its vibrant and exciting going out activity!
Spaniards lives “out” as much as possible and go home only to rest if necessary; from the long summer chats in chiringuitos and terraces under the sun, the after-work beer in a bar with friends, dinning in a nice restaurant with the couple, clubbing with colleagues, the big family lunch or the chill out coffee of Sunday afternoon.
It’s clear that Spanish love good food, drinking and enjoying the pleasures of live!
Let us introduce you into the Barcelonan living style!
First of all you need to learn the basic phrases you might need:
Hola Hello
¡Buenos días! Good Morning!
¡Buenas tardes! Good Evening!
!Buenas Noches! Good Night!
Adiós Bye
Por favor Please
Gracias Thank you!
Sí Yes
No No
La carta, por favor. The menu, please.
Quisiera… I would like to have…
La cuenta, por favor! Can we have the bill?
¿Tiene….? Do you have….?
In Barcelona there are all kind of different places to have fun or relax after a nice dinner: cafés, designer bars, smoky pubs, jazz saloons, cocktail bars, ultramodern discos and many more.
Cafes
There are also the wonderful Granjas and Xocolaterias which are specialized in different kind of chocolate drinks and pastries as the famous churros and where you’ll find also café and other sweet delights.
Un Café / Café solo Espresso
Un cortado Coffee with a dash of milk
Café con Leche White coffee
Carajillo Espresso with liquor (either cognac, whisky or bailys)
Café Americano Filter coffee
Café Descafeinado Decaffeinated coffee
De Máquina From machine
De Sobre Instant Coffee
Té Tea
Infusión de Manzanilla/ Poleo Menta Chamomile/ Pennyroyal Minth T
Chocolate Caliente Hot chocolate drink (thicker than in other countries)
Chocolate Suizo Hot chocolate drink with Cream
Zumo Juice
Restaurants
In general Spaniards eat late, or later than most countries in the world, so don’t be afraid if you want to have a table by 12:00 and the restaurant is still close! As we’re in a touristic place a lot of restaurants are open earlier in order to satisfy the hungry foreigner tourists.
For lunch, the usual opening time is from 1:00pm to 3:00-4:00pm
For Dinner restaurants open from 8:30-9:00pm until 11:00pm
Most of the restaurants offer a midday menu which is really worth it and normally includes: Starter + Main course + Dessert and Drink and bread. Yes, most of the restaurants charge for the bread, as well no tap water is served. Prices of these Menus changes depending of the kind of Restaurant/Bar but it can go around the 10€.
There are 2 ways of dinning out in Spain: Going to a traditional restaurant and have 2 or 3 courses or “Tapear” or Ir de Tapas (Go for some Tapas) which is really popular among tourists and consists of seating around a table with a beer/bottle of wine/Sangria and order plenty of different Tapas (small portions).
Click here to see our Spanish Food guide and recomendations!
Vocabulary
Entrantes Starters
Plato Principal Main Course
Postres Dessert
Zona de Fumadores Smoking Area
Zona de No-Fumadores Non-Smoking Area
You will have the time of your life in Barcelona!
Bar- Hopping
Barcelona offers many possibilities to bridge the time gap before the clubs open. Have you ever heard of Bar-Hopping? Spanish people also say ‘Ir de copas’ (to go for some glasses). You go from one bar to another and stay for a drink or two.
Many music bars can be found one after another in Barcelona’s Old Town, as at the Plaça Reial in ‘Barrio Gòtico’, at el Born in ‘La Ribera’, in Gracia and in ‘El Raval’. The bars are more scattered in Barcelona’s quarter ‘Eixample’, unless you go out in the gay zone ‘Gayxample’ between Plaça Universitat and Carrer d’Aragó.
Do you like to spend the night in some stylish bars recommended by our team? Click Here!
Drinks Vocabulary
Una Cerveza A Beer (Can be a bottle or draft)
Una Caña A Draft Beer
Una Clara A Beer with lemonade
Una Copa de Vino (blanco/tinto/rosado) A glass of wine (White/Red/Rosé)
Una Botella de Vino A bottle of Wine
Agua Fría/Natural Mineral Water Cold/Natural
Agua con Gas Sparkling Water
Clubbing
The nightlife in Barcelona begins very late and ends in the morning, sometimes even not until midday. Endurance is in great demand!
You should not start your clubbing before two or three o’clock unless you want to have fun in an empty club. Many locations offer a free entrance until 4 o’clock. Weekdays from Thursday to Saturday are the main weekdays to go clubbing. Barcelona’s clubs are spread all over the city from the Montjuich to the Tibidabo.
Do you like to dance until the morning? Then check out our recommended Discos.
Barcelona’s Nightlife: Need-to-Knows
Bouncers
Bouncers are present at all scene clubs and decide who can enter. Many stylish locations do not open their doors for people wearing sneakers or washed-out jeans. Make sure, that you are dressed appropriately for the kind of club you want to enter! For the rest you can dress casually without any problem.
Entrance Ticket
The entrance fees vary depending on time, weekday, live-music, and sometimes even on the impression you leave to the bouncer. Your entrance ticket contains a free drink, when it says ‘consumición’.
If the club is really crowded or popular you can´t enter unless you are on one of the guest lists. So before start your party night make sure you are on some of it. It is quite easy. The most guest lists are on Facebook. Or you can Google for the guest list for the club you want to go in. The guest lists are changing after a period of time.
Another way of having a free entrance is with Flyers, the public relations of the clubs distribute flyers on the street to the one who passes by, or even you can find them in the shops and bars of the city centre.
If you have your flyer or are on the list and dressed appropriately, you shouldn´t have any problem to get in the clubs. Just get in!
Guía del Ocio &Time Out Magazines
You can get more information about Barcelona’s nightlife from the weekly published guides Guía del Ocio and Time Out, which includes hundreds of addresses, opening hours, cinema, theatre, and concert programs. Every kiosk in Barcelona has them.
Enjoy Barcelona’s exciting nightlife until the sun rises and fall sleep in one of our comfortable apartments and hotels.