Barcelona shops: Books in English

Based in a former chapel in the Raval, this bookshop began by specialising in the Humanities. However, today La Central has become one of Barcelona’s benchmark spaces for readers, authors and publishers. You’ll find titles on anthropology, architecture and design, art and film, and photography, but also collections of poetry and artworks, among others. La Central has a notable selection of foreign-language novels in Barcelona, with a great variety of books in English, and not just bestsellers or classics. (They have a sister shop in the Eixample as well.)

Originally opened as a second-hand bookshop in English in 2004 (the owners shipped over some 30,000 books from Dublin), they soon moved to bigger premises and started selling a small selection of new books alongside their main stock.

Laie is one of the top bookshops in town among the literati and those looking for the latest in literary publications from Catalonia, Spain and abroad. They have an immense collection of fiction (including local and foreign literary magazines), works on philosophy, history and social sciences, art and architecture. Cinephiles and music aficionados can also satisfy their cravings.

Louise and Berta (Irish and Catalan, respectively) are the women behind this combo café/second-hand bookshop has fiction and non-fiction in a range of languages, although the majority are in English. Browse the shelves while enjoying coffee or tea and a slice of one of their delicious cakes.

This branch in Rambla de Catalunya (there's another at Passeig de Gràcia, 62) is one of the largest bookshops in the city, with an open, airy ambience and spaces for presentations and activities. It boasts a good English-language section, focusing mostly on bestsellers. You'll also find guidebooks in English, as well as books to study languages and language dictionaries.

This two-storey bookshop has a very decent fiction and classics section, and an especially good selection of books in English dedicated to Catalonia and Barcelona.

Here you'll find a range of books from fiction to cookery manuals and graphic novels, as well as a lot of language-learning tomes and a well-stocked corner dedicated to books and games for kids.

This low-cost bookshop is a must-visit for bargain-hunters. That's because at Re-Read, the more books you buy, the cheaper they get – one book is €3, two for €5 or five books for just €10. Whatever you're looking for, you'll find books of all genres, modern and classic, although the majority of the tomes date from the '90s on. And if you're in the market for getting rid of those novels, textbooks and self-help tomes you know you're never going to read again, they'll buy them from you. They have another four branches around Barcelona, as well as various in Catalonia and further afield in Spain.

If you’re planning a trip, this has to be your first stop – it’s the largest travel bookshop in Europe. You can pick up guides to eating free in different cities, academic tomes on geolinguistics, and handbooks on successful outdoor sex. All the less arcane publications are also here: maps for hikers, travel guidebooks, multilingual dictionaries, travel diaries and equipment such as mosquito nets. What's more, there's a café where you can peruse your purchases.

The most centrally located temple of cultural consumption in the city, with books (there's quite a good selection in English), CDs, movies, cameras, computers and other electronics, it’s also a main location for ticket sales.