Winter sun: Barcelona's best terraces for the season

Located in a building constructed for the Internacional Exposition of 1929 that makes for an incomparable setting, this restaurant is an oasis of tranquility and nature. It’s so dreamy that you’ll want to write poems on the napkins and draw pictures on your electricity bills. They have set lunch menus, and they'll also do set dinner menus for groups. In winter, the café closes at 6pm. Just when the sun starts to set an everyone starts thinking about heading down to lower ground. And just when someone decides it's a good time to burst into song. Whoever does, pays.

Is there anything more unnatural than sitting on a terrace in February, when all they say about the warm Mediterranean climate seems like a bad joke? Well, go ahead and sit at this terrace and enjoy a nice summertime drink, the horchata. Seeing people sitting on the terrace of El Tío Che, located in the most traditional and beautiful part of the Rambla de Poblenou, one would think that climate change is a fallacy. It’s true that horchata is a state of mind, like summertime, or New York. Don’t think that they don’t serve less summery options here, they do. But going to El Tío Che and not having an horchata is like going to Italy and not eating pizza.

The Barceló Raval Hotel offers two terrace experiences. One is on the rooftop, located almost 80 metres above the ground, and offers 360-degree views of Barcelona. To call this aerial view of our fair city a skyline would be a bit pretentious. The other terrace is located on the ground floor, which opens onto Rambla del Raval and Plaça Manuel Vásques Montalbán, and belongs to BLounge, the hotel's bar, restaurant and club. The experience here is more ‘Raval-y’, so, by definition, less peaceful than you might find in other spots. Still, you can sip a cocktail surrounded by scenes that look like they're out of ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’

This place has an Italian air about it, and gets excellent midday sun. What’s more, it’s located in a small and protected square, creating a sort of microclimate. Unlike other spots in Barceloneta that have shed their seagoing identity to attract customers looking for the cheapest food, Filferro offers an excellent range of local cuisine. The bread is from the Baluard bakery, now a benchmark with both restaurants and locals. The restaurant’s ambience is what used to be described as ‘yuppie’, though now, what with the ravages of neo-liberalism, they seem more like an endangered species.

Another Barceloneta terrace, Can Ganassa's is in a well-protected square to keep out the winter cold. But this time, the products, the style and the service are everything you would imagine in this neighborhood. The waiters are welcoming and cheerful, just what you need at the end of a long, tiring day. The design here is defined by the very lack of it; unlike the atmosphere, which is great. Out on the terrace, the sun beats down hard at lunchtime, and the fact that it’s a bit far from the beaches, and that Passeig de Joan de Borbón hasn’t filled up yet, means that finding a table is not completely out of the question.

Jazz concerts, men playing dominoes and children running around everywhere. Families, party people with hangovers and women returning from the market. Aside from all this you'll find good things to eat and drink at the self-service bar. In the middle of the courtyard is a fountain surrounded by benches, while inside the building there are workshops, exhibitions and other activities traditionally associated with local community centres, which is what this is, after all.

Myths about this pub: there's nothing but tourists, covering the space with huge city maps and very little interest in anything to do with the locals; everything is way too expensive; the food is horrible; they’re always showing football on the TVs and playing nothing but U2 between the matches; at night there's no one but drunk women from Bradford celebrating a hen night; it's always too dark; when you leave, no matter what time it is, it always seems like you’re leaving an after-party. As with all myths, some are based on truth, but if there’s one place in Barcelona where myths can be debunked, it's at Flaherty's.

With no offense to the historians of the city, Plaça de Sant Pere is known to many as the Plaça of La Candela. This idyllic location, with its church, photogenic lamppost, and tiled street, is one of the prettiest corners of the neighbourhood. And, in the midst of this Barcelona diorama is the restaurant’s terrace. The food is a fusion, but very modest. They have a set lunch menu, but if you go at a popular hour, you’ll die of starvation before getting a table. That’s why we recommend you dine under the winter sun, read the paper, and most importantly ask yourself, 'Where in the world would I be better off than right here?'

Location is everything. And this classic of the Born district has one of the most coveted terraces in the city. That said, they've also got an enviable wine menu, with an ample selection of bottles and rivers of wines by the glass that they change up regularly. Their anchovy olives and 'longaniza' (spicy pork sausage) are magnificent. And even if you already know, we'll tell you again because you’ve probably walked past their terrace a thousand times and not been able to find a seat. So, when you look outside and it’s raining so hard that it seems like the end of days, don’t stay in. Run to this terrace, fast – because you won’t have a better chance to enjoy it. When the good weather comes, so do the groups of tourists, university students, wedding parties...