Barcelona is an open, cosmopolitan city where social cohesion is a reality. The Catalan capital is also ranked among the best cities in the world for quality of life, safety and equality. It is a city that is easy to live in, a healthy city with a Mediterranean climate, green spaces and locally produced food.
The city has good health and medical services, both public and private, as well as a quality education system running from nursery schools to universities and higher studies.
Barcelona has its own lifestyle that makes it unique around the world. Its Mediterranean character encourages visitors to get to know its neighbourhoods and meet its people, to visit its beaches and natural spaces, as well as enjoy their leisure time with a vast range of cultural, culinary and shopping options to choose from.
There are numerous green spaces, parks and gardens spread all over the city, and over 300,000 trees on its streets and avenues. Close by are the 8,000 hectares of Parc de Collserola, one of the biggest natural spaces in the world so close to a city. Catalonia’s capital is the only major European city with beaches inside its municipal boundaries, while its parks, hills and mountains make it an ideal spot for enjoying the outdoors and walking or cycling round.
Barcelona’s beaches stretch over four kilometres from the sailing and fishing neighbourhood of Barceloneta – next to Port Vell, the old port – and run along the entire shore to the Fòrum at the northernmost tip of the Barcelona coastline, and are the most used leisure spaces in the metropolitan area. They attract nearly nine million visitors a year, thanks to their high safety and hygiene standards and the facilities they offer. The sea is usually calm and the water temperature makes it possible to bathe from spring to autumn.
Aside from its beaches, Barcelona has some large green spaces, including urban and hill parks, botanical gardens, mazes and magical locations like Park Güell. The city is ideally situated between sea and mountain, and its leisure options are supplemented by those of the Costa Brava, Figueres and Dalí, the Pyrenees, and PortAventura, as well as many others.
