Loved the beach. Went on two separate days during our stay in Barcelona. One day mid way along the beach - a lovely afternoon with some hawkers selling beer, water, drinks, blankets etc. Said no thank you a couple of times. No problem. The second day we were nearer to port Vell. It was completely spoiled by number of hawkers continually asking you to buy things. There were so many. Watched them with some younger couples - some became quite intimidating. Struggled to relax because of them. Such a shame. Wouldn’t visit this part again. Hopefully authorities can find a way to control this before it puts others off coming.

Nice beach considering it is in the city. The sand is mostly coverred with small pebbles so not that confortable to walk on. The beach was packed when I went, even though it was in September. There were jelly fish in the water, which I didn't expect so did not take care to keep away from them. I was stung several times, the pain goes away in an hour or so.

Busy sandy beach. Fairly clean. Not enough toilets anywhere. Was spoiled by the amount of hagglers trying to sell drinks - ice cold beer,margaritas,mojitos,water. You hear this constantly which is a bit annoying when you are trying to relax on the beach. There are some beaches further along with not so many sellers

We certainly did enjoy our visit to the beach at Barceloneta a little over a week ago. From our hotel downtown we found it easy to catch a bus that took us right to the beach. Arriving there in time for lunch we were quickly able to secure a table at one of the many beachfront cafes. From there we had a front row table and it gave a view directly onto the beach. We had a light lunch including a couple of beers and had a great time soaking up the beach atmosphere. After about an hour there, we walked the boardwalk for another hour observing the sights and sounds of the charming beach. There is a lot to do in the area so we recommend you plan to spend an hour or two there.

So look, here's the deal. It's very busy here, even in October as it's often still over 20c. As many will say, it's also an urban dwellers beach where people come to pose, be seen, exercise, swim, sunbathe, eat, drink and be merry...and generally get away from city life even though it's just 15-20 minutes on a bus or tram to be back in the thick of central Barcelona. One thing I really liked about Barceloneta, more so than the beach itself which is vast (and needs to be for a city with 3 million+ people excluding tourists), is the fact that you really do feel like you've left the main part of the city and entered a seaside resort when you come here. Yes, it's busier and not nearly as relaxed as some coastal resorts, but it's still got a decent vibe and I quite liked it. Plenty of places to eat and drink, in semi off-peak season (early October) it was still busy but felt like it was a more pleasant pace and like there was more space and friendliness in the air. I wouldn't say this would be a beach of choice for me, but the area as a whole is a nice escape from the continuous craziness of Barcelona itself and the fact it's so easy to get to from the centre of Barcelona is a real bonus and this is why so many people love this city as it's on the coast and has beaches...albeit I still prefer Madrid! Then again, I prefer the smaller cities in Spain to Madrid, so that's irrelevant!

We went in April and it was way too cold to go in the ocean, although some brave souls were actually swimming. The beach is typical, not a gorgeous Caribbean beach, but would be fine for sunbathing and swimming in warmer times. There is an outdoor bar with food and drink, priced higher than what you can get in other areas of Barcelona, but with a view of the ocean which is right in front of you. There are port a potties for restrooms, which are kind of gross, but necessary. I would skip this if I visited Barcelona again; there's too much to see that is much better.

We visited Barcelona in mid-April, so knew it would not be as nice at the beach as in warmer months. However, based on our research, I still thought it would be fun to spend some time at the beach even if it was just sitting down at a beach-front restaurant. Unfortunately the day we came here it was very windy down by the beach as compared to within the city, which dampened the experience. There were still a lot of people walking around the boardwalk, but not much was open. As well, there seemed to be a lot of garbage along the beach so we did not go down onto the sand. We did not stay long, and ended up getting a bus elsewhere and eating there. During the summer months, I am sure it is a more pleasurable experience, but for us it was not worth the time it took to get there in mid-April.

The sea front sand stretches all the way from the fairly new W Barcelona Hotel to the Forum in the eastern end of Barcelona’s sea front and encompasses several beaches, but this one is probably the most famous and the one most visitors to Barcelona will experience. It’s a very lively beach and one where the locals come to play games, pose or just relax on the sand, and for the tourist it is a great spot to stroll along or just sit on the sea wall to sit and do a spot of people watching. We always walked it whilst in town and never used it as a beach and to be honest if we had considered doing a bit of sunbathing we would not have chosen here as the sheer number of beach hawkers trying to sell you all manor of things is just off the scale, and from where I was sitting it didn’t look very relaxing for the poor people trying to sunbathe on the beach. For this I would tend to recommend the quieter beaches away from this tourist centre.