Barcelona’s hotel trade may be centuries removed from Miguel de Cervantes's 17th-century description of it as a fountain of courtesy and a shelter for strangers, but in the 400 years or so since Don Quixote was written, the city continues to pamper and impress visitors.
Barcelona's pre-Olympics hotel surge in the early 1990s was matched only by its post-Olympics hotel surge in the early 2000s. The city is the premier tourist destination in Spain, and the major cruise port in the Mediterranean. Architects like Ricardo Bofill and Rafael Moneo have changed the skyline with skyscraper hotels of eye-popping luxury; the real heroes of this story, however, are the architect-designer teams that take one after another of the city’s historic properties and restore them with an astonishing tour de force of taste. Hotel restaurants, too—from the Arts' Enoteca to the Mandarin’s Moments—are among the superstar attractions in the city's gastronomic scene.
Hotels in the Barri Gòtic and along La Rambla now compete with the newer lodgings in the Eixample, or west along Diagonal; waterfront monoliths like the W Barcelona, removed from the bustle of midtown, set the standard for upscale hospitality. Many Eixample hotels occupy restored late 19th- or early 20th-century town houses. The Claris, the Majestic Hotel & Spa, the Monument, the Hotel Neri, and the Colón mix style and luxury with a sense of place.
Small hotels in the Ciutat Vella, such as the Sant Agustí, Hotel Market, or Hotel Chic & Basic Born are considerably less expensive and—in the accommodations you'll find listed here—at no substantial sacrifice of comfort and convenience. Wherever you choose to stay, you'll never be far from anything you'll want to see and do in this hospitable city.
