The first large shopping center in Barcelona, L'Illa Diagonal, has become a benchmark in the design of this type of space for all Barcelonans.
An ambitious project
In the middle of Avenida Diagonal, on the border between the districts of Les Corts and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, is the Barcelona's oldest shopping center, L'Illa Diagonal, a 35,000-square-meter space with more than 170 shops and restaurants. Since it opened on December 1, 1993, L'Illa Diagonal has been very busy, attracting customers not only from the area but from the entire city, and has positioned itself as one of the commercial spaces with the highest quality of products and services.
It was designed in 1990 on urban land of 56,000 square meters, which occupies an entire block of the Les Corts neighborhood, a magnitude that earned it the name of Superblock.
Designed by the architects Rafael Moneo and Manuel de Solà-Morales, the building has a peculiar style in the form of a horizontal skyscraper, which seems to rest lying next to Diagonal.
To find everything
L'Illa Diagonal was the first shopping center in the city that included a varied offer of shops and restaurants, as well as a hotel, office spaces and municipal facilities. It soon became a reference model for the new spaces of this type that were inaugurated shortly after in Barcelona.
After its last reform, in 2006, L'IIlla Diagonal expanded its area with another 4,000 square meters and opened new stores and a new large hotel.
There is nothing that cannot be found in L'IIlla Diagonal, whose offer goes far beyond shopping and restaurants, since the complex also includes a sports center, a convention center, a public park and even a nightclub with a concert hall.
In Illa Diagonal we can find practically everything we need since with more than 170 commercial premises the offer is very wide, following the latest fashion trends will be very easy since it includes clothing stores for men, women, children and maternity, it also has stores that offer garments More specific ones such as intimate apparel or even a tie shop, bag shop, accessories, several shoe stores, some of them specialized such as Munich or Camper among many others.
If what we are looking for is a special detail, we can find different jewelers or even gift shops. Practicing sports in the center is possible since it has a sports center and at Decathlon we can equip ourselves with the necessary sports equipment.
The considerable offer in food with the large supermarket Caprabo and the central area of the lower floor that reminds us of a traditional market where we can find a wide range of fruits, vegetables, fresh pasta and varied delicatessen.
To make happy the most children, we find several toy stores among them the most striking ones such as the Disney or Lego stores where the little ones can assemble their own character.
At Illa Diagonal we can enjoy shopping with the whole family as they also offer us different services that make our visit easier, such as the rest area where we can charge our mobile phones and use Wi-Fi. The little ones can use the nursing room to get a little calm, and the slightly older children can play in the playground that is located in the garden area.
We enjoyed its wide gastronomic offer in which we can delight ourselves with cuisines from different parts of the world that the center's restaurants offer us.
To end the visit in the funniest way, the center has a nightclub and concert hall in which we can have a drink or dance to the sound of the most modern music. To end this magical visit, we can stay in one of the hotels in the center or pick up our car in the large car park with more than 2,000 spaces in the Illa Diagonal shopping center.