The oldest pastry shop still trading in Barcelona opened in 1849, and you can walk into it today at Plaça de l’Àngel. Nine more have been running since 1852, 1886, 1906 and on through the twentieth century, most of them still in family hands.
Barcelona keeps ten historic pastry houses that have traded continuously since between 1849 and 1960, most of them still run by the founding families. The catch is when they open: of the ten, only two trade seven days a week, which is exactly the information you need on a Sunday afternoon.
What are Barcelona’s historic pastry shops? Ten houses trading since between 1849 and 1960, from La Colmena at Plaça de l’Àngel to Bomboneria Pons in Sants. Only La Colmena and Foix de Sarrià open all seven days; Brunells closes Mondays. Each is known for a different speciality rather than a general cake counter.
The ten houses, by opening year
| House | Trading since | What people go for |
|---|---|---|
| La Colmena | since 1849 | Artisan sweets and tortell in six sizes |
| Brunells | since 1852 | Butter croissant and stone-oven coca |
| Foix de Sarrià | since 1886 | Xuxos, almond biscuits, summer horchata |
| Escribà | since 1906 | Celebration and wedding cakes |
| El Tío Ché | since 1912 | Horchata from Alboraya, €3.60 for half a litre |
| Sirvent | since 1920 | Jijona nougat and horchata |
| Pastisseria La Palma | since 1922 | Tortell, including gluten-free |
| Mauri | since 1929 | Traditional marzipan tortell |
| Forn La Cantonada | since 1930 | Tortell with five fillings |
| Bomboneria Pons | since 1960 | Chocolates and panellets at €1.69 each |
These are not interchangeable. Each house is known for one thing, and walking into Sirvent expecting croissants or into Brunells expecting nougat misses the point of both.
None of them is expensive by city-centre standards either: a pastry and a coffee at any of the ten costs less than a museum ticket, which is worth weighing against the day rates in the Barcelona travel budget guide. Several sit far enough apart to shape a walk rather than a single stop, so the district guides below are the practical way to string them together.
Two never close, and one shuts on Mondays
La Colmena opens every day from 9:00 to 21:00, the widest hours in this guide. It started in 1849 on Baixada de la Llibreteria and the Costa family moved it to Plaça de l’Àngel in 1872, where it remains. Phone 933 15 13 56.
Foix de Sarrià also opens all seven days, 8:00 to 21:00, in a modernista premises tied to the poet J. V. Foix, a son of the house. Two addresses in Sarrià carry the name, Carrer Major de Sarrià 57 and Plaça de Sarrià 12-13, and in summer the house makes its own ice cream and horchata. The neighbourhood around it is covered in the Sarrià guide.
Brunells is the one that catches people out: Tuesday to Saturday 8:30 to 20:00, Sunday 8:30 to 15:00, and closed Mondays. The shop has stood at the corner of Princesa and Montcada since 1852, closed for two years last decade and reopened with Pastelería Canal and El Magnífico behind the project.
That famous Rambla facade is a working bakery
Thousands of people photograph the Antiga Casa Figueras at La Rambla 83 every day without registering what is inside. The building holds Escribà, a pastry business founded in 1906 at Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 546, where it still keeps a second shop.
That makes it the rare case where a modernista facade on the tourist strip is not a museum or a hotel lobby but a working counter. Escribà is also the celebration-cake house of the city: its wedding cakes run €500 to €5,000, with payment split 50% at two moments, as set out in the wedding cakes guide.
For the wider architectural context of the street, see the La Rambla guide.
Horchata houses, a category of their own
Two of the ten sell almost no cake at all.
El Tío Ché opened on Rambla del Poblenou 44-46 in 1912 and is run by the family’s fifth generation. The horchata is made with tiger nuts from Alboraya and half a litre costs around €3.60. The formats have their own names: the Murciana with lemon slush, the Cordial with barley water, and the Flotaor with a scoop of ice cream floating in it. The shop anchors the Poblenou guide.
Sirvent has been making nougat by hand since 1920, with horchata, ice cream and Jijona nougat under one roof, at Parlament 56 and Balmes 130. Free delivery across Barcelona and province on orders above €60.
One warning worth carrying: several businesses in Barcelona trade under the Sirvent name and they are not the same company. Confirm the address before setting out, because the one you want may not be the one nearest to you.
Gluten free, and the youngest of the ten
Pastisseria La Palma, in Sant Martí since 1922, works the full festive calendar and makes its tortell in marzipan, truffle, cream and whipped-cream versions — also gluten free and lactose free. That makes it one of the few historic houses covering both intolerances rather than one.
Forn La Cantonada, open since 1930 in Sant Martí and now in its fifth generation, holds the longest tortell filling list in the city: marzipan, cream, truffle, tiramisu and hazelnut.
Mauri took over a 1904 charcuterie on Rambla de Catalunya 102 in 1929 and turned it into a pastry shop, keeping the historic interior. The house has made Kings’ Day tortell ever since, always in the traditional marzipan version.
The youngest of the ten is Bomboneria Pons, opened in Sants in 1960 by Joan Ramon Pons and his wife Urcisina as a small chocolate workshop. Today it makes chocolates, nougat and panellets in chestnut, coffee, hazelnut and passion fruit at €1.69 each, with its own artisan chocolate.
For what to pair these with across the rest of the city, the chocolate and churros guide and the historic granjas guide cover the drinking half of the same tradition.
Frequently asked questions about Barcelona’s historic pastry shops
Which is the oldest pastry shop in Barcelona?
La Colmena, trading since 1849. It began on Baixada de la Llibreteria and the Costa family moved it to Plaça de l’Àngel in 1872, where it still stands. It also keeps the widest hours of any historic house in the city, 9:00 to 21:00 every day.
Which historic pastry shops open on Sundays in Barcelona?
Only two of the ten open all seven days: La Colmena from 9:00 to 21:00 and Foix de Sarrià from 8:00 to 21:00. Brunells opens Tuesday to Saturday 8:30-20:00 and Sunday morning until 15:00, but closes on Mondays.
Is the famous Rambla shopfront actually a pastry shop?
Yes. Escribà occupies the Antiga Casa Figueras at La Rambla 83, one of the most photographed modernista facades in Barcelona. The business itself dates from 1906 and started at Gran Via 546, where it still has a second address.
How much is horchata at El Tío Ché?
Around €3.60 for half a litre, made with tiger nuts from Alboraya. The shop opened on Rambla del Poblenou in 1912 and is run by the family’s fifth generation, serving it as the Murciana with lemon slush, the Cordial with barley water, or the Flotaor with ice cream.
Are all the Sirvent shops the same business?
No, and this trips people up. Several businesses in Barcelona trade under the Sirvent name without being the same company. The nougat and horchata house dating from 1920 is at Parlament 56 and Balmes 130, so confirm the address before setting out.
Where can you find gluten-free traditional Catalan cakes?
Pastisseria La Palma, open since 1922 in Sant Martí, makes its tortell in marzipan, truffle, cream and whipped-cream versions and also produces gluten-free and lactose-free options. It is one of the few historic houses covering both intolerances.
Check the day before the address: half of these close when you are most likely to be free.