When the clown and stage creator Guillem Albà was almost six years old, his parents performed with the puppet theatre company L’Estaquirot Teatre: “They did summer tours specifically to take us with them, my brother and me, and to be together, also with our grandparents, until the time of the performance, when we all went to see the show,” he recalls. They stayed for a few days in different coastal towns like Calella, Sant Feliu, or Palamós, but he has always associated those summers with Blanes. He admits he couldn't explain in full detail what Blanes is like, even though he has returned there as an adult, always drawn by the memory of those holidays.

Peaks, summits, ridges, edges, spurs, glaciers, gullies, walls, rocks, valleys, lakes, meadows, flowers, forests, paths, smells, colors… scientist Lluís Torner likes everything the mountain offers him and especially what is found in the Pyrenees: “It is impossible for me to choose a specific place, I like all of the Pyrenees and I do most of the things that can be done there. When I was young I did a lot of climbing, now I climb peaks, go down valleys and with my family I like to ski and go see lakes. In the mountains I am happy and in the Pyrenees even more so”. He believes that one of the reasons why he likes it so much is for the aesthetics, the beauty of what he sees, and even though humans are polluting the planet, the mountain is still, almost always, a pure and clean place, which allows for intense contact with nature.He is unable to remember the first time he went there. He explains that for someone from Berguedà, like him, hiking is common. Upon reaching adolescence, he went to climb the first peaks in the Pyrenees, with older and more knowledgeable people. He admits that since the eighties the landscape has changed quite a bit; then there were about twenty glaciers and now there are four left, and they are small. He comments that it is visible proof that the planet is warming as a whole, a shame for what it means and because this spectacle of nature is disappearing. Torner refers to the white that remained in the summer, a white part around rocks that are usually red: “In mid-July the snow had already disappeared, only the old, black ice remained, and it is not the same. It is sad, the mountains look strange, as if they had been stripped bare.”As an adult, he has also continued to go to the mountains: “When we made family plans, they were in the mountains. The children, even if they didn't like it as much, already knew we were going,” he says, smiling. He is also proud to have many mountain friends, to enjoy it with friends and family, and assures that apart from them, science and the mountains have been and are his life.

Until not so long ago, Conrad Roset's relationship with Girona was sporadic. The artist, illustrator and director of Nomada Studio had been there a couple of times, and back when his brother was studying at university, he had also gone to party at the stalls, during the Sant Narcís festival. That Girona has nothing to do with the one he now enjoys a few years ago, as they often go there taking advantage of visits to his partner's family in Santa Coloma de Farners: “I’ve been discovering it little by little and I like it more and more. We go for walks, to some shops, to dinner… It has many things that have stolen my heart.” He explains that if they ask his son Guim where in Catalonia he wants to go, he will surely always say to Nomo, his favorite restaurant, a Japanese place in the old town. Girona is Conrad's favorite place: “It's beautiful and well-kept, culturally it's alive, things happen there”. He talks about the concerts he's attended at l'Estrenes and Festivalot or the exhibitions at Fontana d'Or. He also appreciates specialty coffee, which he values more in this city where there isn't a place on every corner, and emphasizes the dining scene: “This year we went to El Celler de Can Roca, it's a spectacular experience”. Another incredible thing about the city is its proximity to the sea and to a series of beautiful Romanesque villages, such as Monells, Madremanya, Púbol or Peratallada, with an architecture, he says, incredible and where a Mediterranean vibe that he really likes can be felt. Roset has also been in Girona for work, giving talks about video games: “The GameGi is a video game incubation program that is located in El Modern, a former cinema. The place is fantastic”. He admits that on some of these visits he also considers the possibility of moving there and imagines himself living there: “We left Barcelona years ago, we are very happy in Terrassa, we have a better quality of life than in the capital, although sometimes it feels a bit small for me”. Nevertheless, he is convinced that if they moved to Girona, the same thing would happen to them as to many people from Girona, who complain that the city is overcrowded, is losing its identity, is full of cyclists and establishments designed mainly for tourists. A small-scale replica of what happened in Barcelona. “It's surely happening, but from the outside it's hard to see all that,” he assures.

