Review: La Rambla

Tell me: What’s this place all about?
Barcelona’s most famous street—a nearly one-mile pedestrianized boulevard from Plaça Cataluyna to Port Vell—is still the strolling route for the city's visitors. Even if selfie-stick vendors can’t match the charm of the old-school florists, gelaterías, and candy stalls offering bites of crema catalana (a form of crème brûlée) along the way. To predict your next question: But is it La Rambla or Las Ramblas? Well, it’s really both. Originally, the area consisted of five mini-ramblas: Rambla de Canaletes, Estudis, Sant Josep, Caputxins, and Santa Mònica, but they're often lumped together and today, the street sign says La Rambla.

What’s it like being there?
Busy! Particularly with some parts under construction, as a much-anticipated renovation project expands sidewalks, creates new squares and seating areas, plants trees, and, ultimately, extends the street all the way to the sea. 

Pretty interesting! Is there a guide involved?
Not needed; just pick your starting point and walk as long as you like.

Who comes here?
Of the 78 million people who walk La Rambla each year, only 20 percent are from Barcelona. They are the gents reading newspapers in the sun, or locals slipping through a side entrance into La Boqueria market. The other 80 percent are sightseers, bachelor parties, and street vendors selling Michael Kors bags of, let’s say, questionable origin.

Did it meet expectations?
Annoying as it is to keep your purse clenched from pickpockets for a mile, La Rambla has a charm that keeps the 78 million coming. Its building facades can be strikingly beautiful: the opera house, Gran Teatre del Liceu, pulls a crowd both inside and out. At number 83, Antigua Casa Figueras is an unexpected jaw-dropper in Catalan Modernism, all stained glass and mosaics, that’s also a treat of a patisserie. While Plaça Reial (step off La Rambla via Carrer de Colom) is a regal yellow square of bars and restaurants; beside the fountain, find lampposts designed by a young Gaudí. Also, watch your step between La Boqueria and Liceu metro station: artist Joan Miró made a street mosaic that, despite its primary colors, many people miss.

Got it. So, then, what, or who, do you think it’s best for?
If you’ve never been to La Rambla, go. If you’ve already seen the stalls, done the stroll, and succumbed to a pair of $12 shades, there are more restful streets. Carrer d’Enric Granados and Rambla de Catalunya (another, different Rambla) set the bar high for on-street dining. Poblenou’s Rambla del Poblenou is expanding from a locals-only socializing zone into something altogether more hipster. On the hip note, El Born’s Passeig del Born offers sun, seats, and cervezas, yet still with the tranquility of a leafy boulevard.