Photo Soff Garavano Puw / Unsplash
Living in Sant Antoni, Barcelona
A calmer and cheaper version of the Eixample, with the big renovated market that has become the social heart of the neighborhood.
Sant Antoni is the triangle of the Eixample sitting between El Raval, Sants, and Poble Sec. It's the least celebrated part of the Eixample but one of the most loved by residents. In the last ten years the Mercat de Sant Antoni — a large modernista building from 1882 — has been renovated and reopened in 2018, and since then it has driven a small revival: new cafés, restaurants, bookshops, but without the tourist noise of more central areas.
Who lives here
Long-established Barcelona families, professionals, a growing layer of mid-budget expats. Sant Antoni is one of the favorite neighborhoods for thirty-somethings who work downtown but want to come home to a quieter area. On Sundays the market hosts the used-book and comic fair — a Barcelona institution attended by generations.
What it's like during the day
Sant Antoni lives well by day. The market is the meeting point: at 9 AM you do the shopping, at 10 you have coffee at one of the many bars on the ronda's terraces. The wide Eixample streets here have less traffic and more trees. The Parc Joan Miró is a few minutes southwest.
What it's like in the evening
Livelier evenings than it was five years ago. Wine bars, cocktail bars, restaurants serving until 11 PM. No clubs, no heavy nightlife: dinner is serious, the after-dinner is short. Carrer del Parlament is the trendy street, full of aperitif spots.
Getting around
Metro Sant Antoni (L2) and Universitat (L1, L2) on the edges. The whole district is well served by buses too. 15-20 minutes on foot to El Born, 5 to El Raval.
Eating and shopping
The Mercat de Sant Antoni is the first stop for fresh produce. Chain supermarkets distributed. Restaurants: a young, growing scene with international brunch specialties, modern tapas, some good Italian. Carrer del Parlament concentrates the best offer.
When NOT to pick it
If you need nightlife with multiple alternatives, a real underground scene, the "urban vibration". Sant Antoni is too quiet for that. If you want to live super close to the sea, also no — you're always twenty minutes on foot.
Sant Antoni is a solid, less-celebrated choice. For those who want an Eixample without the slightly formal air of the Dreta.