About twenty years ago, fashion designer Miriam Ponsa was returning from a fashion show at the Benicàssim Festival, where they had been invited, and they stopped at the Ebro Delta. She recalls they were exhausted: “We were towing the car with a 70s caravan attached. There was absolutely no one, you could park on the sand and make a fire.” That's how she began to discover the Delta, her favorite place in Catalonia. From then on, she went there first with friends, in tents, and then with her family in a camper van. She comments that the camper and caravan areas have changed a lot, everything is very organized, but the rest maintains its essence quite a bit, there is little infrastructure in the beach area and not many beach bars are set up either: “You can still go to places where you don't meet almost anyone, it's very nice there, and it's a bit wild, I love it,” she explains.

An August 11th many years ago is the protagonist of the song of the same name by Els Nens Eutròfics, the music group that Josep Pedrals had. The song, which intentionally begins with a beat of 11/8, tells of a holiday in Montserrat. And it is that the poet and rapper is very clear that Montserrat is his favorite place in Catalonia: "I hold it dear because as a child I walked the entire mountain." That is where he spent all his summers until his early twenties, and as he got older it has been a place to take refuge and go to write: "When we were younger we stayed there for two months and in August we met up with the group of friends, which was changing, those from the first and second fortnight. Even now, every June we meet with the group." When Josep was seven or eight years old, his father, who was already retired, was the one who took care of him and his sister, and his mother would come up on weekends until she settled in for the holidays. Pedrals liked these holidays of staying in one place, living there and feeling like you belonged there.It explains that over the years Montserrat has been changing and expelling people, only one and a half buildings of cells remain, and there used to be three. The type of public is also different: “Now there are tourists, foreigners, who are passers-by, nothing to do with the people who used to come up with their lunch boxes and eat on the way to Sant Miquel”. He recalls that there was a lot of life, it was a kind of mini-village of summer residents where many things happened: they organized hot chocolate gatherings, rum punch, bicycle races, a scary route along the path of the drips… “It was fantastic”, he assures.

Accustomed to traveling all over Catalonia for work, photographer Joel Codina has found it difficult to choose his favorite spot. It was after considering where he feels most comfortable or why he returns, that he decided on Salardú. Four years ago, he established the tradition of going alone for a week: "I don't do it to find myself or hug trees, I just felt like it, it's an opportunity to be in a different way, and I've realized that I need it." He recalls the first time he went there, when he was working at the Department of Research and Universities, on an outing to Viella and Salardú, the whole team stayed at the hotel where he returns every year. "I like to go to a place that isn't foreign to me and where I know I'll have a wonderful time."There he completely changes his environment. Used to a job with tension, noise, and many people, it's hard to disconnect. He always stays at the Hotel Deth País, where he usually meets a group of friends. Last year he met a Basque retired couple who have been going there for thirty years: “They don't leave the Aran Valley, they know everything. It was a luxury to do some excursions together.” Sometimes he chooses to be alone and other times accompanied, and he tries to go when the Dansàneu Festival is celebrated, to enjoy some of the shows. He loves not having any obligation or prediction of how the day will be, if he can he goes for a walk, heads towards Montgarri, to see a lake or to Les. He improvises.  Explica that Salardú is like many of the towns in the area: narrow streets and stone houses, in an exceptional natural environment with the mountain, the river, the fountain and a strange and pleasant sensation at the same time; a foreign place that feels familiar: “Visually it takes me away from my day-to-day, which takes place mostly in Barcelona”. In Salardú, his life takes place in the mountains, the swimming pool and the bars or restaurants where he eats, three basic parameters that disconnect him from the usual stress and agitation, going up and down all day, covering two, three and four acts. This simplification gives him peace of mind, his head is carefree, he knows that if it's not one street, it will be the next one or the one beyond. A simplicity that he finds tempting to the point that he considers the possibility of moving there. He often goes with his camera: “Instead of photographing books, presentations, politicians or events, I photograph nature that takes me somewhere else”. However, always in summer, he doesn't like the winter atmosphere, he says snow and he are not friends. When he was young he tried skiing and hasn't repeated: “They propose me getaways or excursions in the snow with snowshoes, but it doesn't appeal to me. I'm more of heat and sun”.

