El Raval is one of the liveliest neighborhoods in Barcelona, with a density of restaurants that can overwhelm anyone. Between the establishments geared towards passing tourists, the chains that have occupied street corners, and the businesses that have been feeding the neighborhood for decades, choosing where to sit is not as easy as it seems. Those who live here know it: the options have multiplied, but finding places where the cuisine has soul and the service is genuine requires a bit of discernment.

Can you imagine that today, in 2026, at a newsstand or a Good Coffee shop, amidst the array of magazines, collectibles, tourist guides, city maps, trading cards, and toys—newspapers still clinging to a corner—you could buy a board game to beat in a row, a game designed to stimulate the user, instead of encouraging them to wander through the Raval district to solicit sex, dodge pimps' knives, and pay to avoid contracting syphilis? Can you imagine that today, in 2026, you could find an erotic guide to Barcelona there, showing you the best areas and establishments to find prostitutes? Well, that, which seems like science fiction, was a feasible reality in Barcelona in the late seventies and early eighties.

Barcelona is laying the foundation for addressing the lack of sports facilities in the Raval district, aiming to foster "cohesion and community building" among residents and encourage young people to stay connected to the area. Mayor Jaume Collboni announced on Monday that the city council plans to transform the existing Drassanes municipal court—located in Raval Sud—into an indoor sports center with stands and changing rooms, covering an area of ​​2,094 square meters. The project, representing an investment of €11.7 million, is slated to begin in 2028—the bidding process for the preliminary design will start immediately—and the City Council estimates that construction could take approximately two years. The facility is not expected to open until at least 2031. Currently, the municipal court on Drassanes Avenue is an open-air facility managed by the Ciutat Vella Sports Association and is a popular venue for futsal and basketball. In fact, it's the only sports court in the neighborhood where teams like CFS Nou de la Rambla (men's and women's) can play in official league matches. The project to transform it will create a new multi-sports pavilion that can accommodate a wider range of sports, including handball, futsal, basketball, volleyball, and badminton. The stands will have seating for 250 people. "We want to ensure that residents who wish to can continue living in Ciutat Vella," Collboni stated.

In 2021, after more than 90 years serving lunches and dinners in Barcelona's Raval, Pol Rodríguez's parents had to close their family restaurant, Can Lluís. They were evicted by the investment fund that owned the building, with whom they had been negotiating to buy the premises for seven years. Rodríguez, who was then writing a film about homeless people, felt that "reality was entering the project" and turned his family's experience into the starting point for a fictional story about the housing conflict, the predatory voracity of capitalism, and the resilience of people who feel betrayed by ineffective laws.

Virginia Cierco has been managing the San Pablo - Santa Cruz Library in the heart of Barcelona's Raval district for three years. She began her internship at a high school on Meridiana Avenue, where the library was a rather dreary room. Now she dreams of expanding the facility, located next to the Library of Catalonia, and approaches each day with passion.

Our beloved Pitu Cunillera Gustems (1938-2026), shoemaker and activist from the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, ​​has passed away. You left without receiving a proper tribute. You, who were the driving force that brought together the residents of what was then Barcelona's Fifth District. El Chino. El Raval. And who, after several attempts thwarted by the local government, founded the Fifth District Residents' Association in 1973, which was approved a year later. A curious association: first the children and the elderly. And of course, there had to be a Fun Committee, because for decades street parties had been what maintained solidarity and morale.

The Cupra Raval will be one of the most important cars of 2026, and the Baix Llobregat-based brand has already confirmed the price of the entry-level version of its electric model, which will be the cheapest in the Cupra lineup. The Raval shares the electric platform debuted by the Volkswagen ID. Polo, which will also be manufactured in Martorell, but unlike the latter, it will have a slightly sportier setup (15 millimeters lower body, stiffer suspension, electronic differential on the front wheels, and more responsive steering) that should justify its aspirational price.

