Lesser-known places in Barcelona
Barcelona beyond Gaudí's queues: a modernist hospital, a hedge maze, a civil war shelter and a square still marked by bomb fragments.
7 of 7 places
Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau
- History
- Daytime
A hospital built as a garden city of tiled pavilions and underground tunnels, by Domènech i Montaner, now open to visitors.
- Getting there
- Sant Pau | Dos de Maig Metro.
- Best time
- Weekday mornings.
- Cost
- About €15–18check
- Visit with respect
- Stay on the marked route.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.4120, 2.1745 · Spain
Parc del Laberint d'Horta
- Park or garden
- Daytime
The oldest garden in the city, with a cypress hedge maze, neoclassical terraces and a romantic garden.
- Getting there
- Mundet Metro, then 10 minutes' walk.
- Best time
- Weekday mornings; free on some dayscheck.
- Cost
- About €2–3check
- Visit with respect
- Visitor numbers are capped; stay on the paths.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.4400, 2.1460 · Spain
Bunkers del Carmel
- Viewpoint
- Daytime
- Not for everyone
Civil war anti-aircraft battery on the Turó de la Rovira with a 360° view of the city.
- Getting there
- Bus V17 or 22, then a steep walk.
- Best time
- Daytime; access is limited in the evening and at nightcheck.
- Cost
- Free
- Visit with respect
- Neighbours complained about late crowds: no parties, no music, take rubbish away.
- Not for everyone
- Uneven ground and no railings at some edges.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.4190, 2.1620 · Spain
Refugi 307
- History
- Daytime
- Not for everyone
Part of a civil war air-raid shelter dug by Poble-sec residents: 400 m of tunnels you visit with a guide.
- Getting there
- Carrer Nou de la Rambla 169; Paral·lel Metro.
- Best time
- Guided visits on set dayscheck.
- Cost
- About €4check
- Visit with respect
- Follow the guide.
- Not for everyone
- Low, narrow tunnels.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.3730, 2.1700 · Spain
Plaça de Sant Felip Neri
- History
- Early morning
- Daytime
A small square in the Gothic quarter whose church wall still bears the pits of a 1938 bombing that killed dozens, many of them children.
- Getting there
- Gothic quarter, off Carrer del Bisbe.
- Best time
- Early morning.
- Cost
- Free
- Visit with respect
- A school uses the square: keep quiet during school hours.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.3835, 2.1755 · Spain
Poblenou Cemetery
- Art
- Daytime
A 19th-century cemetery of stacked niches and family chapels, with the marble sculpture of a winged skeleton kissing a young man.
- Getting there
- Llacuna or Bogatell Metro.
- Best time
- Morning; free guided routes some weekendscheck.
- Cost
- Free
- Visit with respect
- Families visit graves; photos of monuments only.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.3985, 2.2050 · Spain
Monestir de Pedralbes
- Temple, church or shrine
- Daytime
A 14th-century Gothic monastery with a three-storey cloister, a quiet garden and the nuns' cells and kitchens.
- Getting there
- Reina Elisenda (FGC).
- Best time
- Weekday; free on some afternoonscheck.
- Cost
- About €5check
- Visit with respect
- A community of nuns still lives nearby; keep your voice down.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.3955, 2.1125 · Spain
How places get on this list
- Fewer visitors than the city's top sights: no place on the usual first-day list.
- Open to the public: a street, park, market, museum or place of worship anyone can walk into, or a tour anyone can book.
- Legal and safe to visit as described. We leave out private property, closed or fenced sites, abandoned buildings, active rail lines, rooftops and rock pools known for drownings.
- Where access is limited (Hanoi's Train Street, Berlin's Spreepark, Barcelona's bunkers), we say what the rules are and how to see it without breaking them.
- Prices, hours and access rules change: anything marked check was right when written but should be confirmed on the day.
Checked 2026-09. Coordinates are approximate; use the map links to find the entrance.