The love story of Laura Sagnier with Empordà began more than thirty years ago, when with what was then her boyfriend they started taking some weekend getaways. Empordà was the place where they got married and decided to spend their summers, first in a hotel and then buying an apartment: "It's curious because neither of us had any ties there, nor was it a family summer destination, but it became a special place for us". The activist for equal opportunities for women and men feels a special connection with this territory, which she associates with countless good things and likes for various reasons, such as the light it has, the possibility of being close to the sea and swimming, which she loves. More things: there is a lot of green, it has the perfect combination of sea and countryside, and you can look into the infinite because it is very flat, with hardly any relief. The landscape transmits peace to her, "there is a sense of calm, it is relaxing, and we are wonderful there both in winter and in summer, even though the life we lead has nothing to do with it". In the summer, when there are a lot of people, they hardly move from their area. On the other hand, in winter, when traffic is easier, they take the opportunity to do more tourism. In addition, cycling through the fields of Empordà has become their main hobby: "I started on medical advice, at a time when I was very stressed. Now I try to do it at least three times a week. Pedaling and finding fields of sunflowers is incredible". Another of Sagnier's hobbies is eating and drinking, and he assures that Empordà has an impressive gastronomic offer: “I increasingly like simple cuisine with good products. In this area there are great professionals and at a price that can still be afforded”. Among his recommendations are the Toc al Mar chiringuito in Aiguablava, especially for dinner; a lifelong restaurant like Vicus in Pals; Cala Nena in Peratallada, for a treat, or the Mooma cider house in Palau-sator.He says that the people of the area are also peculiar, he believes they are a bit abrupt but genuine, sincere. “The people you deal with are fantastic, really. I've been buying fruit and vegetables from the same farmer for over twenty-five years, I go to the market… I like them a lot”. Besides taking advantage of the proximity to the sea, it suggests visiting villages in the area that are true gems like Peratallada or Pals, beautiful. To the list of must-sees, it adds the Jam Museum in Torrent, and climbing the Montgrí massif, “from this Natural Park you can see the Medes Islands and the mouth of the Ter river”.

Ever since the musician Guillem Roma was little, he hasn't stopped exploring the forests of Collsacabra and enjoying the Font del Faig area. He grew up in Manlleu, but he has always spent his weekends and summers in Cantonigròs: “It’s my place to discover life. I used to go there as a child on my bike, we would go on excursions and I had a cabin in the middle of the trees”. The dream of any creature, having a cabin. He explains that at nine years old he had his secret place, where he felt free and wild: “I was so cinematic that I even set traps in case the enemies came”. With his friends, they would set traps, build the cabin, clear the path, name the trees, and that piece of forest that seemed so immense to them, as he got older he realized it was actually a margin. This area of the forest is where the music video for his song Un lloc” takes place. Explains that the relationship he has had with the forest has been a thread of inspiration very present in his creative universe and his music. He felt good there. On the one hand, he was attracted by the feeling of freedom, of having to decide what he did or where he was going: “This wild point of inventing paths fascinates me”. And, on the other hand, there is the utopia of non-civilization, of being on the margins of this hostile, tidy and compartmentalized world, where everything goes so fast. “The chaos of branches and leaves, where you don't know what shapes you will find, has a point of mystery, of inaccessibility, of feeling a bit on the margins, also appeals to me,” he says.Over the years he has been aware of the privilege it was to live that way. They had the house near the wooded area, he would cycle and in two minutes he would arrive there. Sometimes he went with his sister, who is younger, or with another boy also younger, but he often went alone and was not afraid. He no longer lives there, but every time he goes back it's a moment of return to the place that for him is home, “even more so than home,” he points out. He has always been an explorer and builder, he liked playing with Lego, and now on Instagram content about renovations appears to him. Roma believes this interest is born from all those days he spent in the woods. The cabin is still there, and he likes to share it: “When I go to Cantonigròs for the first time with some friends, or when I met my partner, we go for a walk there and I show it to them.”As he has grown older, he has been expanding this treasure. At first it was in the cabin and on the path, and when he was older he would go on excursions with friends to Tavertet. “It is curious that you change and the place also changes; there were trees that are no longer there, a lot of vegetation has grown around the cabin. Places mutate,” he reflects. Now he continues to go there, and admits that it is practically a necessity because he loves natural spaces.

