A bench is public, but not an overnight bed
Barcelona’s rule turns on what someone is doing in a shared space: sitting down to rest is different from settling in to sleep. A park bench may look like an obvious place to pause, especially after a long day of walking, but the city’s civic rules do not treat public benches as places for a nap. The restriction also applies to other public property, so moving from a bench to another civic spot may not avoid the issue.
Why a brief stop can become a legal problem
The consequence is practical, not merely a matter of etiquette: police can issue a citation for sleeping in these places. That makes an unplanned doze a risk for visitors who assume that a public seat is available for any kind of rest. The key distinction is between taking a short seated break and falling asleep in public; a traveler who needs to sleep should look for private accommodation rather than count on a park bench as a harmless fallback.
