Guia del Ocio (listings magazine) - Barcelona - General Tips & Advice Reviews

If you're spending a few days in Barcelona, and want to stray a bit from the well-trodden guidebook path, it's essential that you buy a copy of the Guia del Ocio. This is a weekly listings magazine that comes out every Thursday, costs 1 euro, and is on sale at 90% of the city's newsstands. It includes reviews of bars, clubs, restaurants, and movies, as well as schedules for upcoming festivals, concerts, museum exhibits, etc.

Each week's edition will expand your knowledge of the city, and offer you a wider selection of fun activities that you otherwise might not know about. I picked the new one up today and found out (for example) that there is a month-long Brazilian cultural fair here in September, that there is a special historical tour of Jewish Barcelona this weekend, and that Milano is a bar with an encyclopedic cocktail menu and mellow jazz playing. One thing I always check every week is which movies are playing here in English, since I hate watching anything dubbed.

The bulk of each week's magazine is in Spanish, but there is also a short English section with brief notices translated from the rest of the issue. Especially handy for those with limited Spanish is a section that explains (in English) the key terms used in the guide so you can decipher the restaurant, nightlife, and cultural listings on your own. So even if your time in the city is limited and your Spanish is not so great, the Guia del Ocio will help you experience Barcelona more like a local.