A year ago, Brian Giner, a content creator and activist against bullying, was celebrating his 25th birthday at Cala Ginesta in Sitges. It is one of the first places he went with his partner, and since then a recurring spot to celebrate special days like the eve of a holiday, gatherings with friends, and their first anniversary as a couple, “with candles and a very special dinner, taking advantage of the fact that we were practically alone on the cove”. He discovered it thanks to one of her relatives: “We went there without knowing what we would find and we liked it a lot. Now it's overcrowded, but three years ago you could barely find photos on Google”. Since they installed a beach bar, many people go there, but despite being excessively crowded for his taste, the sunbeds, and that it seems less authentic, it is his favorite place in Catalonia. He usually goes there by car, parks in the car park near the port, crosses it on foot, and in five minutes he reaches the cove. Giner has always had a special connection with the sea, it reminds him of his grandfather who was a sailor in the port of Barcelona all his life, and his father who accompanied him from time to time. Lately, he only goes there two or three times in the summer, so he avoids the crowds and takes the opportunity to discover other coves. “If I can, I escape to a small cove, I prefer small spaces to more conventional and artificial beaches. I am not very fond of crowds,” he admits.  He admits he is more of a mountain person, he likes its silence to be left with the sound of birds and tree leaves, far from the city: “This disconnection from routine makes me feel like I'm on vacation, it's where I feel most connected with nature”. This and the fact that he doesn't tolerate heat well explain why he doesn't spend much time at the beach: a maximum of a couple of hours of sun, taking the opportunity to swim for a while and then having something they've brought to eat, sheltered under a shade, before returning home. Sometimes he has been with friends jumping from the rocks, and he comments that lately he has become fond of snorkeling. He grabs his goggles and spends long periods looking underwater as if he were a floating jellyfish: “I also like to go my own way. One of the things I do is go to the rocks to listen to the sea and watch how it hits the rocks, feeling the people from the background. My particular white noise”. Of Cala Ginesta he especially likes the moment when the sun goes down, when it seems to enter the mountain, where there is also the tunnel through which the train passes.

Since trumpeter and singer Andrea Motis was little, her parents have had a house in the town square of Argelaguer. It was a second home for weekends, long weekends, and holidays, which they didn't take advantage of as much as they would have liked. Even so, Andrea feels fortunate to have had this enriching experience, which would not have been possible in Barcelona, where she didn't walk alone through the streets until she was eleven years old. Instead, in the village she made short trips from the age of six, going with friends to the church area or the football field. It was there that for the first time she went alone to buy bread at the bakery and the newspaper for her grandfather, "quite an adventure," she says. She moved around by bike from one place to another, it was there that she learned to pedal: "We would go on paths from village to village, to Sant Jaume de Llierca, which was a short and beautiful route, and we also reached Besalú."  She is convinced that there are differences between children who grow up only in the city and those who have some experience of village life, even if intermittently: “In Barcelona life was more limited, going to school and extracurriculars. In Argelaguer there was a lot of social exchange, we had to make more decisions, the risk was also more present and there was less adult supervision”. She is aware that she has always fallen in love with people who have grown up in rural environments, they seem more attentive and sharp than those from the city. Regarding having chosen Argelaguer as a preferred place, she believes that being a mother has influenced her; otherwise, she would surely have opted for a space that inspires her professionally: “Village life gives you the opportunity to feel free, to have to decide what you do and where you go, it opens up a lot of possibilities for you, without specific guidelines like when you go on a camp”. She admits that as a mother, with her partner, they consider whether Barcelona is a good option to live or if they would like to settle in a smaller place. That's why, with the children, they go camping a lot, which is a similar experience: “We have a van where we can sleep and we live there for two months. It's our version of the village. And if my partner or I have a concert, we accompany each other to the nearest airport, we leave for as many days as necessary and then we return”. Her father is Argelaguer's biggest fan, who has passed on his love for the town to them. She returns from time to time, and although she doesn't see her friends from there regularly, they always meet up when they can to catch up. Regarding the house, if it's very cold or hot, it might not be the most practical home, but she loves that it's an accordion house: "if necessary, many people can fit in". Sometimes they went there with the four grandparents, school friends, and the friends' parents. "It's a house where you can make room, it has a lot of beds. A kind of refuge, even though you spend most of the day outside," she recalls.

