Christmas Shopping in Barcelona

On 21st November Barcelona welcomed the holiday season by switching on the Christmas lights, filling the streets with joy and color.

Christmas lighting Passeig de Gracia

Barcelona is considered to be one of those places you must visit at least once. Regardless your age and what your interests are, you will most definitely be able to find something in Barcelona that will make you fall in love with this place and have the time of your life while there. Now imagine visiting Barcelona for Christmas! 

Some will enjoy the magnificent architecture, art and museums. Some will love the Christmas lighting and they will spend most of their time strolling all over the city. And yet, there are those who will love Christmas shopping in Barcelona.

In the US, Black Friday is considered the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and since a couple of years Barcelona has adopted this date, which corresponds to the day following Thanksgiving Day, which this year falls on Friday 28 November.  Many large stores in the city now celebrates Black Friday, offering huge discounts.

This 4th December The Shopping Night Barcelona will officially open the Christmas Shopping season.

However, The Shopping Night Barcelona is the event that officially opens the Christmas shopping season in Barcelona. One of the best moments to go shopping in Barcelona is during TSNB, which is going to be held on the 4th of December, 2014, between eight in the evening and one hour after midnight. Passeig de Gracia will be the location where the event is going to be held, like the previous years.

The shopping night barcelona Palau Robert

Not only is Passeig de Gracia one of the most important avenues in Barcelona, but it is also a major shopping and business area of the city. It also has some of the most exclusive stores. Most tourists visit Passeig de Gracia, as notable landmarks such as Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló and Casa Milà, also known as “La Pedrera” are located in this street. Furthemore, Casa Bonaventura Ferrer by Pere Falqués i Urpí and Casa Lleó Morera by Lluís Domènech i Montaner are also located in this Barcelona’s avenue. During the event, the avenue is closed for traffic, so visitors of the shopping night will get a unique opportunity to walk along a busy street of Barcelona, without any vehicles in sight.  It is estimated that over 25,000 people participated in the last year’s event, and this number is expected to be exceeded this year.

The main idea behind the fifth Shopping Night Barcelona is to present the lifestyle of Barcelona, its culture, food and tradition. Besides the promotions, organizers expect the event to influence city’s economy, by boosting sales during the event. The festive atmosphere will be visible, through sparkly decorations, red carpets and cordial atmosphere, as the organizer want to create a memorable event for all of those who love fashion and shopping. In addition, the stores will offer limited edition sales, which might feature some exclusive items of clothing and footwear, which is a perfect opportunity to purchase certain items.

The restaurants in the close vicinity of the event will also make sure that you have a great time during this event. They will participate by providing live music performances, menu tastings and enjoyable atmosphere for all the visitors. All of this combined creates an eventful night full of friendly and festive atmosphere, which is a perfect way to spend an evening out, especially if you are a tourist and you want to experience true magic of the city of Barcelona.

Theme of Barcelona Night Shopping

The theme of this Shopping Night Barcelona is the Golden Age of Hollywood. The heyday of American film industry will be stressed out throughout the event, as well as through the exhibitions and presentations of the great stars that marked the golden era of film history.

Let’s go shopping with glam!

If you need accommodation for these holidays, don’t miss our Dandi apartment just two blocks away from Passeig de Gràcia.

Discovering “the 10 Barcelonas” – Ciutat Vella

In the last years, Barcelona has become a theme park according to many local residents. Areas of interest such as Las Ramblas, Gothic Quarter and Barceloneta attracts millions of tourists each year, eager to discover the history of this wonderful city. However, most of them are concentrated in Ciutat Vella, the first district and the oldest one.

But Barcelona has a lot more to offer if we ventured beyond the historic center. And this is what the City Council is trying to achieve with the campaign “10 Barcelonas” referring to the 10 districts that comprise it. The main objective: let the visitors know that there are lovely places to discover beyond the city center.

In these post series, we will discover together the 10 districts of the City of Barcelona.

Ciutat Vella:

As mentioned, been a tourists you’ll probably spend most of your time in the City Centre Districts of Ciutat Vella, full of streets and squares where you can live and feel the history of Barcelona. Featuring a mix of shops, churches and cafés, this district reveals a mix of old and new Barcelona.

Ciutat Vella comprises the barris of Barri Gòtic,  El Raval, La Barceloneta and Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera (El Born neighbourhood).

