Barcelona is a city renowned for sports and culture, as much for practicing sports as it is for providing the opportunity to see cultural shows and top class sporting events.

City of sports

The city, which hosted the Olympics in 1992, is equipped with an extensive network of municipal sports centres, which, together with a number of private centres, provides no end of opportunities for people wanting to practice sports. According to recent studies, Barcelona has the highest number of people who practice sport in Europe and the second highest in the world after Boston (United States). In addition the city´s terrain, climate and creation of bike lanes has proliferated cycling as a popular means of transport. Roller skating is also very popular, especially in the Olympic Village area and Old City, where there are many different skate-parks. The \"Hotel Princess Sofia\"also provides sporting activities in its Aqua Diagonal Wellness Centre, a space of more than 2,000m2 dedicated to sports and well being.

Being a maritime city, Barcelona also boasts some wonderful beaches where residents and visitors alike can enjoy soaking up the sun or taking part in numerous sporting and leisure activities. Whilst the opening of the Olympic Port, the remodelling of the Old Port in 1992, and the recent inauguration of the new marina, San Adrián de Besos, in the Forum 2004 district, has further encouraged the practice of water sports. . For more information click here

Theatres and cinemas

La Avenida del Paralelo is famous for its high concentration of theatres, however following the closure of \"El Molino\" and other similar establishments, its attraction is less than it was a few decades ago. The most prestigious theatres in the city are currently the Gran Teatro del Liceo, specializing in opera, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, with three rooms where the great classics are represented and the Teatre Lliure, offering the most avant-garde programmes. In the districts of Ciutat Vella and Ensanche there are many places, such as the Teatro Condal, Teatro Poliorama, Teatro Romea, the Teatro Victoria and El Mercat de les Flors, which offer spectacular musicals, comedies and more experimental programmes.

The city also offers different cinemas and multi-cinemas showing different style films: blockbuster movies, original version movies, artist films, European films ... The key film venues are the Filmoteca de la Generalitat de Catalunya, and cinemas like Verdi, in Gracia. For more information click here

Live music

Barcelona has, in recent years, become a European benchmark for music due to the quantity and variety of its offerings. Symphony music is played at the Palau de la Música Catalana, next to the Via Layetana, which features performances by singer-songwriters in its Auditorium, the headquarters of the \"Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona and Nacional de Cataluña (OBC)\". Opera is performed at the Gran Teatro del Liceu, located at the bottom end of Las Ramblas.

In the districts of Ensanche, and especially Ciutat Vella, there are an abundance of places where jazz groups perform before small audiences. There are also lounge bars, such as the Luz de Gas, Razzmatazz, Jamboree de la Plaza Real and Sala Bikini, that hold weekly performances by rock and pop artists. Barcelona also has a popular Spanish hip hop scene with artists such as Mucho Muchacho, Sr. Zambrana, Falsalarma and Masstone amongst others. As in many other destinations such as Ibiza, Andalucia and Gijón, electro music is at the very heart of Barcelona, with special emphasis on house, dance, trance, progressive and techno music ( the most popular clubs being the Pont Aeri and Chasses, Mataro) as well as chill out music (which has taken shape since the inauguration of Café del Mar).

The old Palacio de los Deportes (Sports Centre) has been converted into the \"Barcelona Teatre Musical\", a large venue, which puts on performances by different artists. In the summer season it houses large concerts with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and U2 taking to the stage.

Barcelona is the stage for many major festivals in the world of music including the Primavera Sound Festival, a major rock and pop festival held in May over a three day period, the Sonar Festival in June, which brings together the best global electro and multimedia music, and the Grec Festival, a more eclectic festival which in the month of July puts on various different concerts and events at different venues in the city. Finally in late September, to celebrate the biggest festival of the city la Merced, Barcelona puts on three days of different music concerts for free, in the open air spaces of downtown. For more information click here