Barcelona - Plan Cerdà

The chamfered corners of the Eixample were not an aesthetic decision. Ildefons Cerdà specified them in 1859 to allow carriages to turn without slowing and to let light reach pavements too wide for any single building's shadow. Each block was drawn to enclose an interior garden; most of those gardens became courtyards, then parking, then storage. The grid, and the wide pavements along Passeig de Gràcia, survive as planned. Barcelona now holds four three-Michelin-star restaurants and two bars in the global top five, spread across those same 550 blocks.

Where to stay

Casa Bonay, a 67-room independent hotel on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, occupies a Neoclassical building from 1856. The mosaic floors and interior passageways are original; the rooftop restaurant, café, and cocktail bar have been added inside the shell. Sir Victor Hotel, near Passeig de Gràcia, has a rooftop pool with unobstructed views across the grid to the sea. The Barcelona EDITION places guests in El Born, between the medieval street pattern and the waterfront, in a tower with a rooftop terrace above the neighbourhood roofline.

What to eat

Disfrutar, on a quiet street off Carrer de Villarroel in the Eixample, was named the world's best restaurant by The World's 50 Best in 2024 and holds three Michelin stars. Chefs Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro, and Eduard Xatruch trained together at elBulli; two tasting menus run in parallel, and bookings open months in advance. Lasarte, at the Monument Hotel on Carrer de Mallorca, is the Basque chef Martín Berasategui's three-star room in Barcelona, more formal and classical in approach. Mont Bar, on Carrer de la Diputació, earned two Michelin stars in 2026 while keeping the format of a bar rather than a restaurant room, with a tasting menu available at the counter alongside à la carte ordering.

Where to drink

Sips, on Carrer de Muntaner, ranked third at the World's 50 Best Bars in 2025. The bar contains a smaller inner room called Esencia, fourteen seats, where cocktails are served as a tasting menu. Paradiso, ranked fourth, is accessed through a refrigerator door at the back of a pastrami shop on Carrer de Rera Palau in El Born; the entry mechanism and the cocktail programme share the same logic. Boadas, at the top of the Raval on Carrer dels Tallers, has been a cocktail bar since 1933 and ranked 85th on the World's 50 Best extended list in 2025, alongside venues that opened within the last decade.

How to move

The Eixample grid makes walking straightforward; every block is the same size and the chamfered corners open the sightlines at every intersection. The metro connects the centre to Poblenou, the former industrial district east of the centre where most of the city's newer restaurants and food projects have concentrated, without a taxi. Gràcia, the residential neighbourhood north of the Eixample, is fifteen minutes on foot from Passeig de Gràcia and has very little parking, which is why the streets still feel local. Tourist bike rental shops are straightforward to find near the waterfront.