No te preocupes (Don’t worry!). Here are five cheap eats that will ensure a full belly, and plenty of extra pocket change for all those Gaudi postcards you’ll send back home. They may not be glamorous, but their fare is tasty and oh so inexpensive.

Related: 4 local dishes worth trying before leaving Barcelona

1. Woki

Asturies, 22
Gracia
Website

One of my all-time-favorites, Woki is located in the vibrant Gracia neighborhood, but also benefits from two other locations, one on the beach in Barceloneta and another in Borne (Carders, 6).

Simply select a noodle or rice base for €4 and then add ingredients (starting at €1.30 each). Finally, choose a free sauce, which can be anything from Thai, Hoi Sin or the “House Sauce.”

Hand in your order and the Woki team throws it all together on an enormous wok right in front of you. Since there’s limited seating at Woki, I usually get my noodles to-go, often eating them right out of the box while watching the tide come in.

Grab a sandwich for a wallet-friendly lunch at this cozy cafe. Photo: Facebook

2. Tallers 76

Calle Tallers, 76bis
Website

Right in the middle of the city and on trendy Calle Tallers, this lavender-colored café and restaurant is a right-on choice for sandwiches. Made with artisan breads, sandwiches come in delectable combos like goat cheese with sun-dried tomato and smoked salmon with cucumber.

Hey, it’s a no-frills lunch, but tasty and under €6, though plan to spend a bit more if you purchase a drink or side.

Related: 5 low-cost hotels in Barcelona with amazing locations

3. Buenas Migas

Passeig de Gracia (with locations citywide)
Website

With multiple spots around town, Buenas Migas is an easy-to-find—and yummy—Cheapo option. Choose from focaccia pizzas, ample salads, plus an array of sandwiches and pastries.

A focaccia pizza will run you between €4 and €5 (flavors include ‘meat-lovers’, tomato and basil, and four-cheese). Add a drink with your focaccia and you’ll have a delicious midday feast for around €6!

4. La Central

Calle Mallorca, 237 (with locations citywide)
Website

Not everything offered on the menu at La Central—an eatery within a bookshop—falls under the budget category. However, during the lunch rush, they do offer reasonably priced deli wraps, sandwiches, and some pasta salads. All items range from €6 and up.

But, the real reason I love La Central is for their coffee and ambiance. The place benefits by being one of the city’s most eclectic book stores right in the heart of an old neighborhood. Grab a cup o’ joe, take a seat, and browse the wares.

5. Pans & Company

Plaça urquinaona, 12-13 (with locations nationwide)
Website

In a way I hate to mention Pans & Company because, well, it’s a chain. However, it is also very cheap and the quality and quantities here is pretty good. Not unlike the U.S.-based Subway sandwiches, Pans is fast-food in style, but takes a healthy approach to eating.

The sandwiches and sides offered at Pans are geared towards the classic Mediterranean eater, with combos like melted brie and Spanish ham, or tuna and olives. They also serve large salads and occasionally offer hamburgers.

All sandwiches are under €6 and depending on what you order you will likely have a euro or two leftover to grab a drink, side, or opt for a meal combo (around €6 or €7). Pans also has an espresso bar that offers cheap, good coffee and tasty pastries and breads.

Note: This article was updated on July 31, 2014 with new information, links and photos.

The post Barcelona Food: Five cheap eats under €6 appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Certainly, Barcelona has its fair share of city squares. The neighborhood with the most plazas in town is Gracia, where the famous Plaça de Sol is found. In this typical square you’ll find musicians strumming guitars and cool bars with boisterous clientele.

Plaça de Sol is fun, and well worth a coffee or beer in the afternoon. But you already know it. Here are three more must-see squares to visit in Barcelona:

1. Plaça Neri: Square of the Dead
Barri Gotic

I’d lived in Barcelona four streets over from this square for a two years and never came across Neri. Unless you’re looking for it or staying at Boutique Hotel Neri, a fabulous luxury hotel, then you won’t probably see this sweet cobblestone plaza in the Gothic Quarter. With a fountain in the middle and ancient buildings surrounding it on all sides, Plaça Neri has a peaceful vibe to it.

