The geographic center of the city, the L'Eixample on one side and the Ramblas on the other. The Metro lines come together here and there are lots of tourist buses including HopOn. We were here to visit El Corte Ingles which takes up one side of the square. Very large area.

Beautiful buildings around the square. Bank of Ispania. LA Rambla start here. Famous kafe Zurikh is there. Metro station. To everywhere to Airport and trains around the city. Zara. English corner. Plaz with pijons.

The is where the Hop-On buses stop, but we came here to go to the big department store, which occupies an important corner of this huge square in the middle of town. The upper end of the Ramblas is here. Eixample starts here. Some grand buildings are around, and there is a huge Metro station underneath.

As great as this plaza is for watching people, it is even better for watching pigeons. The flock easily numbers in the hundreds, but it would be no surprise to learn their numbers top 1,000. Being a transportation hub, getting to or from here by bus is straightforward. If walking Las Ramblas is on your itinerary, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that you either start or end your walk here. If you have the time and the crowds - or flock! - isn’t too large, exploring the plaza is a nice way to spend 30-45 minutes.

A very large and busy square, it is the hub where many of the main arteries of the city meet. Most noteworthy, it is at the end of Passeig de Gracia and the start of Las Ramblas. Surrounded by places to shop, bars, restaurants and hotels there is lots to see and do here. It is also the site of several fountains & sculptures. Unfortunately the emergency drought measures meant that none of the fountains were operational when we were there though. We passed through here many times during our trip and found it busy day and night.

Huge plaza (>5 hectares) at the north end of Las Ramblas. It is a congregating point for entertainment, street vendors, entertainers, and fun-seekers. The all-important Aerobus loads and unloads on the east side of the plaza.

The Plaza de Catalunya could be described as the hub of Barcelona and is a large square surrounded by department stores and the start of Las Ramblas. It is always busy as may tourist buses start and end here. If in Barcelona it is almost inevitable you will visit the square, which is interesting because of the people and activity , more than its artistic design

Our family of two adults, a 9 year old and a 7 year old visited Barcelona for 3 days in July. We stayed in a hotel about 3 minutes walk away from the square (see separate review). We enjoyed walking through the square many times and shopped and ate in the various establishments around the square - see my separate reviews. This is also where we took our hop on hop off bus which was handy for getting around and seeing this lovely city.