Barcelona has lost the spirit of the chiringuito. That traditional institution of the beachside bar where you can cool off and have a seafood tapa after a “hard” day under the sun and against the waves has given way to stalls where there is more hummus than paella, and where the prices are aimed more at tourists than at locals. The “tingladus” that once occupied the Barcelona coastline have long since disappeared, and the task of having an affordable beer and a well-prepared dish near the sea sometimes seems Herculean.
That is why we bring you this list, where we present some of the best alternative beach bars in the city. Some are proper chiringuitos, but others are bars or restaurants. Some are on the sand of the beach, and others a little farther away, but always with sea views. But all of them have in common an offer designed for the local public and prices according to what they offer. In short, they are all rara avis of the Barcelona beach that will allow us, finally, to recover the beautiful tradition of the beach bar.
Camping Mar, looking the other way.
The tour begins below the Hotel Vela, in a beach bar that, oh surprise, turns its back to the beach. We have already said that this is an alternative route. Camping Mar is a restaurant of the Tragaluz Group located under the platform where the Wela Hotel is located and overlooking the recently reopened breakwater.
Overlooking the harbor and specializing in fish and rice dishes, this restaurant’s menu can be summarized in a fixed menu of 29 euros, with seafood options to choose from first and rice comme il faut second, demonstrating that the pleasure of eating a paella on the water’s edge is still possible in Barcelona.
📍Marina Vela, Passeig de Joan de Borbó, 103.
Bar Club Atlètic Natació Barceloneta, the relic
For not having one, it does not even have a website. The Cub Atlètic Natació Barceloneta’s bar is just that, the bar of a club. Strategically hidden behind a fancy beach bar that does not appear on this list, the club’s bar maintains the essence of the club itself: simple offerings for longtime customers, who do not have their feet on the beach but on the ground, and who can enjoy a simple beer in the cool of the sea, in front of a century-old club. Normal gastronomic offer for a privileged location.
📍 Plaça del Mar, s/n.
Gullet bow to the sea, secrets in the second Row.
We have already talked about the Guingueta Proa a la mar in another article, because it is one of the bars with the best views of the city for a reason. Tucked away on the second line of the sea, in front of the Hospital del Mar, its location, just across the asphalt of the Paseo Marítimo, leaves it sheltered from the hustle and bustle and the crowds: here you will always find a place.
From its aluminum chairs you can admire the sea, beautiful, making the beer taste even better. The bar, is a social and solidarity economy project that seeks to strengthen the local fabric. To do so, apart from a good terrace, creative sandwiches and tapas with care that, luckily, still go unnoticed hidden as they are behind the first line of sea.
📍Plaça Charles Darwin S/N.
Ca la Nuri Xiroi, the rice beach empire
Ca la Nuri is one of those franchises that are a pleasure to have. The saga of the Nuri begins half a century ago, when in 1962 Nuria, with 24 years, would have the bar Nuria, in Poblenou. Gradually growing until today, they opened first a Ca la Nuri in the Eixample, then another one on the beachfront in the Paseo de la Barceloneta and finally this one, the Xiroi, on the promenade of the Vila Olímpica. Its food keeps up with its tradition and its offer keeps a great secret: every lunchtime a menu of 20 euros allows you to taste seafood delicacies and rice dishes like a king overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
📍Passeig Marítim de la Nova Icària, 38.
Bar la Marbella, another club bar
From Barceloneta to Marbella, another sports club that is a pleasure to have. The Marbella Bar is just that, the bar of the Marbella sports center. Its terrace has no lounge music or other boasts, but in its menu there are tortilla skewers for less than three euros, homemade vermouth and sandwiches that, as before, you can order in halves. Always looking out to sea from the elevated position of the terrace, and with the question in your head as to how this can be kept this way.
📍Ronda Litoral, 86-96.
Bus terrace, is it a bus, a bar, a party?
The bus-truck concept has probably been around for a long time in some Anglo-Saxon country, but it didn’t exist in Barcelona until the Terraza Bus appeared. Halfway between the Paseo Marítimo and the Forum Park, this bus bar enlivens the weekend evenings in the area, becoming an urban beach bar that has made a good place in the city’s plans. A red London double-decker bus, terrace with wooden tables and its good food and drink, even paellas with funk on Saturdays. In short, a beach bar out of the norm for those who have come to the Forum.
📍Av. del Litoral, 488, 08019.
La Base By Farré
La Base By Farré, although it is on the beachfront, is hidden behind the Municipal Nautical Base in the Platja de la Mar Bella so it is usually a corner a little further away from the tourists.
Here we will find the typical and traditional beach bar menu: steamed mussels, “moralla” from the beach or “chipirones a la andaluza”, which we can accompany with a cold beer, a wine or even, if we want to take the experience to its limit, a sangria.
📍 Municipal Nautical Base, Platja de la Mar Bella
Bonus track: Lahore, Pakistani food over water
The bonus on this list is a rarity. No one would associate a Pakistani and Indian food restaurant with a list of beach bars, but the prize always goes to the patients. Only those who have reached the end of this list, or those who have walked to the end of Barcelona will know that there, in the Moll del Fòrum, where the Fòrum park ends and with it the Barcelona coast, a restaurant has opened with a lunch menu at the price of a battle menu. For 13 euros there is chicken tikka massala or tandoori, with its starter pakoras, its refreshing yogurt sauces or homemade lassis. Of course, there are also rice dishes here, but of a different kind.
The presence in this secluded place of customers mostly from the country of origin of the restaurant confirm the quality of the proposal, thus certifying that we are in front of the spiciest, spicy and alternative beach bar in town.
📍Port Fòrum, Moll de la Rda, 12-14.