Boadas

El Raval, Barcelona –

Although situated just off the main Las Ramblas thoroughfare, Boadas is rumored to be the very first cocktail bar in Spain, so it would be hard to dismiss it as just another tourist trap.

The venue was opened in 1933 by Miguel Boadas, who cut his teeth working at Ernest Hemingway’s favorite Havana haunt, La Floridita, and whose mission it was to bring a dedication to proper drinking to Barcelona.

The dark and lived-in interior feels worlds away from any Ramblas kitsch, except perhaps for the photos of celebrity patrons interspersed in the collage of Boadas family portraits, letters, old newspapers, and other memorabilia that lines the walls.

Given the bar’s location, there are still plenty of tourists, but the venue’s underlying class makes it popular with political bigwigs and well-to-do local professionals, too, not to mention mature connoisseurs and successful colleagues who meet up for after-work drinks.

There’s no drinks list, but the tuxedo-clad bartenders know how to use the venue’s wide selection of Caribbean rums, Russian vodkas, and English gins to whip up classics and made-to-order originals with extravagant shakes, pours, and stirs.

Still a family-run watering hole, Boadas is ideal for kicking off a night on the town, and manages to remain popular without losing its historic character.