When surveying the Barcelona hotel landscape, the obvious option for extravagance is the Mandarin Oriental (rooms from $420, Passeig de Gràcia 38–40; 34-93/151-8888; mandarinoriental.com). The Asian-influenced hotel, opened in 2009, is in the fashionable Eixample District. It has 120 guest rooms and suites; several standard rooms have balconies or terraces, as do the suites, which also come with butlers. For more low-key luxury, the 275-room Majestic Hotel & Spa (rooms from $340; Passeig de Gràcia 68; 34-93/492-2244; hotelmajestic.es) is down the street from the Mandarin, and its rich 90-plus-year history gives it a Spanish feel. Book a Junior Suite. Hotel Arts Barcelona (rooms from $275; Carrer de la Marina 19–21; 34-93/221-1000; hotelartsbarcelona.com) opened in 1994 and is still a classic, with Frank Gehry’s Peix in Catalan sculpture outside the lobby. The hotel sits on the Mediterranean Sea, so it’s best to stay here during beach season. Request a room or suite on a top VIP floor.
For something newer, with boutique flair, there’s the Serras Hotel (rooms from $295; Passeig de Colom 9; 34-93/169-1868; hoteltheserrasbarcelona.com). It debuted with 28 rooms in January 2015 in a building that once housed Pablo Picasso’s first studio, in the city’s hip Gothic Quarter. In the same area and of similar size is the four-year-old Mercer Hotel (rooms from $365, Carrer dels Lledó 7; 34-93/310-7480; mercerbarcelona.com). Located in an architecturally significant structure with stone walls, the hotel has 28 rooms, including a suite. It’s an of-the-moment option, like the Eixample District’s 83-room Cotton House Hotel (rooms from $255, Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes 670; 34-93/450-5045; hotelcottonhouse.com), which opened in February 2015.
Further afield, ABaC (rooms from $250; Av. del Tibidabo 1; 34-93/319-6600; abacbarcelona.com) launched in its new space in the Sarrià–Sant Gervasi area in 2008. It has 15 well-appointed rooms and is a 15-minute cab ride from downtown. Ask for a room with a terrace.