Tossa de Mar is the favourite place in Catalonia of actor Marc Biarnés Sierra, known on Instagram as @nosoloviernes2. He used to holiday there from the age of 5 to 20, at Camping Pola: “I won’t reveal any secrets, because the tourists arrived a long time ago, if I say that Cala Pola is wonderful, one of the best beaches in the world”. For Biarnés, that campsite, which was right in front of the beach, has lost its charm of “Catalan customs” since they turned it into a super resort. “It’s not what it used to be, they’ve made it for tourists. Before, many people from Barcelona used to come, we were the usuals and some foreigners,” he recalls.

The screenwriter and humorist Maria Rovira, also known as Oye Sherman, believes we should rethink tourism: “We Barcelonians who go away should think about the logic we suffer in the city all year round and ask ourselves if we are becoming gentrifying agents in other towns and cities”.Following this reflection, he chooses cinemas as his favorite place, a cool space with air conditioning and a window to the world. He suggests going to the cinemas, “perhaps this way we can manage to keep them alive until September and they don’t become a supermarket, a clothing store or an establishment without history or personality”. He recalls that in his neighborhood, more than ten years ago, the Lauren Horta cinema closed, which became a Condis.To the screenwriter, who this summer is making a series of film recommendations in Retorn al videoclub by ARA, she also likes to go to Filmoteca, Verdi cinemas and Renoir Floridablanca: “Actually I like them all. Balmes is huge, it looks like a kind of space shuttle”. She admits she is not one of those people who prefer to watch a film practically alone in the room, she prefers to experience the screening as a collective experience, beyond the people she might go with, “as long as it coincides with a civilized audience”. This special connection is usually with films shown at festivals: “It's a unique experience, which I do much less often than I'd like. Normally, premieres coincide with a time slot when I'm working, on television, or performing a gig.” Despite this, he usually checks the schedules for IN-EDIT Barcelona, D'A, or DocsBarcelona, which he particularly likes. Let's see if he can combine it to go: “This year I was at Docs, a real triumph.”For years I had gone to the cinema a lot, “it's the typical thing that I don't do as much as I would like and I intend to correct it,” she comments. She also considers the option of the cinema when she is in a city that is not her own, especially if she is doing tourism, it is summer and it is hot: “It is the perfect time to stop, rest and have an interesting experience besides the film: seeing what the cinemas are like and the people who go there is another way to get to know places”. When she manages to go to the cinema, she is one of those who buys tickets in advance, "it's already exceptional enough to venture out and have to watch it from the corner." Remembering, she recalls when she saw Mullholland drive from the side front row, a disaster. If she can choose, no morning or very late sessions, as she tends to fall asleep, and preferably in the original version, "although as a child I watched them dubbed." When she was a little girl and discovered voice actors, she was very excited to know that Pep Anton Muñoz voiced many bad Disney characters or that Ross from Friends and Timon from The Lion King were the same voice.

