Mobile World Congress Barcelona: things to do in your free time

Welcome to the Time Out EAT List, our handpicked ‘best of’ Barcelona City’s food scene. Trying the local cuisine is one of the best things to do in Barcelona, itself one of the world's best cities when it comes to eating and drinking. The locals already know that, and so do the gastronomy pros who, year after year, award Barcelona restaurants with distinctions that raise the city up to the podium of great international cuisine.

After your intense working days at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, you’ll want to take a breather in a good restaurant to recharge your batteries with a fortifying meal. We’ve selected nine different spots where you can get quality seafood, an Argentinian grill right on Montjuïc, signature tapas, cuisine you can pair with craft beer, and more. All are under the guidance of top chefs and all are very near the Plaça de Espanya venue of the congress.

Barcelona continues leading the way in cutting-edge, international cuisine. In the wide range of quality restaurants in the city, 22 stand out above the rest: those that have the honour of receiving one, two or three Michelin stars. If your wallet allows and you want to pay tribute, here's the list of Barcelona's 22 star-studded restaurants. Enjoy!

There are menus listing tempting tapas just about everywhere you turn the Catalan capital. The choice can be overwhelming, and nowhere else but Barcelona boasts tapas in such variety – but this can apply to quality as well as the dishes on offer. Here are the restaurants, cafés, bodegas and tapas bars serving the best mini-meals in Barcelona.

Finding a truly good paella in Barcelona can be complicated, especially these days when anyone with a handful of rice, a jar of broth, and a picture of the dish outside their tourist-trap establishment can claim to have the best paella in town. Don’t worry, you don’t have to go to Valencia to taste this traditional dish. Barcelona does paella right, and our list of 16 of the best restaurants for paellas and rice dishes will guide you in the right direction.

We dare to pick the best places in Barcelona to get this popular tapa of thickly cut and fried-to-perfection potatoes piled high and served with a spicy (by Spanish standards) sauce. Purists will opt for recipes passed down from generation to generation served in bars like granddad recommends, while many will discover new and innovative formulas that are just as delicious in their own right.

At weekends you’ll find many of Barcelona’s restaurants and bars open for business well before midday, and enjoying a brisk brunchtime trade. So, from hangover restoratives to fancy breakfast feasts, dig in to Time Out’s guide to the best brunches in town.

Unlike the pre-packaged noodles you remember from your uni days, ramen is actually a dish that requires more skill and dedication than just slapping together some ingredients and pouring a cup of boiling water over them. While it is a humble dish served and eaten quickly, it’s simmered slowly and can be enjoyed as a delicacy. Get in on the local ramen boom at these Barcelona restaurants. Chopsticks at the ready!

We pick out some of Barcelona’s best vegetarian restaurants. Not just for vegetarians, these places serve up mouth-watering, healthy food day and night.

If there’s one thing Barcelona has a surplus of, it’s bars. Every neighbourhood in the city boasts such an immense offering that deciding where to meet for a drink can be a daunting task. To help you make your decision, whether your tipple is wine, beer, vermouth, or a cocktail, we’ve come up with this list of the 20 best bars in Barcelona. Our Food & Drink editors have taken into account everything from high-end innovation to cosy seating and lighting, with flavour and value for money always high on the list of musts.

Great weather calls for being outdoors, and what better way to enjoy being outside than relaxing drink in hand at one of the best rooftop bars in Barcelona? Though the city is laden with things to do, heaps of great restaurants and cocktail bars, a never-ending list of attractions and an unparalleled music scene, nothing quite beats its sunny terraces with breathtaking panoramic views in the warmer months. Feel on top of the world and explore Barcelona from an entirely new perspective, fear of heights be damned.

Barcelona is getting a reputation as one of the top cities in Spain (and, dare we say, beyond) for craft beer. Even some in beer-proud Madrid will tell you that Barcelona is the place to be for great brew. This is a city with such huge aficionados of craft beer that they make that special combo of water, malt, hops and barley their cause – to the extent that there are tours of breweries, social networks devoted to craft beer, and you can even use apps like Untappd and websites such as BeerAdvocate, and RateBeer to seek out the latest barrel or bottle, including both local and imported products.

