Discover Local Barcelona: What to Do Around Mercure Barcelona Condor

At Mercure, we believe you shouldn't need a guidebook to feel like you belong somewhere. That's the idea behind Discover Local: since 1973, every Mercure hotel has been built around its neighbourhood, not just dropped into it — from the décor on the walls to the flavours on the menu. Step into any Mercure and our teams are on hand with the kind of tips you won't find in a guidebook: the market stall locals queue for, the bar where nobody speaks English, the walk that skips the crowds. They live here. They know. Discover Local isn't a generic city guide — it's a short, honest list of the restaurants, markets and neighbourhoods our own hotel teams actually recommend to guests, updated as the city changes around us. Below, you'll find our picks for Barcelona, an interactive map to help you find your way, and answers to the questions travellers ask us most. So — where will Discover Local take you?

Barcelona in 5 picks

Bar Tomás de Sarrià

Locals argue about a lot of things in Barcelona, but not about this: Bar Tomás on Carrer Major de Sarrià makes the patatas bravas everyone in the city compares theirs to. Go before 1pm on a weekday or you'll be standing at the bar with a caña in hand, waiting for a table.

Mercat de Sarrià

Opened in 1911, this iron-and-brick market on Plaça del Consell de la Vila still runs on the same logic it always has: fresh produce stalls in the morning, a few bar counters where you can eat what the fishmonger next door just sold, and almost no tourists. It's a 12-minute walk from the hotel.

Carrer Major de Sarrià

This is the spine of the old village Sarrià used to be before Barcelona grew around it. Bakeries, a shoe repair shop that's been there for decades, and small squares where old men play dominoes — walk it slowly on a Saturday morning.

Park Güell

Gaudí's mosaic park is about a 10-minute taxi ride from the hotel, or take the metro from Muntaner and change once. Book the timed entry online before you go — the ticket booths at the gate routinely sell out by mid-morning in high season.

El Tibidabo

The mountain the hotel's own rooftop gym looks out over. Take the Tramvia Blau and then the funicular up to the amusement park and the Temple del Sagrat Cor for a view over the whole city and out to the Mediterranean — best done late afternoon before the light gets flat.

Where to eat
Start with Bar Tomás for the bravas, but don't stop there — Bar Menudo, tucked behind Gaudí's lesser-known Mirrales gate, does proper Neapolitan cooking with a wood oven and a short, honest menu. Inside Mercat de Sarrià, the small counter bars let you buy fish or jamón from the stall and eat it three metres away with a glass of vermut. For something more low-key, the terraces along Carrer Major fill up around 9pm with locals having a caña before dinner, not tourists working through a checklist.
Sarrià after dark, before the crowds arrive
Sant Gervasi and Sarrià were their own villages before Barcelona absorbed them in the late 1800s, and the pace still shows it. Evenings here mean a quiet passeig down Carrer Major, an aperitivo standing up at a marble-topped bar, and streets that empty out by midnight instead of getting louder. If you want the energy of Gràcia's plaças and bars, it's a 7-minute walk from the hotel — you get both moods in one stay without ever touching the crowds on Las Ramblas.
Right outside your hotel
Step out of Mercure Barcelona Condor on Via Augusta and Muntaner train station is 100 metres away — a 1-minute walk. Plaça Molina, with its small shops and cafés, is 200 metres further, about a 3-minute stroll. Diagonal Avenue and the Gràcia district are a 7-minute walk, and from the Sant Gervasi, Muntaner or Fontana metro stations nearby, lines 3, 6 and 7 get you to Plaça de Catalunya in under 10 minutes, or to Sagrada Família and Park Güell in around 15.
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FAQ

About 5.6 km, roughly a 14-minute drive or a 15-minute ride via metro line 3 with one change. Book your Sagrada Família ticket a few days ahead — same-day slots sell out most of the year.

Yes — it's a quieter, more residential part of the city, but the Muntaner, Sant Gervasi and Fontana metro stations near the hotel put Las Ramblas, the Gothic Quarter and Barceloneta beach 15 to 20 minutes away by train, without the noise of staying right in the centre.

The market runs Monday to Saturday mornings, roughly 8am to 2pm, with some stalls reopening in the afternoon Tuesday through Friday. Go before 11am for the best selection of produce and the shortest lines at the bar counters.

Where to sleep

See Mercure hotels in Barcelona, all within reach of these picks.

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Where to sleep

See Mercure hotels in Barcelona, all within reach of these picks

View hotels