Almost every Sunday, except when he is traveling, we can find Xavier Marcet on the mountain of Sant Llorenç del Munt and the L'Obac mountain range. It is where the driving force behind the humanist management movement and vice-president of the Marlex group has always gone for walks, first with his grandparents, then with his father, also with his children, and even with his grandchildren. Cala, his dog, always accompanies him now, and when he can, he shares the walk with his friend, Ramon: “It’s the place I miss the most when I’m away, I go there practically every week. It’s a natural park not so big that you can’t find a new route each time you go, but big enough to have a small festival each time I discover a new path,” he explains, satisfied. For Marcet, it is much more than a beautiful landscape: it is a very emotional landscape full of family memories. He assures that it is perfect when he needs solace or to find himself, he has lived many hours of serenity and contemplation of beauty there, with views of Montseny, the Pyrenees and the sea. When he arrives tired from traveling, he goes there because it is a space that welcomes and heals him, where he regenerates better: “Happiness is returning to familiar places. A part of my happiness is returning to Sant Llorenç, which is part of my life; this is where we end up going for walks to celebrate good things.” His passion for the mountains has become the perfect excuse to give him gifts: “I could put on a fashion show, nothing to do with Grandpa's espadrilles and velvet trousers.” His favorite place in Catalonia is this landscape with a geological typology similar to Montserrat, with a lot of human intervention – there are charcoal pits and forestry work has been done – where episodes of the Carlist wars also took place and there were refugees after the Civil War. He has magnificent memories of walking with his father and grandfather, who told him stories of bandits and the war: “These stories, which are the ones that remain, are a way of humanizing the mountain and making it our own. I would like to pass on this emotional legacy,” he acknowledges. Walks in the natural park are also associated with the family dogs, who have been very present in the way of living with the mountains. He explains that walking is going there with the dog: “Now with Cala, but before with Xica, Linda or Xispa. It’s very hard for me to go if he’s not well, I feel sorry. I experience it as a betrayal”. Normally, they go on three or four-hour excursions, and they always try to avoid the main routes. On weekends there are thousands of people, but on their routes they only encounter six or seven; this way they can experience the mountain in a context of silence. They only like it to be broken by the sound of birds or an animal. Even when talking, they try to maintain this silence, "it's a way of respecting it, of taking care of it".

Being from Montblanc, the Pyrenees that communicator Candela Figueras first knew, and that she likes, are those of Pallars Jussà and Sobirà. But she has ended up in Cerdanya. “For me, Cerdanya was the Pyrenees of the people from Barcelona, with the Cadí tunnel giving access. And perhaps, I even underestimated it a little, but now that I know it, I know it is a privileged, authentic and well-connected place. And I feel fortunate to be able to enjoy it”. Furthermore, one of the sports she has always liked is skiing, because it combines nature, adrenaline and can be done in a group. She is also fascinated by the stone villages, finding genuine local people there, hearing the cows moo and the bells ring, and seeing people working the fields. Having grown up between Lilla and Montblanc, Candela likes village life, its different houses clinging to each other, people greeting each other in the streets and chatting in bars, seeing the worked fields, the livestock grazing and hearing the hours strike on the church bell tower. “They give me peace and calm. And I find that in Cerdanya, although I admit that many weekends we move around the region fleeing the crowds that are there,” she explains. She has the theory that village people understand each other, as if they had a special DNA: “You have to win them over little by little and then they give you everything, like farm cats, which are distrustful at first, but then they are close and generous. I feel at home here.”For the last four or five years, whenever he can he escapes there on weekends and in the summer: “I am lucky and privileged to be able to be here and disconnect, in an apartment that my in-laws bought many years ago”. He enjoys walking with the dogs on a clearing near home, from where he sees Tosa and Cadí. When they walk in winter, he is amazed by the cold mist that comes out first thing in the morning. “Small details that I didn’t need before, but now I think I wish I could live here for a season”. He believes that everyone has various favorite places depending on their life stage, and now his calls for Saga: “I like to see Gus and Leia running freely on the paths and without strident noises, so different from Barcelona”. He comments that their energy changes when they are there, and he loves to see them so relaxed and calm.If he doesn't go skiing, he prefers to get up calmly, let the sheets stick a little, make a coffee, go for a walk in the mountains, perhaps reach Ger, dip in the pool, talk to Izaskun from the beach bar, return home, do a little work and go to a bar to chat: “At David’s in Alp I meet people who are like family, I like to meet Isidru or Keke and chat for a while. I'm happy having a vermouth with them”. When he is in Cerdanya, he takes the opportunity to rest and disconnect. It seems curious to him that when he lived in Montblanc he needed the freedom that Barcelona offered him. And now he needs the village life, the calm of the mountain, the dip in the pool, and the relaxed hours.

