Gran Hotel La Florida

"This veteran hotel on Tibidabo's Hill has a history that stretches back to 1924, with its heyday in the '50s as a hot spot for wealthy Catalan families and, later, for visiting stars like Ernest Hemingway, James Stewart, and Princess Fabiola. After closing in 1979, La Florida reopened in 2001 in a more postmodern incarnation that blends original features such as wrought iron and antique tapestries with bold stainless-steel and glass accents. Internationally acclaimed artists such as Dale Keller, Rebecca Horn, and Cristina Macaya designed the art nouveau-inspired guestrooms, and the hotel is dotted with contemporary art by a similarly impressive cast—sculptures by British artists Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu and paintings of flowers by Catalan artist Isabel Cruellas, for example. All the rooms have oak floors, luxurious furniture and fittings, and generously sized marble bathrooms with in-floor heating and separate showers and bathtubs. Terrace rooms face the city and seaside, junior suites have separate living areas, and the presidential suite has an outdoor Jacuzzi and hammocks where you can take in views of the Mediterranean. The hotel features a wonderful restaurant, spa by L'Occitane, open-air swimming pool, and in-house café and bar with regular live music."

"This handsome six-story take on a traditional Catalan villa, which sits atop Mount Tibidabo at Barcelona’s northernmost edge, not only defines urbane comfort for the twenty-first century but is pulling in one of the sexiest crowds on the Continent with its indoor-outdoor stainless steel pool, high-tech spa, and 70 rooms and suites, many with private gardens. In a building that dates from 1925, the hotel has reclaimed its glamorous ’50s heyday (when Rock Hudson and Jimmy Stewart checked in) with a cozy jazz club and an updated Catalan identity—from the wonderful mix of ’20s-era elements and the wall of water in the lobby bar to oak-parquet floors, tiny balconies, and big TVs in the high-ceilinged guest rooms, along with big marble baths stocked with L’Occitane toiletries. There’s also a workout room, and its L’Orangerie restaurant has scrumptious Mediterranean offerings, including a Venetian-style lamb and polenta. Superb, can-do service is the icing on the cake."