Barcelona is increasingly gaining a reputation as one of Europe's real party cities. Things may start slowly with some food and a few drinks after siesta finishes (at about 1700), but they soon gather pace and by 2300 the city is buzzing. Friday and Saturday nights are when the city is at its liveliest, but the drinking and dancing keeps going throughout the week. Bars are usually open until 0200 or 0300, while clubs and discos keep going until 0500 or 0600. Port Olímpic is particularly buzzing on summer nights, as is Port Vell, where the Maremagnum shopping complex bizarrely metamorphoses into a nefarious collage of cafés, bars and nightclubs and even a mini-golf course open on the roof late into the night. In the last few years, bars modernos with music and designer decor have been popular with a young ultra-hip clientele across the city.

Barcelona is well known for avant-garde theater and for troupes that specialize in mime, large-scale performance art, and special effects. Most plays are performed in Catalan, though some are in Spanish. Foreign films are usually dubbed, although the city has a full complement of original-language cinema houses. Barcelona is also a city with many concert, recital, and opera venues. Check local newspapers for listings. Cabarets, nigthclubs, and dance clubs really get going around 10 and sometimes stay open all night. They are well distributed around town. To find out what's on, look in newspapers' agenda listings or the weekly Guía Del Ocio, available at newsstands all over town. Activitats is a monthly list of cultural events, published by the ajuntament and
available from its information office in Palau de la Virreina (Rambla 99). Metropolitan magazine, published monthly in English, is given away free in English-language bookstores and hotel lobbies.

Bars in Barcelona
Xampanyerías (champagne bars) serving sparkling Catalan wine (cava) are a speciality of the city. Good places for cava include La Folie, Carrer Bailén 169, La Cava del Palau, Carrer Verdaguer I Callis 10, and El Xampanyet, Carrer Montcada 22.

The latter serves cider and tapas as well as cava in vibrant surroundings. Bar Pastís on Carrer Santa Mònica has the honour of counting Picasso among its former regulars. The artist's other hangout was El Quatre Gats, Carrer Montsió 3, is a modernista bar with good beer and live music from 2100.

The original menu designed by Picasso is on show in the Museu Picasso (see Key Attractions section). La Oveja Negra, Sitges 5, is a favourite as much with the international backpacker set as it is with local students. Bar Marsella, Carrer de Sant Pau 65, is the place in town to imbibe an absenta, a close relative of absinthe. For the style-conscious, some of the city's coolest haunts include the spectacular Torres de Avila, Avinguda Marqués de Comillas, Poble Espanyol on Montjuïc, the perennially stylish SiSiSi, Avinguda Diagonal 442, and Mas i Mas, Calle Maria Cubi 199.

Berimbau, Passeig del Born 17 serves up good cocktails to a background of Brazilian rhythms and finally, La Fira, Carrer Provenca 171, lives up to its name with fairground seating and a big-top-style bar.

There is a great bar in Barcelona called Bar Marsella - hidden away in the old quarter of Las Ramblas. It's not really meant for tourists, but some find it. It has not been decorated in what looks like hundreds of years! If such a bar was in the UK, it would look tacky and contrived, but this place is for real - it has a great local atmosphere and wonderful ancient decor.

Casinos in Barcelona
		Gran Casino de Barcelona, Carrer de la Marina 19-21 is open 1300 to 0500 daily. Visitors must be 18 years or over and carry a passport or driving licence. A dress code applies

Clubs in Barcelona
Bizarre night-time adventures can be enjoyed at Sub 34.3, Maremagnum, Port
Vell - it may be expensive but admission includes the chance to go underwater in the club's own submarine. Club Apolo, Carrer Nou de la Rambla 113, is an old-fashioned elegant ballroom featuring the latest in techno and drum'n'bass, as well as live music from Spanish and international names. Saturday night's NitsaClub at this venue is hugely popular. The split-level Moog Club, Arc del Teatre 3, in the Chinese Quarter offers the best of European techno and hosts big international DJs. Salsitas/Club 22, Calle Nou de la Rambla 22, with a well designed bar, restaurant and a dancefloor has quickly become one of the city's trendiest night-spots since it opened in summer 2000. For flamenco dancing, try Los Tarantos, Placa Reial 17 or Tablao del Carmen, Arcs 9, Poble Espanyol. La Paloma, Carrer Tigre 27, is a beautiful dance hall from the turn of the century. The band plays to an enthusiastic crowd with a menu of pasa doble, tango, salsa, flamenco and more. Heyday, Calle de Bruniquer 59-61, is a popular gay club.