Barcelona Gothic Quarter guide & attractions

Description of Barcelona Gothic Quarter

The Barcelona Gothic Quarter, El gotico or Barri Gotic, is the medieval part of the old walled city of Barcelona and is the oldest part of the city dating to Roman and medieval times and is full of gothic architecture. Along with El raval and El born it makes up a zone called cuitat Vella or Vella District. It is characterised by a labyrinth of narrow winding streets with atmospheric basement bars, great restaurants and shops and is a great place for walking tours. You can find many guided walking tours in this part of town or use my recommended route found in any of the attraction pages below.

The centre piece of the Barcelona gothic quarter is the beautiful 13th Century gothic Cathedral of Barcelona, located in Pla de la Seu. Surrounding the cathedral are the Frederic Mares museum and the Barcelona Dioceses Museum. Plaza de la Seu contains sections of the Roman city wall with Casa de la Ardiaca, the Archdeacons house, today is the city historic archives and is built into the old roman city wall. This was one of four main portal gates into the roman city centre. Remains of the Roman water aqueduct can be found here also. Nearby is

Plaza de Sant Felip Neri, a medieval square with civil war bomb scars and behind the cathedral in the old Jewish quarter of medieval Barcelona are four Roman columns of temple de Augusti from the Roman Forum that are over 2000 years old.

Traveling through EL gotico towards the coast and port Vell, the next large public space is Plaza Sant Juame which houses governmental palaces of Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya and Ajuntament de Barcelona, casa de la cuitat, or city hall. Inside It has some medival rooms with stained glass windows. Near to this square is the famous Plaza del Rei who's surrounding buildings for part of the Barcelona City History Museum, the basement is a museum space of the preserved Roman city ruins.

From plaza Sant Jaume to The Barcelona cathedral is perhaps one of Barcelona's most iconic streets, Calle del Bisbe which has a gothic bridge over the street, Pont del Bisbe, connecting Casa dels Canonges (Oficial residentcy of the President of Catalunya) to the Palau de la Generalitat (government palace building).

The next focal area in El gotico is Plaza del Pi and Plaza del Josep Oriel which surround the Santa Maria del Pi Basilica that offers complete tourist visits to the bell tower roof. Plaza del Pi hosts an artisan food market and Plaza del Josep Oriel is where the portrait artists congregate. In this square are multiple restaurants in medieval buildings with great outside teraza dining.

In plaza Ramon Berenguer III you will find more of the Roman city wall which can be followed down towards the port which has another of the main gate houses, portal del mar and the Roman baths ruins in Carrer del Regomir.

El Gotico is a good place to go shopping with Avenida Portal del Angel having the major global high street brands such as Zara, H&M, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear and many more. Within the many narrow streets of El Gotico are small boutiques for hand crafted items and some high end antiques shops in the jewish quarter behind the cathedral.

Getting to El Gotico, the Barcelona Gothic Quarter

EL Gotico is bordered on the left by Las Ramblas which has the green (L3) metro line running underneath with stops at Drassanes, Liceo and Plaza Catalunya.

El Gotico is bordered on the right by Via Laietana which divides El Gotico with the El Born Neighbourhood. The Yellow metro line (L4) Runs under Via Leitana with the most convenient stop at Plaza Jaume I.

EL Gotico Ends at plaza Catalunya at the top which is the edge of La Eixampla Neighbourhood and served by Plaza Catalunya Metro, FGC and Renfe station.

The bottom of El Gotico is bordered by Port vell Marina reached from Dransanes Metro (L3) or Barceloneta (L4).

Walking Tours in El Gotico, the Barcelona Gothic Quarter

For a detailed breakdown of the tourist attractions in El Gotico, click on any of the images below.

Happy Exploring!