The story of Succulent dates back to 2012, when chef Carles Abellan And his partner Javier Coto opened it at number 43 on the Rambla del Raval, bringing on board chef Toni Romero (Nules, Castellón de la Plana, 1986) in the kitchen. El Suculent was such a success that it soon had two adjoining restaurants: Taverna del Suculent (specializing in small plates) and 4 con 5 Mujades (vegetarian cuisine). Three restaurants, side by side, of which only El Suculent remains today, with Toni Romero as its sole owner. He has been at the helm for seven years and has managed to become a benchmark for good Catalan cuisine, with nods to dishes and preparations from other cuisines that the chef enjoys and that he learned from his experience in restaurants like El Bulli, where he was a chef de partie. Toni Romero It reaffirms the difficulties of having a licensed restaurant in Barcelona.which aren't just economical. We interviewed him on a Monday at midday, a day the chef had been expecting calmly, but which suddenly found every table full. Suculent is open Monday through Friday. And anyone who's never been should know that it's located in the middle of a busy promenade, full of all kinds of shops, and that it has a double door: the one that leads to the first room of the restaurant opens after pressing a button. "The double door allows us to isolate ourselves from the noise and, in winter, from the cold," says the chef.

Hidden in the hall From a hotel, you only have to wait a few seconds to start seeing the parade. The glass is translucent, but leaves a small transparent opening at eye level that allows a clear and unobstructed view of the doorway. It's important to hide. The dealers are on the lookout to see if anyone is watching for too long and, if in doubt, they always choose to abort the transaction. The receptionist doesn't object to the hotel becoming a lookout point, and some tourists curiously watch what a person is doing pressed against a window.

Since 1904. The Italian The door has been open to Carrer del Bonsuccés since 1904. Impressive, isn't it? And even more impressive is what Carla Rivali, the owner and fourth generation of this family-run fresh pasta business, tells us. Almost 100% of its numerous customers are locals, that is, Barcelona residents. In the middle of the tourist hotspot, north of Raval and next to La Rambla. But there are no neighbors here, right? In its immediate area of influence, there are still some, and they are mostly Barcelona residents who work in the neighborhood. They go to La Italiana to buy lunch and choose from the variety of options on its daily menu.

Barcelona City Council is putting the accelerator on the urban transformation of the Raval neighborhood. Almost 10 months after the controversialevictionFrom the old Massana, the municipal government of Jaume Collboni announced this Monday the rehabilitation projects for the façade and cloister of the former Hospital de la Santa Cruz to serve as, along with the area surrounding the Plaça de la Gardunya, the "great gateway to the neighborhood," according to the Ciutat Vella councilor, Albert Batlle. The council will also rehabilitate the former nursery building to house the expansion of the Massana Art School and turn it into a cultural "landmark" for the city.

HeFormer Hospital of the Holy Cross It has a long history. King Martin the Humane witnessed the laying of the building's foundation stone on February 13, 1401. It was a huge, pioneering building for its time, located where the Biblioteca de Catalunya now stands, and it united six hospitals. It was in operation until 1926 and left behind a very important documentary and archaeological legacy.

A 73-year-old man committed suicide yesterday after being evicted from the apartment he was occupying on Robador Street in Barcelona's Raval neighborhood. The eviction took place in the morning, and at that time the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) collected some of the man's belongings, such as his cell phone and ID. They also told him that he could later arrange with the owner how to collect the remaining items he still had in the apartment. However, in the afternoon, the man returned to the apartment to try to collect his clothes. This triggered the alarm that had been installed the same morning after he had been evicted and the apartment returned to the owner. The police arrived immediately, and the man asked to go back inside to collect his belongings. It was then that, while the officers were asking him to leave, he threw himself off the balcony of an interior courtyard from a third floor apartment, as reported by the police. The Country and the ARA has been able to confirm this from police and judicial sources. The same sources explained that the man died from the same fall and that nothing could be done to save his life.