A main spot you should not miss in Barri Gòtic is the Gothic Cathedral: This spot has been in continuous use as a place of worship for more than 1500 years. What we see today, however was begun in the 13th century and not completed until the neo-Gothic facade was tacked on 1913.

One of my favorites squares of the Barri Gòtic is Plaça Reial, an arcaded plaza built in 1846, dotted with lampposts designed by Gaudí, just few steps from Las Ramblas. As you make your way to Plaza Catalunya  you will find the city’s opera house, Gran Teatre del Liceu.  This hall will be the stage for the Suite Festival BCN Music Experiencea concert series designed to attract a broader audience, beyond habitual opera-goers.

If you are looking for a great place to stay at Ciutat Vella, don’t miss our Parsifal Apartment. The perfect spot if you are planning to enjoy Woddy Allen New Year’s Eve Concert at Liceu, the first of eight artists that will be playing from December to April 2015 at Liceu.

GANGS OF DENIM – Los Tejanos Invaden Barcelona

El tejano (o jeans) ha sido desde su creación el tejido casual por excelencia. Los pantalones tejanos, específicamente, han pasado de ser una prenda de faena a formar parte de nuestra vida diaria. Tanto si se va a la universidad como si asistimos a una reunión de negocios, un pantalón jeans nos saca de cualquier aprieto. La industria textil lo ha visto claramente y ha dedicado un salón exclusivo para su promoción y comercialización: DENIM by Premier Vision.

El pasado mes de mayo, la edición #14 del salón se celebró por primera vez en Barcelona, una ciudad considerada de las más “trendies” de Europa. Hoy la edición de otoño abre sus puertas en Fira Montjüic y espera superar los 4,000 visitantes. El salón es organizado por Premier Visión, uno de los shows más importantes sobre moda y tendencias que se celebra dos veces al año en Paris, y organizador además de importantes salones de moda en Istambul, Shanghai, Nueva York y Sao Paulo.

Denim by Première Vision es sin duda el evento que engloba toda la cadena de producción del tejido denim, desde el diseño del tejido hasta la confección de las prendas. Más de 100 expositores provenientes de todo el mundo estarán exhibiendo sus productos. Los visitantes podrán ver de primera mano las últimas tendencias en producción, lavados, terminaciones y accesorios. Desde el tejido a utilizarse hasta un botón, serán tendencias a explorar para esta temporada de Primavera/Verano 2016.

Ya seas diseñador, coolhunter, fabricante o distribuidor textil, GANGS OF DENIM Barcelona es el “place to be”. 

Buscando apartamento para alargar tu visita en Barcelona? Tenemos apartamentos disponibles desde 69€ por noche. Reserva YA!

How to do Business in Barcelona – Zuckerberg Style

Barcelona is considered an attractive tourist destination and an important business center, hosting worldwide shows as EIBTM 2014 and Mobile World Congress 2015.

EIBTM 2014

Development of infrastructure and strengthening of the business sector has lead Barcelona to become an international hosts of business events, gathering experts from different fields, such as economy, tourism, technology, etc. Therefore, numerous corporate events are organized in Barcelona every year, providing to the business professionals a huge opportunity for networking and establishing successful collaborations. One of the largest business events organized this year is EIBTM event, taking place now in Barcelona (18-20 November 2014).

The purpose of such event is to bring together the professionals from different industries, especially from travel industry in an event that will combine conferences, presentations, as well as business meetings and networking opportunities. This kind of event is a perfect opportunity for a companies to showcase its work to the other business professionals, and influential people in the sector.

Mobile World Capital Barcelona will host the Mobile World Congress from the 2nd until the 5th of March, 2015

This congress is one of the most important events focused on the latest innovations of mobile communication and technology. However, you will agree that attending such a huge congress might be a bit overwhelming and time consuming – not to mention poor sleeping hours.

If this is your first time attending EIBTM or Mobile World Congress, here you have some tips that will save you time and energy (to be used later on your “networking events”):

  • Download the complete agenda of the event, as well as the directions on how to get to the venue (available online at EIBTM and MWC2015).
  • Once you have defined the location of the event,  you should make your own agenda. Which events are you interested? Are you having meetings? Would you like to attend networking events? Will you like to enjoy Barcelona each day after the congress? Or you prefer to stay some additional days to do so?
  • Having an agenda will let you search the perfect accommodation for your stay. Do it in advance, as you do not want to be at risk of not being able to find suitable accommodation, or staying away from the city center. Business apartments are available near the city center, as well as in the other parts of Barcelona. You can find apartments that are located near the venue where the MWC2015 is taking place. This way, you will significantly reduce the time necessary to reach the venue every morning and to get back to the apartment every evening.
  • Keep in mind that these events are organized in the middle of the week, so you could extend your stay in Barcelona over the weekend, which would be a great idea if you want to combine the business trip with a couple of days of vacation. In this way, you would be able to both attend the event, and spend some time sightseeing or enjoying at the beach. All you need to do is to find where to stay and you are ready to spend great time in Barcelona.