When actress Marta Belmonte was in her early twenties, she took one of her first trips with friends to the Catalan Pyrenees. The objective was to hike the Carros de Foc route within the Aigüestortes National Park and Estany de Sant Maurici, a circular mountain route that connects nine refuges. “It was an improvised getaway, I hadn't prepared anything and I joined at the last minute, perhaps that's why it surprised me so much and I have a very good memory of the landscape and the whole experience. They were incredible days,” she comments. She admits she wasn't very physically prepared. While doing the route, she grumbled a bit, and in the end, they decided not to finish the trek: "Even so, it was fantastic. There were three of us friends, we were carrying backpacks and tents to camp in the middle of nature, in case we didn't reach the refuges. It's a spectacular area, I'd like to go back, now I would finish the entire route." Although she has been to the Pyrenees more times, she has done so more towards France and the Huesca area. She has never repeated the Carros de Foc. Belmonte believes that sometimes we go far away to see spectacular places and it wouldn't be necessary, "Catalonia is impressive, with a brutal diversity of landscapes that has nothing to envy other places. I really like green and water, seas, rivers… and Estany de Sant Maurici is extraordinary," she points out. The route was very varied, it was spring and the temperature changed a lot depending on the altitude and the time of day, they went from wearing short sleeves to treading snow.

The street Nou de la Rambla in Barcelona is the favorite place in Catalonia of the philosopher and cultural communicator Leo Espluga. After thinking about it a lot, he has decided that he would choose a place where he feels rooted, even though it is not the city where he was born.“I'm from Castelldefels, but when I started working in Barcelona, I came to this area. This was the first place I moved to and I worked very close by. I like that it connects Paral·lel with El Raval and Poble-sec, and you can find the city's underground here. Now I also live very close, two streets away”. Before living here, when I was in Castelldefels and came down to Barcelona to go out at night, I had already discovered it, I used to go to Apolo, Sala Meteoro, Tequila Boom Boom, Bósforo and other typical places in the area. And when I settled in the city, without being very aware of it, I spent a lot of time around here. For Espluga, Nou de la Rambla is the epicentre, a fairly central axis in the lower part of the city, which represents the Barcelona she likes, with a different social composition, many local people who have lived there for a long time: “There are migrations of many types and with a certain sense of locality, who coexist with professionals from the more creative world, who also give the neighborhood its character”. The virtues continue: it has fantastic light, it is close to the sea and, if you go all the way up, you reach Montjuïc, where he finds a lot of peace. He believes it is increasingly difficult to find corners like this, "because there is always something that distorts": "There are streets that have soul, but they are a bit threatened by different elements. Now I see that the composition of Poble-sec is changing, it is being gentrified and at the same time there are more people sleeping on the street. It's complex, it has powerful spaces like Sala Meteoro and other small projects that are threatened because they don't have enough money".Leo Espluga remembers that he often used to go for breakfast at a traditional bar on Blai street, Bodega Vidal, which was run by two fantastic women, but it also had to close. "And little by little, you run out of important places," he comments. Also, important people in his social life live a few streets away from Nou de la Rambla. Coincidence? "Not so much, we live around here because it continues to be a place with charm and soul, without so many tourists, and even though prices are expensive, they are less exorbitant than elsewhere," he explains. The philosopher particularly likes the upper stretch of street, the connection with the entrance to Montjuïc, where the Sala Apolo is located, and then, going down, he especially recommends in spring and October the intersection with Paral·lel: “In the morning and at dusk it has a beautiful light,” he assures. 

