The areas we were interested in

After looking at the districts of the city we decided that the areas we were most interested in were around Cuitadella Park, Estacio Nord, Vila Olimpica and out towards Poble Nou. These are all newer or developing areas, but with the benefit of being close to the beach and (for us) being close to work.

Our thought before contacting agencies was the Estacio Nord and Poble Nou would be easier to find accommodation. Vila Olimpica had high prices and apparently little availability from our trawl through the tens of free property pages that we bought back with us from our November visit.

For us though Vila Olimpica would be perfect. This area, built for the 1992 Olympics, was very close to the beach with lots of space and parks around and interesting architecture. And (and this may sound odd), it backs on to a area of small industry which means that you can quickly step out of the glitz and into a more earthy area nearby. It's got a feeling of the early Docklands areas in London.

Poble Nou just along the beach and the next 'village' type area with it's own Rambla is also attractive and also undergoing a tremendous amount of development as is the whole of the beach areas down to Diagonal Mar, with some particularly swish buildings and hotels going up in these areas with some very nice parks too it has to be said.

Estacio Nord and Arc de Triomph area isn't really a well defined part of the city but there was definitely something about this area that we like. It is also becoming the cities chinese quarter but it has a lot of space and life and easy access to three main park areas.