A winter wonderland
Welcome! Many of us at Antares spend the winter eagerly watching the snow reports, plotting our next dash to the tree-lined slopes of the Pyrenees. Barcelona is a wonderful city by the sea but it also provides a good base for anyone wanting to spend time skiing or snowboarding in the mountains.
Spain has 30 ski resorts, the vast majority within three to four hours’ drive of Barcelona. That includes Baqueira-Beret, a celebrity favourite, where the biggest vertical drop is comparable to the best in Vail, USA. This week, we list the resorts closest to the city including the largest in the Pyrenees, all offering opportunities for great days on the snow punctuated by lengthy Spanish lunches.
We’ve also added some key sporting dates for your 2023 calendar, covering tennis, Formula 1 and cycling. Whatever the season, booking a visit to Barcelona is always a good idea and the Antares team are ready to share our own extensive knowledge of how to keep active in and around this great city. We look forward to giving you a warm welcome so please do get in touch.
Best wishes
The Antares team
A winter wonderland
Don’t let Barcelona’s location on the Mediterranean Sea fool you. The city is also within easy reach of many splendid ski resorts, making a weekend, or even a day trip to the snow, perfectly possible. You’ll find a delightfully authentic Spanish flavour and slopes significantly less crowded than those in the Alps.
Two hours from Barcelona, the closest Pyrenees resorts are La Molina and La Massela, each with over 60 slopes and a snow park. Spain’s largest resort, and its most prestigious, is Baqueira-Beret, around four hours from Barcelona, with 160 kms of marked slopes, acknowledged by The Ski Club of Great Britain for its growing reputation as a “top class resort”. Or head into Andorra, Europe’s second highest mountain state with 65 peaks over 2,000 metres, where you’ll find Grandvalira, the largest resort in the Pyrenees.
Sporting diary
dates for 2023
- The ATP 500 clay court Barcelona Open has been held at Spain’s oldest tennis club, Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, since 1953 and this year’s dates are 17-23 April when Spanish hero Rafa Nadal will attempt to win for a record 13th time.
- The Spanish Grand Prix will be held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday 4th June.
- The 26th August is the start for one of Europe’s most demanding bicycle races, La Vuelta Ciclista a España, heading out from the Port.
- And while the hugely anticipated 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona is not until 2024, expect to see several teams train in the city this summer.
The concierge service at Antares can help reserve tickets for residents.
Market Spotlight
Barcelona property is set to see capital growth of up to 3.9% this year, bucking any global slowdown to be one of Europe’s top performing city markets in 2023. That’s the finding of global real estate company Savills in their World Cities Prime Residential Index 2023. They gave an average forecast of 0.5% growth across the 30 cities monitored, with 17 locations predicted to record slower growth than in 2022 and several heading into negative territory. Barcelona, however, is expected to outperform the average, making the top ten performers in the global chart and lying 4th in Europe. “Prime property in southern Europe, including Barcelona, is particularly coveted as a safe haven asset and inflation hedge in times of economic turmoil,” comments Paul Tostevin, head of Savills World Research.
At Antares, we sell the most innovative and inspirational homes in the city.
