Refugi 307 in Poble-sec: the air-raid tunnels dug by hand by Barcelona's neighbours

At number 175 carrer Nou de la Rambla, in the Poble-sec neighbourhood, three openings burrow into the flank of the hill of Montjuïc. They look like service entrances, but they are the mouths of Refugi 307, one of the more than a thousand air-raid shelters built in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. The name carries no symbolic meaning: it is simply the serial number under which the city council registered it. Today it is managed by the Museu d'Història de Barcelona (MUHBA) and can only be seen by booking a guided tour, which is why it stays little visited even by those who return to Barcelona often.

A neighbourhood that defended itself

The story is that of a neighbourhood that defended itself. When Barcelona began to be bombed, passive defence became a collective effort: the Republican army, the Generalitat, the ayuntamiento and above all the residents dug the shelters by hand. Here the plan called for nearly 400 metres of tunnels capable of holding around 2,000 people, but by the end of the conflict only about half had been built. Unlike most of the city's shelters, which were dug underground, 307 exploited the rock at the base of Montjuïc to carve out its tunnels.

Inside the tunnels

What you walk through during the visit is a corridor a little over two metres high (2.10) and between one and a half and two metres wide. The three entrances lead to a zigzag route, designed not for aesthetics but to stop the shrapnel from a bomb falling near one entrance from travelling along the tunnels. Under the hill the neighbours had organised a small survival infrastructure: latrines, a drinking fountain, an infirmary, a room for children, a hearth. On the walls, inscriptions from the time survive, such as the ban on "fostering pessimism" and on "talking politics": phrases meant to hold together the morale of those who spent the hours of the bombings down there.

The guided tour

The visit lasts about an hour and the guide does more than walk you through the tunnels: they explain why Barcelona needed so many shelters and what actually happened when the alarm sounded. It is a story made of practical details, not rhetoric, and precisely for that reason it leaves a mark. It is an experience suitable even for those travelling with youngsters, provided you bear in mind the cramped, dimly lit spaces.

Planning your visit

To plan it: the guided tours open to individuals are held on Sunday, generally at 10.30am in English, 11.30am in Spanish and 12.30pm in Catalan; from Monday to Saturday the shelter opens only for groups with advance booking (also in French). The ticket costs around 3.5 euros, places are limited and booking is required; always check times and availability on the MUHBA site before setting off, as they change with the seasons. The shelter stays closed on 1 January, 1 May, 24 June and 25 December.

Getting there is easy: the meeting point is at the junction of carrer Nou de la Rambla and the start of the climb towards Montjuïc, a few minutes' walk from the metro stops Paral·lel (Lines L2 and L3) and Poble Sec (L3). After the visit it is worth staying in the neighbourhood: Poble-sec is the area of the tapas bars on carrer Blai, perfect for rounding off the morning with a few pintxos before heading up to the gardens of Montjuïc.

Related guides: Spain off the beaten track: villages, islands and nature far from mass tourism · Instead of Barcelona: Spanish Mediterranean cities without the crowds or chaos.

Getting there

The shelter is on Carrer Nou de la Rambla, in the Poble-sec neighbourhood, at the foot of the hill of Montjuïc. The most convenient metro stop is Paral·lel (Lines L2 and L3), a few minutes' walk away, also served by several bus routes. Barcelona Sants is the city's main railway station, while the reference airport is Barcelona El Prat. The visit is only possible on a guided tour, so it is worth booking in advance.

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