Networking Events

Networking is an important part of EIBTM, MWC and any other business show, as it represents a great opportunity for the participants to meet leading experts, colleagues and other people from from different fields. Besides the chance to acquire some new contacts, this kind of event can also help you establish or improve the existing relationship with other participants, regardless if those are the companies that might be up for a certain collaborative project, or individuals whom you may hire as experts, consults on certain topics, etc.

The atmosphere on networking events is much more relaxed than during different corporate activities on the actual event. Networking events are organized every day in the evening and they are open to all.  The final day of the EIBTM event is reserved for a club night. It is a popular tradition in these events to organize an evening in the local club. This year’s club night will be held in Opium Mar, Passeo Maritim de la Barceloneta, from 10 until 2 in the morning.

The next edition of Mobile World Congress will host a number of conferences with renowned keynotes and panel discussions, exhibitions, as well as networking and business opportunities. Some of the keynotes speakers in the event that is going to be held in Barcelona in March, 2015 include: Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO at Huawei, Mitchell Baker, Executive Chairwoman at Mozilla Foundation, Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia, Charles Scharf, CEO at Visa, and many other people who run world-famous companies.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder & CEO, at MWC 2014

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder & CEO, attended the MWC2014, as a keynote speaker. This made sense given that mobile is key to Facebook’s strategy. This event gave him the opportunity to engage with key mobile operators and publicly announce  Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp.

If you are not from Barcelona, but you would like to attend the next edition of the MWC, you should try to find business apartments, as they are perfect for professionals who are in need of fully furnished apartments while participating in corporate events or attending seminars, conferences, etc., so corporate housing is pretty common in this city.

Finding the Perfect Accommodation for Mobile Congress

We have said before your sleeping hours will be reduced so, you should take the best of that time to have a restful sleep.  Finding business apartments is much better solution for you than staying in a hotel. Not only is it more comfortable, but it is a much more flexible solution, especially if you need accommodation for a longer period of time.

The major benefit when staying in a furnished apartment is that you will have all the perks you get from a real home. Besides more spacious environment, you will also be able to prepare food on your own, which is great if you prefer eating at home than going to the restaurants. In addition, if you are going to attend this event with couple of colleagues, staying in a business apartment will help you reduce the accommodation costs, as you can find apartments with several bedrooms. Finding opportunities for corporate housing in a city such as Barcelona is important, as you will probably have a lot of situations to attend various events that are organized in this city, and establishing a relationship with a company that provides corporate housing opportunities would be a great benefit for your company.

There is no doubt that you will enjoy attending the business events but if you get the chance to explore Barcelona, the visit will be even more complete, as Barcelona is one of those places in the world you simply must visit at least once. It is a place that has much to show off, including magnificent architecture and design, numerous art works and historic locations around the city, delicious traditional cuisine, exciting night life, a lot of shops and shopping areas, as well as a beach that resembles the beaches from the most beautiful resorts. All of this is combined into a city that lies on Mediterranean coast and is well connected with other parts of Spain, Europe and other major capitals of the world.

If you will be attending EIBTM or MWC2015 or if you will be relocated for business in Barcelona, don’t worry! You will find a lot of corporate housing and business-class apartments that will make your stay a memorable one.

Lady Gaga #ArtRave – Barcelona 2014

Barcelona is for many famous singers the No.1 choice when choosing cities for their tours. Last Saturday, it was Lady Gaga who took the stage on the #PalauSantJordi, providing 18,000 fans her “one and only” performance in Spain on her #ArtRave, ArtPop Ball Tour.

lady gaga art pop tour

lady gaga art pop tour barcelona

gaga art pop tour barcelona

Gaga, whom appears to have gained at least 20 pounds, made her presence when she jumped off the stage. Her “Little Monsters” went crazy and her security personnel was forced to intervene to bring the diva back to the stage.

Who’s NEXT? Elton John – Saturday, December 6 2014
Palau Sant Jordi – Barcelona – 21:00