As soothing and quiet as Plaça Neri is, I can’t help but wonder if it’s not haunted. This lovely plaza has a gruesome history. First of all, it was once the graveyard for Barcelona criminals. In the olden days bodies were buried inside the city walls around churches. No one wanted to be buried next to a murderer, so there was a special cemetery for these undesirables, and that graveyard is Plaça Neri. Lots of bones and ghosts here, and what’s more, bad ones!

That’s not all, it gets worse. During the Civil War Mussolini’s air force lent Franco a hand and dropped bombs on Barcelona. Some of these where dropped on Plaça Neri, killing around 40 school children who were hiding in a school (there’s still a working school there today, but not in the same place) on the plaza. You’ll hear tell that all the pock marks in the walls containing Plaça Neri are from bullets, but it’s not so. The marks are from the second bomb dropped when people came to try and save the dead children.

Grisly history aside, Plaça Neri is beautiful, and well worth a visit. Have a glass of wine at the outdoor terrace of Hotel Neri, or take a look in the quirky Shoe Museum in the corner of the square.

2. Plaça de la Font: Square of the Living
Barceloneta

This is an excellent square to visit any sunny morning of the week for a coffee, croissant and some fun people-watching. The center of the fishermen’s barri, La Barceloneta, this plaza is large with a few cafes, a playground, benches, a newsagent, and a market.

I like this plaza because of its buzz and the fact that’s it’s a “real” plaza still very much used by residents (unlike Plaça Neri). Check out the Senoras buying fresh shrimp in the market and then pick up some bread at one of Barcelona’s best bakeries, Baluard, also on the square. Seafood restaurants and traditional tapas bars line the skinny streets ringing this lively square.

3. Plaça de Sant Pere: Square of the Hungry
Born/Ribera

Here’s another plaza that is very much used by locals of La Ribera. Plaça de Sant Pere is off the tourist beat of El Born, one of Barcelona’s hippest areas, but still in the heart of the old city. Surrounding this cobblestone plaza are elegant old apartment buildings and a few boutiques and cafes. I adore all the flowering trees on Plaça Sant Pere as wall as the old-school street lamps which cast a golden glow over the square when night comes.

One of my preferred Barcelona restaurants happens to be on Plaça Sant Pere, too, La Candela, which serves innovative, international, inexpensive meals. La Candela has terrace seating on Plaça Sant Pere, making it a stellar summer spot to have dinner.

Also in our Barcelona Guide

Visiting Barcelona soon? Check out our reviews of the best cheap hotels in Barcelona, all inspected, reviewed and photographed—and all located in central neighborhoods (within walking distance of each of these plazas). We recommend 38 budget-friendly hotels in our guide, plus offer additional euro-saving tips in our Barcelona articles.

The post Barcelona: Three plazas well worth the visit appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

As the summer approaches the city streets will swell a bit more each month with visitors, tourists, cruise-ship goers and backpackers. This means longer lines at the MACBA and CasaBatllo, cramped buses and hordes of people wandering along La Rambla. Sound like fun?

I do not like crowds, and like them less with each passing year. Maybe I am aging, or maybe I’ve just been elbowed one too many times on the Metro. Either way, I avoid the throngs of tourists in Barcelona whenever possible.

If you too, prefer the road less traveled, take heed and consider these expert tips:

1. Avoid La Rambla

I know, I know, La Rambla is very famous and very central, making it a very easy way to get around the Gothic Quarter. It’s also filled with interesting people doing tricks, selling ice cream and painting portraits. So fascinating, but so filled with people 24/7.

Check out La Rambla quickly and then avoid it the rest of your stay. Take the side-streets, which is what the locals do. This way you will see more “residential” Barcelona and lessen your chances of getting pick-pocketed on La Rambla! It’s a win-win!

2. Come in August

What? But isn’t that when everyone else in Europe is on vacation and therefore on holiday in Barcelona? Yes. But this is also when all Catalans go on vacation and many businesses close for the month.

