Barcelona has a wide and varied range of shops for all tastes and budgets. Known for its excellent personal customer service, the city has become a magnet for shoppers and traders alike making it a very attractive place to shop.


The Rambla, the Ribera, Plaça de Catalunya, Passeig de Gràcia, Diagonal and the numerous shopping centres scattered round the city and its suburban areas attract a large part of the shoppers. But throughout the city one finds many lesser known shopping streets and neighbourhood shops, besides the city markets and street fairs, where one can buy all sorts of items at a fair price.


LARGE COMMERCIAL CENTERS


Barcelona Glòries, Diagonal 208, Metro Glòries. Pern Shops 0am-10pm Mon-Sat
When this gisat commercial center opened in 1995 it did much to revitalize a rather barren part of Barcelona. As well as offices, it houses 230 well-known shops, 3,500 parking spaces, a multiples cinema (films are mostly dubbed into Spanish), bars and restaurants. It´s also great for kids: there are pathways for passers by, there´s plenty of park space, play areas and entertaiment such as bouncy castles and trampolines

Bulevard Rosa, Paseo de Gràcia 55, Eizample . Metro Passeig de Gràcia.Open 10:30am-8:30pm Mon-Sat
In case of rain, Bulevard Roas is of Barcelona´s chi-chi uptown indoor arcade of mostly clothes boutiques and some larger chains including shops.

El Corte Inglés, Pl Catalunya 14, Eixmple Metro Pl. Catalunya Open 10:am-10pm Mon-Sat.
Since its birth in 1940, this retail giant has methodically conqueres the competition to become the only real departmen store in Spain. Its services cover everything you might expect, from watchi-mending to beauty treatments and cashing travelers´cheques. The branch in Plaza Catalunya floors of fashion and home decor, plus good supermarket in the basement and seventh-floor café with fabulous views, while the branch on Portal de L´Àngel has six floors of much , electronics, mobile phone services, books, and sporting goods. If that´s still not enough, there are two more located on Diagonal.

L´Illa, Diagonal 545-557, Eizample . Metro Maria Cristina. Open 10am-9:30 Mon-Sat
This gleaning white hge block is the home to over 100 big-name shops including FNAC and Decathlon, a food market on the ground floor, restaurants, a Caprabo hypermarket, and 6,000 sq of green park.

La Maquinista, Passeig de Potosí, Sant Andreu. Metro Sant Andre or Torras i Bagues. Open 10am-10pm Mon-Sat
La Maquinista is Catalonia´s largest and newest mall. The three leves of this open-air complex house 225 shops, ranging from top-rug designers (Adlgo Dominguez) to ready-to-wear fashions (Benetton, H&M). There´s also a cinema, bowling alley and a carrefour hypermarket.

Diagonal Mar, Diagonal Mar Centre, Metros Selva de Mar and Besós Mar. Open 10am-10pm Mon-sat.
This huge mall is located whre Diagoanl avenue ends, close to the waterfront, is the newest and most modern commercial centre in Barcelona, situated in an area that has become that has the most exclusive services and facilities in town, as it is the Forum Barcelona 2004 area. the mall has more than 250 stores, cinemas, game spaces for children and big explanade with views to the sea.

Maremàgnum, Moll D´Espanya, Port Vell, Metro Srassanes. Open 11am-11pm daily.
Keep going after La Rambla, cross over the undulating wooden bridge, and you´ll eventually end up in this floating full stop. In 1995, the Maremàgnum complex was a novelty, and its shops, discos, bars, restaurants and rooftop mini golf course were the places to hang out. As is the way of things, people moved on, and now it can be rather empty except when families come on Sundays to visit the cinemas or the aquarium.

MARKETS AND FAIRS

La Boqueria: La Boqueria is a covered market with hundreds of stalls devoted to nothing but food. Despite the growth of big box retailers, La Boqueria market not only persists, it is thriving. La Boqueria even creates partnerships with producers as long as their products could be beneficial to the market. Recent sponsors include a local brewery, along with pineapple, orange, olive oil, and even tripe producers.

Art Directe *Jasrins de Capoamor, Ave. Diagonal, 615, Les Corts
Art montyjuïc - Espai d´Art a Líre Lliure, pag. Santa Madrona, 28, Sants-Montjuïc
ArteSants - Mercat D´Artesania *Est Sants, Est de Sants, Sants-Montjuïc
Associació Fires de Sant Ponç del Poble-Sec, Roser, 15, Sants-Montjuïc
Fira Dia de les Comarques Catalanes, Comte d'Urgell, 2, Eixampe
Fira del Llibre i Filatèlia de Nou Barris, Pg Valldaura, 186*190, Nou Barris



USEFUL INFORMATION

Tax Free shopping in Barcelona. Save up to 16% off your shopping bill!!
If you're a Non-European Union resident you can enjoy Tax Free shopping (VAT or IVA in Spain) on goods purchased in Barcelona.

Not many people know if you live outside the European Union and come to Spain for a visit you can enjoy Tax Free shopping . This amounts to a saving of 16% off the price of any items purchased while on holiday in Spain where the total bill exceeds 90.15 Euros. But the service is only applicable to items that you intend to take back with you to your country . The tax saving however is not applicable to restaurants or hotel bills or food items as these items are not seen as exportable but rather a consumable.

So how do you go about getting you discounts? Before we answer this question lets explain what the Tax is exactly.

When a European citizen buys any goods within the EU they pay an automatic tax called VAT (which stands for V alue A dded T ax otherwise known as IVA in Spain) This tax is invisible to the customer they simply pay the price of the item that is displayed in the shops. However all items have a VAT component which amounts to 16% in Spain excluding food items, books and optics which have a 7% VAT tax rate. The shops then pay the government back this VAT every quarter when they do their accounts - It's a round about way for the government to claim additional taxes from the people without them knowing about it!

Currencty Convertor: The currency in Spain is the Euro. You can use the currency converter below to convert Euros into your currency or vice versa. All rates are quoted live. The currency converter will give you a live update of the Euro exchange rate against all the major World currencies. e.g. to see what the Euro is compared to the Dollar or UK pound. The converter works with 80 major currencies and all information is continuously updated.


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