The sea gives cities a different perspective, just like a river, a mountain or any other bit of nature that reminds us where we come from.

Barcelona, facing the sea, offers a very pleasant and relaxing ride all along its coast. So if you fancy some sea air, I’d recommend a ride along Barceloneta beach by bike or on skates, without many bumps but with the odd collision, haha. And if you’re feeling up to it, you can even go as far as the Forum, in Diagonal Mar. It looks a long way on the map, but by bike it’s no more than 30 minutes! (A word of warning: this stretch is better by bike; on skates you’d have to cut through the parallel streets, because the surface along the coast isn’t in good condition.) I’ve done the whole route both by bike and on skates, and it’s worth it!! 🙂
Barcelona beach
If you’d rather stay around Barceloneta, the route I suggest is the one below: on this route you hire the bikes at Passeig Picasso 44 and start pedalling from there. The route takes in the Arc de Triomf, Parc de la Ciutadella, the Mapfre towers and the seafront promenade. And for a little break, you can have an aperitif at one of the beach bars or, better still, though it’ll cost you more, at the W hotel, right at the far end of Barceloneta, with extraordinary views of the sea and the coast. On the way back to where you hired the bikes, you go up Passeig de Joan Borbó, where, if you make a small detour as shown on the map, you’ll see the lighthouse of Barcelona’s old port, no longer in use.

View Bike route around Barceloneta in a larger map