Inside Poble Espanyol

©Esme Fox/Lonely Planet

Poble Espanyol

Barcelona


Welcome to Spain! All of it! This ‘Spanish Village’ is an intriguing scrapbook of Spanish architecture built for the local-crafts section of the 1929 World Exhibition. You can meander from Andalucía to Galicia in the space of a couple of hours, visiting surprisingly good to-scale copies of Spain's characteristic structures. The 117 buildings include restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs, and craft shops and workshops (for glass artists and other artisans), as well as souvenir stores.

Enter from beneath a towered medieval gate from Ávila, flanked by two Catalan gegants (papier-mâché giants). Inside on the right, an information office has free maps and a worthwhile multimedia guide (€3.50; leave a €20 deposit). Straight ahead from the gate is the Plaza Mayor (Town Sq), surrounded by mainly Castilian and Aragonese buildings; it sometimes hosts summer concerts. Elsewhere you’ll find an Andalucian barri (neighbourhood), a Basque street, Galician and Catalan quarters, and even a Catalan Romanesque monastery (at the eastern end).

There's also an excellent multimedia exhibition of some of Spain's most popular festivals, including Buñol's La Tomatina (a giant tomato fight in Valencia) and Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Andalucía.

Spare time for the Fundació Fran Daurel, an eclectic collection of more than 300 works of art, including sculptures, prints, ceramics and tapestries by modern artists ranging from Picasso and Miró to more contemporary figures such as Miquel Barceló, as well as a sculpture garden.

Children’s groups can participate in the two-hour Joc del Sarró (€6.50; multiple languages), in which kids go around the poble seeking answers to various mysteries.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Barcelona attractions

1. Fundació Fran Daurel

0.06 MILES

With Poble Espanyol, the Fundació Fran Daurel is an eclectic collection of 300 works of art, including sculptures, prints, ceramics and tapestries by…

2. Pavelló Mies van der Rohe

0.2 MILES

Designed in glass, steel and various marbles in 1929 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) for the World Exhibition, this curious work of artful…

3. CaixaForum

0.23 MILES

The La Caixa building society prides itself on its involvement in (and ownership of) art, in particular all that is contemporary. The bank's premier expo…

4. Font Màgica

0.29 MILES

Originally created for the 1929 World Exposition, this huge colour-lit fountain has again been a magnet since the 1992 Olympics, shimmering on the long…

5. Mirador del Palau Nacional

0.34 MILES

Even if you don't visit the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, you should at least admire the view from the plaza out the front. There's a terrace cafe,…

6. L’Anella Olímpica

0.34 MILES

The group of installations built for the main events of the 1992 Olympics includes the Piscines Bernat Picornell, where the swimming and diving events…

7. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

0.34 MILES

The spectacular neobaroque silhouette of the Palau Nacional can be seen on Montjuïc's slopes from across the city. Built for the 1929 World Exhibition and…

8. Plaça d’Espanya

0.43 MILES

The whirling roundabout of Plaça d’Espanya, distinguished by its so-called Venetian towers (vaguely reminiscent of the belltower in Venice’s St Mark’s…