Photo by Thomas Vilhelm 

I used to live in a small flat at La Barceloneta. During the recurrent heat waves of the Spanish summer it often got so hot that I had to sleep with my head out on the balcony to be able to breath. On nights like that the best idea was to get out of ‘bed’ and walk down to the nearby beach.

A smooth sea breeze would embrace me and I would sit down in the sand with a beer watching the anglers with their long poles or reading a book in the light from the lampposts until it got cold enough to sleep.

Photo by Thomas Vilhelm

Some people still mourn the traditional stall restaurants that covered the Barceloneta beach before the Olympic Games of 1992. I’m sure they were great but so are the four kilometres of playas left by the reforms and unmatched by any other European city.

Photo by Thomas Vilhelm

Also because beach life in Barcelona includes a lot more than the obvious swimming, sunbathing and ‘girlspotting’. You’ll see old men play domino, cards or a local variety of tennis hitting the ball directly with their hands. Others work out, fly kites, surf or play volleyball. And yet others prefer to watch it all from one of the many beach bars.

If you like swimming but hate sand try the sea baths at the northern end of the beaches.

Metro: Any station on the yellow line from Barceloneta to Selva de Mar.