Do you think Barcelona is expensive? If you drink a sangria on the Rambla or eat a paella in a touristic restaurant near the beach, you can actually spend a lot of money. But if you know the right places, you can eat or drink on €1 or even for free!
After living for two years in Barcelona, I have a few tips that I would like to share with you.
1. Get one free drink every day!
Yes, for real. I have just discovered a new mobile app that lets you redeem one free drink every day, in the best bars of Barcelona. It’s called Bida: you pay just €9.99 a month and you can browse a map with all the partner bars and restaurants. Just choose one, go there and show the bartender your app to claim your free drink.
Of course, you can’t have any drink on the menu, but every location has a list of 3-4 drinks that you can have for free. You don’t have to pay anything more, just claim your drink and enjoy it.
I have tried it during the last month and it’s crazy! If you think about it, for the price of a single drink, you can have 31 of them in a month! There are many bars in Barcelona you can choose and it’s a nice way to know new places.
You can try it and have the first drink for free with no need of subscribing, if you use this code when signing up: BIDA1802DA4QM.
2. A slice of Italian pizza for just €1
This is a very secret tip. Let’s say you are near Plaça de Sant Pere in the Born neighborhood, it’s almost midnight and you are hungry. Well, right in that square there is a Roman take away restaurant called La Mezcla. They have very tasty Italian pizzas and awesome porchetta sandwiches (pulled pork) I can really recommend.
But there’s more you should know: at 11.30 pm they are about to close and, since they don’t want to waste food, they put out a sign: “A slice for €1”. Just keep an eye on this sign and you will know when you can eat good pizza for cheap. And, if you are lucky, sometimes you can have the sandwich with pulled pork for €1 too!
3. Eat pinchos for just €1 each
One of my favorite streets in Barcelona for food is Calle Blai in the Poble Sec neighborhood. It’s well known for many Basque tapas bars where you can eat a great variety of pinchos: little slices of bread with meat, fish or vegetables on top.
You just grab a plate and choose as many pinchos as you want. Each one has a toothpick on it: keep them until the end. When you ask for the bill (La cuenta, por favor!), the waiter will count them and you will pay just €1 for each.
My favorite bars in Calle Blai are La Tasqueta de Blai and Blai Tonight. The first one has also sweet pinchos!
4. A glass of homemade Vermouth for €1
Spanish people are in love with Vermouth and there are many places where you can drink it. My favorite place is La Tasca del Corral, a taberna in the Gothic neighborhood where you can taste typical Andalusian cheese and sausages.
It’s also famous for its outstanding Vermouth de la casa: you can have a glass for just €1, but I usually go for an entire bottle which is also cheap, if shared with friends!
5. An Italian Limoncello for just €1
Last weekend I had a paella in a restaurant in Barceloneta and I wanted a shot to end the dinner, but everything was quite expensive. So I moved to NAP, the best Neapolitan pizzeria I know. But apart from making the best pizza in Barcelona, you can also have a shot of homemade Limoncello for just €1: exactly what I was looking for!
There is NAP Antic in the Born neighborhood and NAP Mar in Barceloneta. By the way, you should really try the pizza, not just the Limoncello: it’s amazing!
6. A cup of tasty local wine for €1.25
La Xampanyeria is a Catalan place in Barceloneta: rough, small, dirty and chaotic, but very typical. You eat and drink standing among the crowd, but you can taste very cheap sandwiches and tapas with local cheese, meat and sausages.
Their masterpiece is Can Paixano, a sparkling rosé wine they produce on their own. Very tasty, but very cheap: you can have a cup for just €1.25, but you can also have a bottle for just €3 if you go before 5 pm (after this hour you cannot buy bottles anymore, just cups).
7. Drink Mojito for €3.50
There are many places in Barcelona where you can have a cheap, but good Mojito. I recommend Bun Bo, a Vietnamese restaurant where you can drink a Mojito, a Caipirinha or a Daiquiri for only €3.50. Moreover, they serve you the best Vietnamese dishes in the city.
There is Bun Bo Raval in the Raval neighborhood and Bun Bo Vietnam in the Gothic.
Do you know other cheap places in Barcelona that worth a visit? Share them in comments!