Soda Acústic on Carrer de les Guilleries in Gràcia is the listening-leaning small-room bar booking experimental jazz, manouche, Balkan, Mediterranean and Latin acts five nights a week plus a Thursday jam.
Tip: Thursday jam session is free and runs deep with young Gràcia jazz musicians. Weekend bookings sell out; reserve a seat ahead.
Address: Carrer de les Guilleries 6, 08012 Barcelona
El Paraigua in the Gothic Quarter is the brick-vaulted cellar of an old convent fitted out with the 1902 modernist decor of a closed umbrella shop, programming flamenco on Fridays and jazz on Saturdays.
Tip: Cellar concerts most weekend nights at 22:00; the street-level cocktail-and-tapas bar is the warm-up. Reservations recommended.
Marula Café on Carrer dels Escudellers in the Gothic Quarter mixes a listening-and-dancing room booking funk, soul, ska, cumbia, jazz and Afro-Latin jam sessions for a 400-capacity floor seven nights a week.
Tip: Live jazz and funk jam sessions are the calling card; floor opens for dancing after the band leaves. Weekends busy from 01:00.
Bar Marsella on Carrer de Sant Pau in Raval has run since 1820 as Barcelona's oldest bar, with flaking paint walls, dust-covered absinthe bottles and the green-fairy ritual served with sugar cube and ice water.
Tip: Tuesday to Sunday from 17:00; absinthe starts at 5.30 euros and is served with the spoon-sugar-cube ritual. Cash only is faster than card.
Bar Pastís on Carrer de Santa Mònica in Raval has run since 1947 as a tiny French-music shrine, with walls covered in Édith Piaf posters, French chanson on the speakers and pastís as the house pour.
Tip: Live music Sun to Thu around 23:00 in a super-small format. The room seats maybe 20; arrive early or stand at the door.
Tinta Roja on Carrer de la Creu dels Molers in Poble Sec is the Argentine cabaret-themed bar-teatro founded in 1998, with red velvet drapes, antique furniture and tango shows Thursday to Sunday.
Tip: Concerts and dance performances Thu to Sun nights in the back Gardel room. Wednesday evenings run an open tango class; arrive 21:00 for the warm-up.
Boadas on Carrer dels Tallers off La Rambla has run since 1933 as Spain's oldest cocktail bar, founded by Cuban-born Catalan Miguel Boadas who learned the trade at Hemingway's Floridita in Havana.
Tip: Standing room mostly; the bow-tied bartenders throw cocktails behind the small bar. No menu, just ask for what you want.