Eixample, Barcelona: living on Cerdà's grid
Eixample, Barcelona: Passeig de Gràcia, modernist buildings, the car-free Consell de Cent and metro everywhere. Scores for three addresses.
Contents 10 sections
What the district is like
The Eixample is Barcelona's central district, built in the nineteenth century to Ildefons Cerdà's plan. You can pick it out from a plane: a mesh of square blocks with cut-off corners, crossed at an angle by the Diagonal.
The great modernist houses are here, and Passeig de Gràcia, and hundreds of thousands of residents around them. The district splits into a left and a right half, each with its own feel.
On foot
The grid is easy to live in. Every corner has a bakery, a pharmacy or a bar; markets come every few blocks, and so do schools and health centres. Metro and buses run in every direction.
Consell de Cent has been closed to traffic and planted with trees; Enric Granados was already quiet. Proper parks are few. The gardens inside some blocks, open to the public, stand in for them.
What we measured
The addresses are Passeig de Gràcia, Carrer d'Enric Granados and Carrer del Consell de Cent: the main boulevard and two calmed streets.
| Address | Score | Groceries | Station or stop | School | Park | Noise and air |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passeig de Gràcia (lateral Llobregat), 43, Barcelona | 86.5 | 3 min | 1 minPasseig de Gràcia | 5 min | 6 min | −6.5 |
| Carrer d'Enric Granados, 30, Barcelona | 91.1 | 1 min | 4 minProvença | 4 min | 5 min | −2.0 |
| Carrer del Consell de Cent, 300, Barcelona | 92.4 | 2 min | 2 minPasseig de Gràcia | 3 min | 3 min | −2.0 |
Map numbers match the table rows. Use the plus button to zoom in.
Look at the noise and air row: on the Eixample's through streets it is high, on the pedestrian ones low. How it is counted is on How the score works.
Who it suits
- Expat professionals and remote workers.
- Families who want school and metro next door.
- Anyone who wants to live in a handsome building in the centre.
The trade-offs
The through streets carry heavy traffic, and the air beside them is among the worst in the city. Rents are high. Around the Sagrada Família there are tourists at every hour.
The housing
Early-twentieth-century buildings of six or seven floors, with high ceilings, patterned tile floors and long flats running from the street to the inner courtyard. Many have been divided. Lifts were added later and tend to be tiny.
What to check
With Eixample apartments for rent, the street decides. Ask whether it is a through street or a calmed one, and which floor the flat is on. Rooms facing the inner courtyard are quieter and darker. Find out whether the building has tourist flats.
With children
Families do well here even without yards. Playgrounds are tucked inside the blocks and schools are a short walk.
Without a car
In the Eixample a car is more trouble than it is worth.
Neighbours
Uphill is Gràcia and, beyond it, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. Towards the sea are the Gothic Quarter and El Born.