Olympic Port
The leisure and maritime sports area of Barcelona's skyline
The sports port built for the Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games is now a major area for leisure and dining. Between the beaches of Barceloneta and Nova Icària, you'll find Port Olímpic de Barcelona, the venue for the sailing competitions of the 1992 Olympic Games and a paradise for nautical sports enthusiasts. In recent years, Port Olímpic has taken a new direction to better integrate the port into the city and transform it into a safe and high-quality public space, connected to the sea and accessible to everyone.
Barcelona Bus Turístic, on the Hola Barcelona app
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The Olympic Barcelona built facing the sea
Port Olímpic de Barcelona is a rectangular structure with three closing docks, located in front of the Vila Olímpica, a residential area built for the athletes of the Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games.
This sports port was designed in 1991, alongside the redevelopment of this part of Barcelona, with the goal of serving as a hub for leisure and nautical sports. Architects Oriol Bohigas, Josep Martorell, David Mackay, and Albert Puigdomènech designed a modern port equipped with more than 740 berths for boats, around which you can see some of Barcelona’s most iconic silhouettes.
The two skyscrapers rising on either side of Marina Street, forming part of the city's most recognizable skyline, are the Mapfre Tower and Hotel Arts, at the foot of which stands one of Barcelona’s icons: a spectacular sculpture, 56 meters long and 35 meters high, shaped like a fish. The large golden steel mesh, designed by Frank Gehry, reflects sunlight, making it look like shimmering scales, as if the fish were coming to life and trying to return to the sea.
How to get to Port Olímpic?
The Red Route of the Barcelona Bus Turístic has a stop at Port Olímpic.
For the curious
- Hotel Arts, operated by the American Ritz-Carlton, marked the arrival of the first major international luxury chain in Barcelona in 1992. The hotel initially opened 10 floors before the Olympic Games, then closed to complete construction, reopening permanently in 1994 with a total of 43 floors and 483 rooms.
- From the Olympics until a few years ago, Port Olímpic’s promenade became one of Barcelona’s most popular nightlife areas, hosting numerous nightlife venues. Over time, the area has been transformed to be welcoming to all audiences.
