The Mandarin Oriental is opening a 98-room hotel on the Passeig de Gracia, one of the main boulevards of Barcelona, close to Gaudi’s Casa Batllo. The hotel is taking reservations for dates beginning 15 December 2009. Passeig de Gracia is ideal for people who love shopping as it is home to luxury designer brands such [...]

Hotel 1898 is named after the year in which Spain lost the Philippines and Cuba, which is not surprising given that it’s housed in the former headquarters of Compania General de Tabacos Filipinas. The company was founded in 1881 and still operates as a tobacco dealer out of Barcelona. I’m Filipina so I am interested [...]

If you were in Barcelona ten years ago and came back for a visit, you’d never recognize the Raval district. Once populated by squatters, prostitutes and drug dealers, it’s now a trendy, up-and-coming area, and like the neighboring El Born, it is attracting designer boutiques, wine bars and expats buying expensive apartments.
But because El Raval [...]

You can stay in Barcelona for months and never run out of places to eat. The city has such a variety of restaurants, cafes, tapas bars, Basque pincho bars (where I took the photo above) and food stands (in local markets like the Boqueria) that you’ll wonder if the residents ever cook their own meals. [...]

It is that time of the year when people make travel plans for the summer. Because of the recession, many are wondering whether they should abandon their holiday plans altogether. Yet, this year more than any other in recent memory, has seen airlines, railway companies and hotels slash prices dramatically. There are so many bargains [...]

There are few cities in the world I enjoy as much as Barcelona. It has everything I like in a city: a great beach, art, history, fabulous restaurants and tapas bars, amazing night life, good bookstores, eccentric characters. I have stayed in different parts of town: once at the base of Tibidabo and another time [...]

If you find yourself shopping along the Passeig de Gracia in Barcelona as the lunch hour approaches, you might want to try a brasserie called Tenorio which serves tapas and delicious salads. It’s a large place so not too difficult getting a table when every other restaurant is packed.

Vibe: trendy modern chic decor, open kitchen, [...]

If you are looking for a quirky gallery-Internet cafe in Barcelona with lots of atmosphere and art, go to Bornet in the El Born district (center of Barcelona). Located very close to the Picasso Museum, it’s difficult to find because it is in one of those tiny alleyways where you find yourself perpetually lost. It [...]

I attended the Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM) last week in Barcelona, and stayed in Vilanova i la Geltru, a beach town 40 km south for lack of hotel rooms in the city. Vilanova is quiet and lovely at this time of the year without the tourists.
Seafood restaurant outside Barcelona
Vilanova has a lot of [...]