Meeting people and finding your community in Barcelona

Barcelona is easy to fall in love with and, at first, surprisingly hard to feel at home in. Locals often have long-established circles and the international crowd moves on every few months. The good news: thousands of people are looking for new friends at the same time as you.

Why it can feel hard

• Locals' weekends are full of friends from school and family lunches.
• The international community is transient — people come for a semester or a contract, then leave.
• Language — the city runs in Catalan and Spanish.
• Remote work means there's often no office to meet people in.

The secret: repetition

One great conversation at one event rarely becomes a friendship. Going back to the same recurring group — a weekly social, a sports session, a quiz team — is what turns faces into friends. Commit to three or four visits before deciding whether it's for you.

Communities for English speakers

Barcelona in English is part of a small network of communities that run regular in-person events:

• AmigoUp — a social club for internationals with events every week: socials, dinners, padel, hiking, beach volleyball and quiz nights. Free or low-cost, and most people come alone the first time.
• Barcelona English Speakers — relaxed meetups in English for natives and fluent speakers, and a friendly place to practise your English.
• Irish in Barcelona — Irish meetups, match nights and St Patrick's Day, open to friends of Ireland too.

More about the communities →

Social sport

Doing something together beats small talk. Padel (played in fours, and hugely popular in Spain), beach volleyball, running clubs on the seafront, hiking in Collserola, and even Gaelic football and rugby clubs all welcome newcomers. Sport & clubs directory →

Language exchanges

Language exchanges (intercambios) pair you with locals who want to practise English while you practise Spanish or Catalan. They're one of the best ways to make local friends — the hardest group to meet as a newcomer.

Become a regular

Barcelona is a city of neighbourhoods. Be a regular at your local café, market stall or gym, and go to your barri's festa major. It's slower, but it's how the city starts to feel like home.

Follow up

When you click with someone, suggest something small: a coffee, a beach walk, a padel game. It feels awkward the first time; almost everyone is glad to be asked. Better still, be the one who starts the group chat.

Start this week

There are English-language events nearly every day. See what's on →