There are a lot less people in Barcelona in August, and those who are here are either visiting, too broke to travel, or somehow got stuck working while the rest of the city took the month off. Actually, I like Barcelona in August because it is so much quieter.

3. Hit the big sights early

I am not an early riser and fully understand the merits of sleeping in while on vacation. However, if you do not want to stand in line under the blazing Spanish sun to see La Sagrada Familia, then be one of the first in line when it opens.

Another good time to visit popular sights is at lunch, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., but check ahead to make sure they will not be closed.

4. Get a map… a really GOOD map

With a detailed map of Barcelona you will be able to navigate the side-streets and alleyways of the Gothic Quarter, Raval, Barceloneta and Eixample with no problem. Wander off the beaten path.

If you are on a street that has lots of signs for “Real Spanish Sangria $25.00!!!” then you are in a touristy place, you could even be on Carrer Ferran. Just take a right! Or a left and walk on to avoid the crowds. You’ll see some fabulous, tranquil streets this way and go around the masses.

5. Stay in El Eixample

I recently updated EuroCheapo’s Barcelona hotel reviews. Touring Barcelona’s many hotels and hostels I was reminded that La Rambla is by far the worst place to stay when it comes to crowds and El Eixample (either side) is the best place to avoid crowds. Stay in a B&B like Fashion House and experience Barcelona like a local.

6. Avoid the beaches at La Barceloneta

I love La Barceloneta, the city’s closest beach, but this is not where to go for swimming and sunbathing unless you like listening to other people’s conversations, music, arguments, children crying… etc.

Go much further down the Barcelona shoreline to Marbella or other beaches found around the Bogatell stops (requires some walking). You could also rent a bike and take off from La Barceloneta down the boardwalk along the seaside. After a good 15 minutes of riding you will note that the crowds on the beaches thin out quite a bit.

Always remember to watch your belongings on the beach. (Read my previous post about Barcelona’s best beaches.)

Your advice?

Have any advice to add about avoiding crowds in Barcelona? Please share your thoughts in our comments section.

The post Barcelona: 6 ways to avoid crowds during high season appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Harlem Jazz Club

Despite the name, this club offers more than jazz.  Six days a week, Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays), Harlem offers a diverse line-up. Going to Harlem is a local tradition, where you may not know what will be on that night (Read: They used to post the schedule on-line, but no longer do this.), but you can be sure the vibe will be fun and different. Case in point? The last time I went there a Flamenco-Brazilian band was playing a jam set of groovy fusion. Expect to spend €8 for entry and a drink.

Address: C/ Comtessa De Sobradiel, 8
08002 Barcelona
Tel: 933 100 755

Jazz Si

Located in the Raval, this place fills up fast. Concerts start promptly at 9 PM and because they are inexpensive (€7 a pop), they usually sell out. Your best bet is to arrive a half hour early and wait in line to be assured a spot. Check out the line-up via their Web site. Recent concerts featured flamenco, salsa, and pop.

Address: Requesens, 2

Monasterio

This small, but hoppin’ club offers live music every night of the week, plus jam sessions a few times a week. That’s right, Cheapos. During a jam session, even you can play for the house! Tucked away in Barceloneta, most concerts at Monestario cost about €6 though jam sessions are free of charge. Like Harlem, this is a great place to drop into when you feel like taking in some music and maybe getting a surprise or two. A jam session occurs every Sunday night. For more info, visit Monestario’s Web site.

Free concerts in the park

This summer there are free concerts every Friday in Ciutadella Park (city center). It should be said that sometimes these shows are fantastic and at other times they are a yawn. However, it’s really nice to be out in the park, under the stars, listening to the nearby frogs and smelling the aroma of sweet blooming night flowers. Bring a picnic and a couple candles and set up in the grass near the stage. These concerts start at 10 PM and run for about an hour. For a schedule and more, go here.

The post Cheapo Night Out Barcelona: Cheap and free concerts appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.