It's part of the collective memory of the residents of El Raval, and soon it will no longer be a memory. Founded in 1929 on Carrer de la Cera, Can Lluís has, over the years, become a living part of Barcelona's history. For several generations, Can Lluís has kept the culinary tradition alive, but it has also experienced historic moments. had stepped into the iconic placeIts closure was a loss for Barcelona's culinary culture. After so much time, the last owners, Ferran Rodríguez and Júlia Ferrer, were forced to close: in 2021, after the pandemic hit, they were facing unaffordable rent and began legal proceedings that ended in eviction.

A new Pötstot (c. Pintor Fortuny, 32) has taken over at the legendary L'Hortet, which closed forever on January 23. Everything has changed, in the decor and the menu, but there's an invisible thread that links the two projects: healthy eating. If L'Hortet was a pioneer as a vegetarian, Pötstot is a pioneer in gluten-free and lactose-free food. Hence the name, which nods to the languages of northern Europe, perhaps German, and others: "We want to say 'you can eat everything,'" explain Manel Forés and Quim Viñas, the restaurant's owners, hours before the first service begins, at which point they'll be able to test everything they've been preparing. This Raval restaurant will be the second Pötstot and the fourth restaurant for Forés i Viñas (The first two were Casa Àngela, opposite the Sagrada Família), and right now they confirm that they run a group of restaurants, with all the respect that the word generates for them cluster, but in any case what they assure is that the Pötstot del Raval makes them very excited.

After the award-winning Second prize, Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez team up again in a series that will premiere on Max and later on the 3Cat platform. It is about Ravalear, a thriller A realistic film that has already begun filming in Barcelona's Raval district, created by Rodríguez and directed by both filmmakers. The creative duo has won the Gaudí Award for Best Director and three Goya Awards for Second prize, a film about the band Los Planetas.

On March 30th, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar will end. From that day on, Muslims will once again be able to drink, eat, and have sex during daylight hours. Ramadan, which commemorates the month-long revelation of the holy book, the Quran, by God to the prophet Muhammad in the desert, will end. During this March, more than 600,000 Muslims living in Catalonia, primarily from the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, and Pakistan, will change their daily habits: they wake up earlier than usual and force themselves to fast and abstain for much of the day.

The ability of commerce to sustain the life of the neighborhood and maintain the personality of a city like Barcelona, vulnerable to globalization, is extraordinary. As we reported in the ARA, a set-menu bar has opened right in front of the newspaper, serving lunch a few meters away, but it was looking for a larger space. I've seen this place every day for more than two years from my desk. Since the ground floor of the building juts out and is further inland than the main facade, the sidewalk has served as a daily refuge for homeless people who set up settlements that were evicted every morning by the Guardia Urbana (City Police), or for drug addicts who shot up right there, just steps away. The windows of the establishment have been permanently smeared by scribbles. Today the windows are clean, and at 8:30 a.m., people are having breakfast at the tables of what is now the bar's terrace.

La Grangeta del Raval, until a few days ago on Calle Pintor Fortuny, was a neighborhood institution. That's why its move has been a real event for the residents. But the change is also taking place at the neighborhood level. They've moved to larger premises, on Peu de la Creu, which will allow them to feed everyone who comes—the current premises had become too small—and will give them the opportunity to expand their hours and offer.

A man sits by his shopping cart and tries on shoes. Others gossip, wandering around between the sheets – and the tablecloth – lying on the floor. There are about fifteen of them, one next to the other, and on display are used shoes, toys (some with their boxes and others old), keyboards, some jewellery, second or third hand clothes... It is a fleamarket known as the market of misery, which offers a wide range of objects, usually recovered from the rubbish and which, since February, was cleared from the Ronda Sant Antoni. Instead, it is now set up every afternoon in the streets of the Raval. It is usually in the small Plaça del Dubte, on Riera Alta street, next to the Ronda Sant Antoni, but it also sometimes expands in neighbouring alleys such as Cendra or Requesens. Some times there are ten vendors and at others about thirty or even more, and now in summer they are usually there from the early afternoon until after eleven o'clock at night. If they see the police, they leave for a while and come back later.