Las Ramblas Walk Barcelona – Self Guided Tour

The very first day in Spain we did the famous Las Ramblas Walk Barcelona.

Barcelona, the Catalan capital, is huge!!! We were perplexed while planning the itinerary for Spain to decide on how many days are needed to tour Barcelona. There is so much to see and interesting things to in Barcelona, walking through the entire city is near impossible within the five days we planned to see the city. We made a study of the different Barcelona walks possible, and the best one suggested turned out to be Las Ramblas Walk.

Las Ramblas Walk Barcelona

We made good use of the long daylight hours for sightseeing during our entire tour through Spain and Portugal. Sun sets at around 9 PM in Spain in summer; this was such a contrast to the sunset time of 5 PM in Greece during winters.

A regular day would start with sightseeing in early part of the day and driving to next destination in the later part of the day. The car hire was planned from Day 2, so the remaining part of Day 1 (we landed at around 12 noon) was spent exploring Barcelona on foot. We headed for the cathedral soon after lunch. Do read: Major Highlights of Cathedral of Barcelona

This post is on the sights I came across during The Ramblas walk which covered the old town of the city, a romantic historic area.

Las Ramblas Walk Barcelona

Self Guided Las Ramblas Walk Barcelona

This walk cuts through the old town of Barcelona, extending from the Plaça de Catalunya to the Columbus monument. The whole stretch is 1.2 km.

Plaça de Catalunya is the meeting point of several important roads of Barcelona. Even though it is a huge area covering a space of 50,000 sqm, it is hard to find a spot free of tourist. The statues scattered around made such an interesting subject for photography, you never know whose statue you would find next.

The entire length of of La Rambala of 1.2 km, a pedestrian route is dotted with bustling stalls of souvenirs, newspaper kiosks, ice cream stalls and flower stalls. They sell lot of garden related stuffs. Getting seeds across the airport would be difficult so felt discouraged to pick anything. They really made the street walk a colorful enjoyable experience. You can see an aerial view of the street here.

las Ramblas

Tips for La Ramblas Walk Barcelona

  • One has to to careful while loitering in this street; there are chances to get pickpocketed.
  • If you plan to do the walk at night, be extra cautious.
  • Plenty of street buskers. If you intend to watch they expect to be paid.
  • No washrooms along the street, but there are restaurants and a Mc Donald too.

Statues in street

Origin of the Las Ramblas street

It took me to do bit of reading to know that La Rambla and Las Ramblas, except that the latter is the plural form of the former. The name is modified from an old Arabic word ‘ramla’ meaning sandy riverbed indicating how this magnificent boulevard started. It was a dried-out stream outside the walls of the Gothic Quarter.

Las Ramblas Walk Barcelona

Statues in Barcelona street

Statues in Barcelona

Font de Canaletes Fountain

A short walk down from the Plaça de Catalunya is the Font de Canaletes fountain. According to legend, if you drink from this fountain you’ll return to Barcelona one day. It is here that the Barcelona football fans meet to celebrate their team’s victories.

Font de Canaletes fountain Barcelona

Font de Canaletes fountain Barcelona

Bruno Quadras Building

You won’t miss this one: The Bruno Quadras Building. It was once an umbrella factory, the building is adorned with umbrellas. The figure of a Chinese dragon mounted on the corner that keeps watch over the Rambla.

Bruno Quadras Building Barcelona

Bruno Quadras Building Barcelona

La Ramblas Walk Barcelona

Street lamp at Bruno Quadras Building Barcelona

I am in love with the antique street lamps of Barcelona streets. Most of them were made in the 20th century under the original 19th century design. Do check this post for more images of street lamps –> Vintage Street Lamps in Barcelona.

Flowers for sale along the street of Barcelona

Eco friendly fridge magnets as souvenirs from Barcelona – Rambla Ramble Walk

Check more eco friendly souvenirs –> Souvenirs from Lombok

Stretches for 1.2 km from the Port Vell to Placa Catalunya and is easily doable a nonstop pace of 40 min. We took more than an hour though to devour the sights of history that has stood still, culture that is constantly evolving and crowd watching while being cautious of our belongings. Interesting to note here that, the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca described the street as being “the only street in the world which I wish would never end.”

Las Ramblas Walk Barcelona

Art infused facades – Rambla Ramble Walk

There is Erotic Museum on this street, the model attracts attention. You will know where it is exactly on the street. At night time the southernmost end of the Ramblas becomes something of a red light district and is frequented by night women (prostitutes).

Quirky sights along La Rambla Ramble Walk

Conclusion

Always do self guided walking tours in a new city. A little bit of studying the history, culture and art of Barcelona, helped me plan this self guided walking tour of Las Ramblas. A memorable experience, I hope to visit Barcelona again just for this heritage walk of Barcelona.

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