Barcelona has an excellent range of accommodation, with high-end luxury hotels, small-scale boutique lodgings, and a varied spread of midrange and budget selections. The settings offer some fine choices in historic districts, facing the seaside or in the thick of charming neighbourhoods packed with restaurants and nightlife. The continuing economic crisis has slowed price increases, making the city reasonable value overall.
Barceloneta & the Waterfront
Set in a sky-high tower looming above Port Olímpic, this is one of Barcelona’s most fashionable hotels. It has more than 450 rooms with unbeatable views, and prices vary greatly according to size, position and time of year.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Everything about this place exudes harmony, from the soothing tones and soundproof rooms to the designer bathroom fittings (the towel heaters are a highlight). Meanwhile, the staff is friendly and keen to look after your every need.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Run by the same owners as two other fine hotels - the Astoria and the Claris - this is a well-located quality option that probably deserves an extra star. Decor varies greatly from one room to another, but they're all classy and comfortable.
Camp Nou, Pedralbes & La Zona Alta
Like an ultramodern lighthouse at this southwest gateway to the city, the glass towers of this luxury mega-hotel hold more than 430 spacious rooms, most with stunning views.
Barceloneta & the Waterfront
The nicely modernised Sea Hotel is strategically placed between Port Vell and El Born. Some of the rooms in this historic building have balconies with waterfront views.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Design meets plain zany here, where the balconies look like strips of skin peeled back from the shiny hotel surface. The idea would no doubt have appealed to Dalí. In the foyer, a sprawling, minimalist and popular bar opens before you.
El Raval
The former Compañía de Tabacos Filipinas (Philippines Tobacco Company) has been resurrected as a luxury hotel, replete with idylic rooftop bar La Isabala. Some rooms are smallish but deluxe rooms and suites have their own terraces.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
This place oozes old-fashioned elegance and much of its 19th-century interior remains intact.
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
This hotel was stylishly carved out of a historic Barri Gòtic building, and features 37 rooms with dark wood beams, parquet floors, colourful mosaic-tiled bathrooms and full soundproofing.
La Ribera
With super-soundproofed rooms no smaller than 21 sq metres, this design hotel, complete with rooftop pool, is one of the standout hotel offerings along Via Laietana.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Favoured by a mixed fashion and gay set, Axel occupies a sleek corner block and offers modern touches in its 105 designer rooms. A subtle, light colour scheme, plasma TVs and (in the double rooms) king-sized beds are just some of the pluses.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Large rooms with a contemporary feel and efficient service distinguish this hotel, splendidly located at the top end of La Rambla de Catalunya. Many rooms have balconies overlooking the boulevard.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
The standard rooms are indeed a little Cramped, but full of designer twirls and a light, white and timber toned décor, all hidden behind an (often illuminated) 1892 façade.
Barceloneta & the Waterfront
Housed in the World Trade Center, the Grand Marina has a maritime flavour that continues into the rooms, with lots of polished timber touches and hydro-massage bathtubs.
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
This tranquil hotel occupies a beautifully adapted, centuries-old building backing onto Plaça de Sant Felip Neri.
Gràcia & Park Güell
This sumptuous Modernista mansion, built in 1908–11, is one of Barcelona’s most luxurious hotels. Standard rooms are plush, if small.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Nicely situated a short walk from Passeig de Gràcia, this three-star hotel is equally well placed for long nights out in the restaurants, bars and clubs of adjacent Carrer d’Aribau. Room decor and types vary wildly.
El Raval
Another classic Barcelona facade that promises an entirely different aesthetic within. Rooms aren't enormous, but they are undeniably stylish, with a minimalist's attention to detail and a quality hotel's commitment to comfort.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Inside the fine 19th-century Palacio Verdura lurks one of the city's best-known designer digs (with a permanent art collection on show). Decor varies greatly: some rooms are strikingly modern, while others cede to more classic tastes in luxury.
Barceloneta & the Waterfront
This spinnaker-shaped beach-adjacent tower of glass contains 473 rooms and suites that are the last word in contemporary hotel chic. Self-indulgence is a byword and guests can flit between gym, infinity pool (with bar) and spa.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
This upmarket hotel, set in a late-19th-century building, has 91 fully equipped rooms and boasts an elegant restaurant, terrace bar and small gym. Some of the bigger rooms, with marble bathrooms, even have their own exercise bikes.
La Ribera
The homely smell of laundry pervades this quaint little hostel in a great location close to the shore, the Ciutadella park and the nightlife of El Born. The 11 simple rooms are kept spick and span, with nothing much in the way of frills.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
This Modernista gem hides a gorgeous little boutique number. While the high ceilings and the bulk of the original tile floors have been maintained, the 43 rooms have daring ceramic touches, spot lighting and contemporary art.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
This 21st-century designer setting, housed in a well-preserved 1930s edifice, boasts Bang & Olufsen TVs and expansive, softly backlit beds. Inside the block is a pretty Japanese garden; you can also opt for a massage in your room.
La Rambla & Barri Gòtic
Within the stately shell of a grand old building, on a pleasant square just inland from the waterfront, is this modern hotel. The 44 rooms are pleasant enough and mostly spacious, if unimaginative.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
This sprawling, central option has the charm of one of the great European hotels. The rooftop pool is great for views and relaxing, or you can pamper yourself in the spa after a workout in the gym.
El Raval
The colour scheme here is predominantly white, with exceptions like the screaming orange fridge in the communal kitchen and chill-out area. Rooms are also themed lily white, from the floors to the sheets.
La Sagrada Família & L'Eixample
Every room, even the least expensive on offer, is full of restrained charm, with dark wood furniture and blood-red carpets. This is one of Barcelona's more exclusive addresses.