Sample some of the finest bespoke cocktails in Barcelona, and meet the city’s most daring mixologists. Whether your taste is for the red-velvety classic interiors and old-fashioned drinks as your nan likes ’em or if you prefer a more modern ambience with your one-of-a-kind tipple, we’ve got just the place for you.

It’s always the right time to for a good glass of wine, and you don’t have to be an expert to enjoy one. Just head to these top wine bars in town and they'll help you pick out a grape that suits your taste.

If you’re the type who thinks of comfort before all else, leave those tight jeans in the shop and settle in to some Barcelona bars that will help you feel cosy and relaxed. Whether you fancy a drink with your sweetheart or with friends, if you’re after a craft beer, a cup of tea or a place where you can tantalise your taste buds with creative cocktails, this group of bars offers all that, plus the bonus of a soft and sumptuous sofa area. Why not flop down and sink into the cushions on your next night out?  

Vermouth hour has never fallen out of fashion in Barcelona, but in recent years the tradition of gathering with friends to share an afternoon aperitif, and the usual side dishes, has garnered a new generation of devotees and plenty of proprietors only too happy to accommodate. Time Out brings you the modern, as well as the classic, temples of vermouth.

Find the best drinking spots in the Montjuïc and Poble-sec area, very near the MWC venue in town. Whether you want a few pintxos with your drinks, a bit of lunchtime music with your vermouth, a bar that also serves slow food, something with a terrace to sit outside, or to be surrounded be gorgeous interior decoration, there's something nearby for you.

We’ve taken the temperature of Barcelona’s nightlife to find ten of the hottest clubs: places that bring together the best music and the liveliest scene so you'll head home late, happy and exhausted.

Nightlife in Barcelona is as wild as you want it to be, and you can find a club night, session or party every night of the week at the best clubs in Barcelona. Whether it’s a weekly club night you find you can’t skip, a monthly session you keep marked in your calendar, or an irregular party that you simply must plan your holidays around, you’ll find them on this list. There’s a beat to suit every mood here: techno, disco, house, hip hop, rock, dubstep, reggae... you get the point.

Barcelona is a city brimming with music. Concert halls, bars, and big clubs invite all kinds of acts to their stages, from freshly pressed indie bands to globally famous international superstars. Check here to see what's on during your stay in Barcelona – maybe you’ll even stick around longer to see a favourite band or discover a new act.

Every month these parties liven up the gay and lesbian scene in Barcelona. Whenever you’re in town and ready for a big night out, you’ll find these fiestas ready to give it to you.

Get the drinks in, pick a song and start belting: we’ve rounded up nine spots in Barcelona where you can tackle karaoke, so you’ve got no excuse not to join in on the great fun that is embarrassing yourself in public.

Our favourite shops in Barcelona are beautiful spaces with soul and well-selected products, that go for local brands, have history, and know a thing or two about good design. You can find a host of shops with famous brands along Passeig de Gràcia, but keep your eye out for smaller names and lovely boutiques in Carrer de Verdi in Gràcia, and in the Born and Gothic Quarter. We’ve rounded up some of our favourites where you can pick up clothes, books, footwear, gifts, accessories, flowers and plants and more. Discover them for the first time, or go back for seconds.

Unlike a stroll along La Rambla suggests, Mexican hats, flamenco outfits and bull figurines don’t have much to do with Barcelona. To make sure you go home with something a bit more creative, we’ve selected 12 shops where you can get a grasp of the real Barcelona and buy something authentic and unique for your loved ones back home (and for yourself).

Shopping along Barcelona’s biggest shopping street, the grand Passeig de Gràcia, means being right in the heart of the centre of town, where you’ll be taking in a breathtaking modernist building one minute, and the next dodging others out for a walk, in a hurry to get somewhere, or doing their own spending. From the biggest brand names to the most affordable, from the exclusive shops to those open to everyone, you’re bound to find a treasure to carry home that suits your taste and fits your budget.