Basketball in Barcelona: Jardins de Paula Montal

Living in Barcelona since April 2018. Experiencing the city through Basketball

On the road again and looking for more courts only to find my sources (Google) had let me down. Originally, I had planned a trip to Jardins de Maria Manonellas and arrived in high hopes only to find it is a small park with a huge children's play area... I then saw the so-called court: a patch of sand with a basket. Although it looked similar to the one that I eventually played at later in the day, the surroundings just didn't appeal to me at all. The trees on either side of the basket blocked the line of shot, so I immediately looked for another court.

Jardins de Paula Montal was a few blocks away and at first sight, looked much better than the previous sandpit. The basket was solid with a chain net, the rim was straight and pleasant to shoot on and the net sounded so satisfying when the ball went through.

The floor dipped towards the basket which seems to be a common theme in the courts I have seen so far and there were no floor markings for a key. The floor is not wide enough for a full three-point line and the dust from the surrounding area made the court quite slippery.

My recommendation for anyone who wants to play there: if you want a 3 on 3 then its worth a visit but turn too sharply and you will be on the floor. If you are just looking for a shootaround then its Ideal but get there before school finishes because the park gets packed.

If I'm going to rate this court out of 10, for me, it gets a 4. I've been tipped onto some other hot spots though so fingers crossed the standard will only rise from here.

Until then take it easy and I'll see you out there.

WB