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If you are off for a night out in Barcelona  remember … all the restaurants and nightlife starts a few hours later than elsewhere.

Start your evening out in one of the numerous bars or cafes in Barcelona. Or you can spend time on the beach during the evening. Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere while drinking a cold beer on the warm beaches of Barcelona during summer nights.

Restaurants are busiest between 10pm to 11pm.  A late night drink  in a “Bar Musical” is then the norm and these generally close at 3:00 am. It does not make any sense to go to a club in Barcelona before 12:00 pm. If you want to go to a club, arrange for a much later

Stroll through the cafes

An enjoyable way of learning about Barcelona is wandering through the old narrow streets of the Barrio Gótico and the Born and discovering hidden cafes. Here are a few of our favourite secluded cafes:

The Textile Museum Café
In the courtyard of this historical building is a café. It's worth a stop. (If you like clothing, the museum is worth your time as well.) It is located on the street Montcada just down from the Picasso Museum.

Café d’Estiu
This café is nestled in a gothic courtyard, which is now the museum "Museu Frederic Marès". As you sip your coffee you won't even realize that you are sitting in the center of a bustling city. This café is located in the Plaça de Sant Iu. Here's how you get there: when looking at the front of the Barcelona Gothic Cathedral take the narrow street next to the Cathedral on the left. Walk with the Cathedral on you right. About a half of a block down on your left you will see an entrance to a plaza with orange trees. This is it.

El Quotro Cats
This café (also a restaurant) is famous because it was the local watering hole for artists during the Modernista art movement. It is rumored that a young Pablo Picasso designed the menu. It's located on Calle Montsió 3.

How to order Coffee in Barcelona!!!

Whether you want to gulp down a quick coffee as a pick-me-up or whether you want to meet some friends and relax together, coffee plays an important role in the life of Barcelonans. Typically locals order all types of coffees in the morning hours but after meals "café con leche" is never ordered. Here's a coffee vocabulary list:

Café Americano: Coffee made the American way by running hot water over ground beans. The locals don't typically order this. This can be drunk with sugar but you will never be given milk to add. (And don't even try to get any.)

Café con Leche: Espresso coffee with hot milk added to it.

Café Solo: Espresso coffee. No Milk

Cortado: Espresso coffee with a splash of hot milk. This can also be changed into a …

Carajio: An espresso with an added shot of alcohol. Rum, Brandy and my favourite  Baileys Irish cream. Yum

Best of the Bars

As a sucker for cocktail bars (and with quite a few international cocktail bars under our belts), Barcelona boasts some excellent traditional and new wave cocktail bars. Here are a few of our favourites:

Gimlet
My number 1…in the heart of the Born, this bar has been here since the 20’s and retains is beautiful curved walnut bar. Seating is very minimal with just a few stools at the bar, behind which presides the gentleman bar keep in a white jacket. The  cocktails are  stirred in large glass beakers with glass rods and served in small cocktail cups. Try the Gimlet…it is sooo worth it.
Address : C/Rec, 24
Area : Born
Opening hours : 20:00 to 03:00
Prices : free
Metro/Bus : Arc de Triomf (L1)

El Xampanyet
Recommended by just about everyone but still so worth it for the true feel of noisy, gothic Barcelona. Most of us are now very familiar with CAVA but here it is Xampanyet,” a fruity and drinkable sparkling white, served in old-fashioned saucer glasses and best accompanied by the house tapa, salty fresh anchovies from Cantábria. Run by the same family since the 1930s, El Xampanyet is lined with coloured tiles, barrels and antique curios, and with a handful of marble tables” Time Out
Address:C/Montcada 22 (93 319 70 03).
Opening Hours: noon-3.30pm, 7-11.30pm Tue-Sat; noon-3.30pm Sun. Closed Aug.
Prices: Free
Metro Jaume I.

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