Last week, I featured the amazing Alaire terrace bar at the Hotel Condes de Barcelona, and now I’m back with another fab hotel terrace bar – the Hotel Barceló’s 360º bar.
Now, I’m not typically the type of traveler to go visit hotels, but I recently discovered that you can walk into any hotel and check out their rooftop terraces (assuming they have one). For the price of a drink, you can enjoy stunning 360° views of Barcelona in a super chill environment.
The Hotel 360º is definitely my favorite place to get the best views of Barcelona. As you might have guessed from the clever name, it offers 360º views of the entire city. The circular hotel is topped off with a chic round open-air terrace, complete with tables and chairs, a pool, and free telescopes to check out the city in detail.
This isn’t a place you might end up at on a typical visit to Barcelona. It’s right in the middle of the Rambla del Raval, the notoriously sketchy neighborhood in downtown Barcelona. It’s quite a scruffy neighborhood with a bad reputation, and there aren’t too many tourist attractions here. But the reputation is (in my humble opinion) exaggerated.
The neighborhood is sandwiched in between the Gothic quarter and Montjuïc, extending all the way down to the port. That means you get fabulous views of the Mediterranean, the towers of all the Gothic churches, the sun setting over the Olympic Stadium, the Sagrada Familia, and the hills surrounding Barcelona to the west. . Last time I was there, a film crew was using it to shoot panoramas of Barcelona at sunset.
The hotel pipes gentle chill-out music as you make your way around the terrace. The glass barrier has a useful trick – and no, I don’t just mean stopping you from falling off! It has white silhouettes of the largest buildings you can see, along with what each of them are. It’s a great way to get your bearings and a feel for where things are in Barcelona.
You can choose from beers, wines, and cavas starting from about €5, plus basic cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks. If you want to follow it up with another activity, check out the nearby Bar Marsella, which was allegedly Hemingway’s #1 haunt in Barcelona.
The terrace is open in the “summer” season, which means from May to October.
Check back next week for more of my picks for spending summer in Barcelona!
P.S. I will be writing about my recent trip to the Basque Country soon, but I don’t really fancy sitting inside and blogging when there are beaches, rebajas (sales), and all-night summer parties to be enjoyed! I love summer.
Besos!
-Jess
Cheers for this Jess. Will be checking it out 🙂
I love figuring out the lay of the land when I’m in high places so that’s cool. Also coming from the US, it’s not common to hang out in hotels of you are not staying there. In the Philippines, it’s like Spain where you can just hang out in the lobby or terrace to enjoy drinks or good food. A fun outing I’ve come to enjoy. 🙂
I love getting the lay of the land too! I’m also with you on enjoying the fun hotel bars and restaurants. Why don’t we do more of that in the U.S., I wonder?
Thanks for sharing this Jess! I’ll be heading up there to check this out! 🙂
Can’t wait for your Basque Country posts, but I agree: enjoying the summer is far more important at the moment. We’re having around 30 degrees since days (or even weeks!? ); it’s amazing. Have fun!
Thanks very much! We’ve been getting warm weather too, but not quite that warm. Still, the humidity more than makes up for it.
I’ll have to take a really good look over your blog over the next few weeks – I’m heading over to Europe in 5 weeks time and while staying in the south of France, planning to make a day trip out to Barca while there! I spent three days there two years ago now and can’t wait to get back (it’s going to be so hard to fit everything into one day) – you’re blog is fantastic and so informative! Am bound to get some great tips X
Thanks very much! I’m all for squeezing in a BCN trip – it’s so much fun when the weather is warm. 🙂
What a beautiful bar view! I love bars that have a view, it makes it feel fancy.
I totally agree, even if the bar is crap the views make it feel really fancy.
absolutely beautiful. i cannot believe i haven’t been to barcelona yet! i must make it happen this year!
No way! It’s a fab city, but I’m a little biased. 🙂