Torroella de Montgrí is the favorite place in Catalonia of Antònia Carré-Pons, an eclectic reader, editor, writer, winner of the Òmnium prize for best novel of 2025 for La gran família, and founder of the Cal Carré publishing house, which publishes medieval, modern, and contemporary classics. Antònia maintains the theory that nature is a state of mind, depending on how your soul is, it is valued in one way or another, therefore, it's not just beauty that counts, what makes the difference is the people who accompany you and how you feel with them.  For more than twenty years, he has spent a few days at the home of some friends in Torroella de Montgrí, “where you have one foot in the middle of nowhere and the other in civilization,” he states. He had been to the town a few times before, but going there assiduously has allowed him to make it his own. He explains that it is a town that, despite being a summer resort, retains its soul because it has a cinema, the Vila Casas Foundation, the Pere Blasi library, a bookstore as fantastic as El Cucut, and many shops: “These are places that accompany you and allow you not to be absolutely isolated or to be without seeing anyone.” There is also Montgrí Castle, the hermitage of Santa Caterina, where Víctor Català was inspired to write Solitud, and nearby the Foixà forest, where King John I died in 1398 after falling from his horse during a hunt.Torroella is liked even before arriving, when from the road you can already see the silhouette of Montgrí welcoming you. The days spent in Torroella are used to go to the beach, take a little walk, visit surrounding villages and above all to stay at home: “It has an extraordinary courtyard with shade where we chat, which is one of the most pleasant things to do, chatting with nice people, no heated discussions”. In summer, he stays there for about ten days, but he also goes at other times throughout the year. He admits that in winter it gains intensity, both the house, where it is colder and gives off warmth, and the town, which is more authentic without summer visitors. It is gratifying to walk down the street, where even if people don't know each other, they greet each other: “Nothing to do with summer, when it's full of tourists in shorts, who bother me a bit. We should limit tourism, they are eating up our country,” he proposes. She loves Pals beach, which is very long and from where the Medes Islands can be seen: “A free beach where nudists and non-nudists coexist, and where there are practically no people. I go first thing in the morning, move away from the houses and walk through the dunes until I decide where to set up my umbrella”. She finds it a magical landscape, from where she contemplates the immensity of the sea, nothingness, combined with the Medes, a generous nature, “two antithetical but complementary elements, and if you're lucky, every now and then you see a boat go by”.

Since always, Carme Gasull, a journalist specializing in food and gastronomy, spends her summers in Rocafort de Queralt, in Conca de Barberà, her parents' village and her favorite place in Catalonia. There she has her roots, part of the family, direct and indirect, and the group that continues to spend summers in the village, which has fewer than 250 inhabitants in winter, although it grows a lot during holidays.

The covid restrictions for traveling abroad were the turning point for journalist and sociologist Esther Vivas to start spending more summers in Catalonia: "It was the perfect excuse to rediscover it and realize that the Ebro Delta is one of the areas I like the most." When she was little, she had gone there as a child, and for a few years now, she goes as a mother. She remembers having been there as a teenager on a work camp, at an environmental information point in Deltebre.She acknowledges that while looking for places to be with family in nature, she has fallen in love with the Delta because it has everything: it's a space to enjoy with children, it's perfect for cycling, and also for bird lovers like her. If she had to find a downside, it would be that, as happens in many other places, it's very hot in August. That's why they go at the beginning or end of summer, and they try to go at least once a year.

What could be an architect's favorite place? A spectacular natural space? A construction visited by millions of people every year? Pol Casellas, architect and cultural communicator, is very clear about it: the Bogatell breakwater in Barcelona: “It's close to me and I go there often. It's not idyllic, but for me it's special, I've always been very connected to the sea, and I feel that breakwaters give me a lot of calm”.