With the city celebrating its recently awarded status of ‘World Mobile City’ by the Mobile World Congress, we share the best Barcelona apps to use while staying in shortstay Barcelona real estate.

Barcelona is a great temporary base for people who find themselves in the city for a short stay. The city is easy to get around, clean, and safe. Every street has a charming architectural delight of some sort with dizzyingly intricate building frontages. You will be surprised at the random regularity of turning a corner and seeing yet another piece of Barcelona real estate with patterned embellishments around window edges, or mosaic additions to front facades. These five Barcelona apps will help you peel back another layer of the city while also being practical about what you need for short stay Barcelona living.

1. Time Out BCN: This app has the comprehensive, easy navigation and organised structure that you would expect from the magazine relied on by travellers all over the world. It’s great for enough of an overview of restaurants, venues and activities that you can decide what to try, and has a function to rank venues by how close they are to your Barcelona real estate.

 

 

 

 

 

2. AroundMe: While Time Out has all the entertainment and free time locations, AroundMe puts the more practical directory in your hand. See where the nearest ATM is, farmacias, and supermarkets. This Barcelona app also includes maps to direct you to where you need to go, but double check the recommended route: mapping is often literal along main streets, while there may be a more direct route weaving through the street grid.

 

Surprisingly for a local reference directory, it doesn’t have a list of gyms, or swimming pools, that are near your shortstay Barcelona real estate. TimeOut does include some options for where to workout or do some laps, but only focuses on the bigger sports facilities, not your neighbourhood choices. It would also be useful if AroundMe could add to the hospitals section with a list of medical clinics and dentists, just in case.

 

3. SincroGuia TV: Getting into the rhythm of knowing when the news is on which channel, or keeping in touch with a favorite Spanish gameshow (Mojate anyone?), is yet another confusing aspect to the world-of-its-own Spanish television networks. SincroGuia TV is one of those apps that you use rarely but seems a precious gift when you do need to choose a channel.

 

 

4. Barcelona Journey Box: This unexpected find is worth getting hooked on. A series of street tours for the city are included with photos of the walking route. You can plug in your earphones and hear the descriptions of specific Barcelona real estate as you get acquainted with the city blocks. It has just the right level of detail to catch your attention, as the narrator shares trivia about building architecture, historical milestones and local characters.

 

 

5. Traducctor: For shortstay renters practicing Catalan or Castellano, this app lets you carry a reliable dictionary with you to help you keep up your side of the conversation. Translator Co-Design is a strong alternative, but tradductor has a better interface and feels that slight bit faster when translating.

 

 

 

 

Barcelona apps: What next?

What Barcelona apps developers need to offer next is a good calendar app with listings of what’s on and when around the city. Time Out and AroundMe help with where to go, but there is no obvious choice amongst the Barcelona apps that can share suggested daily events of when to go. People’s first shortstay in the city may be to look at Barcelona real estate, as part of a business mission, or simply for a weekend away. Whatever the initial reason to visit, it often becomes the start of an ongoing connection with the city. Store these 5 Barcelona apps in your phone for when you return, and share with us your favorite Barcelona apps in the comments below….