VERDICT: We gave 5 out of 5 tickets and here’s why!
This guide forms part of our complete Spain Travel Guide, featuring destination ideas, scenic road trips, practical travel advice and honest first-hand reviews from across the country.
This article is part of our Barcelona: Ultimate Travel Guide. We spent five days exploring La Rambla, La Boqueria, the Sagrada Família, Port Vell and Barcelona’s distinctive neighbourhoods aboard the Bus Turístic. Follow our visit to one of Spain’s most exciting cities, featuring personal experiences, major attractions and practical visitor tips. Read the complete Barcelona guide here.
Powerful dancing, live music and raw emotion inside one of Barcelona’s most intimate flamenco venues
During our stay in Barcelona, one experience we were especially excited about was seeing an authentic flamenco show. We had booked tickets for the 8:00 p.m. performance at El Duende by Tablao Flamenco Cordobes, an intimate venue located on La Rambla – the Barcelona street that seems to offer almost everything.
We ate before the performance and then made our way to the venue at La Rambla 33. After arriving early, we were asked to wait in a small reception area. A few minutes later, we were ushered into a lavishly decorated performance room with a dance stage in the centre and a small bar positioned to one side.
There appeared to be no more than 50 people in the audience that evening, giving the performance the atmosphere of a private show. We were seated in the second row with an excellent, unobstructed view of the stage. Drinks were delivered directly to our seats, and with the dancers only a short distance away, we were ready for the show to begin.
El Duende opened in April 2024 as the more casual sister venue to the historic Tablao Flamenco Cordobes next door at La Rambla 35. It is operated by the same family that has presented flamenco performances at Tablao Cordobes since 1970, but the experience has been reimagined as an intimate Flamenco Bar & Cocktails concept.
The venue can accommodate up to 120 guests, with seating arranged closely around the stage. Its approximately 55-minute performances bring together a rotating company of accomplished flamenco dancers, singers and guitarists. The close seating allows the audience to see every expression, hear every footstep and feel the force of the performance.
El Duende also offers signature cocktails inspired by the different palos, or musical styles, of flamenco. Its name refers to the elusive concept of duende—the powerful, almost unexplainable feeling created when passion, pain, creativity and performance come together.
What was the Flamenco Show like?
From our seats in the second row, that emotion felt very real. The speed and precision of the dancing were extraordinary, but it was the intensity of the singers, guitarists and dancers working together that made the evening unforgettable.
It was a spectacular show where we felt each click of the heel, every strum of the guitar, each heartfelt note that was sung & the whish of the flying skirts.
The talent was fantastic. The music powerful. The footwork precise. The emotion raw.
Highly recommended. We will be back for sure.
Ticket Pricing And Show Times: Flamenco Dancing
Tickets are less here and you choose your zone:
Zone C last row ~ $28, no drink
Zone B side with welcome drink ~ $40
Zone A front row with welcome drink ~ $48 (we went for this one)
VIP best front row ~ $59
Shows are nightly at 7:00, 8:15 & 9:30. Photos are allowed but only in the last 5 minutes of the show.
Note: Tablao Flamenco Cordobes (No.35) – the grand, traditional tablao. 1h 20 minute show, Alhambra-style décor carved by the actual restorers of the Alhambra in Granada, dinner served before the show in a separate Nazarí restaurant. This is the one awarded Best Tablao in the World 2025.
Five Essential Flamenco Tracks Popular in Spain
There is no single official national ranking of Spain’s five most-listened-to flamenco songs. However, these are five of the genre’s most recognizable and influential recordings:
- Entre dos aguas: Paco de Lucía
Released in 1973, this instrumental flamenco-rumba helped bring Paco de Lucía and flamenco guitar to a much wider international audience. It remains one of the most recognizable pieces in the flamenco repertoire. Background - Como el agua: Camarón de la Isla
Camarón’s unmistakable voice, supported by Paco de Lucía’s guitar, made this title track from the 1981 album one of modern flamenco’s defining recordings. - Volando voy: Camarón de la Isla
Written by Kiko Veneno and recorded by Camarón in 1979, this lively flamenco-rumba has endured across generations and is now widely regarded as a Spanish musical anthem. - La leyenda del tiempo: Camarón de la Isla
Combining words by Federico García Lorca with innovative instrumentation, this groundbreaking 1979 recording helped change the direction of modern flamenco. History - Malamente: Rosalía
Released in 2018, this modern interpretation blends flamenco influences with pop and electronic production, introducing elements of the tradition to a new generation of listeners.
Continue exploring Spain
- Seville, Spain
- Ayamonte, Spain
- Barcelona El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport (BCN)
- Barcelo Raval Hotel
Nearby Spain attractions
Planning your trip?
Before you go, don’t forget to book the essentials:
- 🏨 Hotels & unique stays
- 🚗 Rental cars
- 🎟️ Top-rated tours & attractions
- 📶 eSIMs for easy connectivity
- 🛡️ Travel insurance
- 🎒 Packing Lists
- 🎒 Travel gear from The Venturio
With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.
