The One Barcelona

There are a lot of great hotels in Barcelona — after all, this is a city that handles a staggering amount of tourism. So why is this the One? Well, for our money, there’s no better location in Barcelona, situated at the point where two of the city’s best neighborhoods meet. There’s Eixample, a leafy residential district south of the Avenguda Diagonal off the beaten tourist path (don’t mistake the Rambla de Catalunya, one of the neighborhood’s charming pedestrian thoroughfares, with its more well-known and highly trafficked counterpart La Rambla). And there’s Gràcia to the north, lively, trendy, and where young Barcelona lives and plays. You’re within walking distance of all the major sights — Gaudí’s Parc Güell, the Sagrada Família cathedral, the Gothic Quarter — but you’re firmly on the locals’ turf. And that makes all the difference.

You’ll live very comfortably while you’re here, too. The One certainly looks like the five-star hotel that it is. Across the hotel and its 89 guestrooms, there’s a lot of marble, mirrors, and gold accents, done in an elegant way — the handiwork of designer Jaime Beriestain, whose studio created a lot of the furniture too. There’s plenty of dramatic, colorful artwork on the walls, but the best visuals are easily the nearly floor-to-ceiling picture windows that let guests fully take in the neighborhood. The entry-level “cozy” rooms live up to their name (and all that coziness implies when it comes to real estate and hotel rooms), but they’re smartly designed. And the higher-end rooms are among the most luxurious in the area, with private terraces and spectacular views of the Sagrada Familia. If it’s city views you’re after, though, head straight to the rooftop and its plunge pool, which offers unobstructed views of the Barcelona skyline: you’ll remember in an instant why, in a city full of great hotels, this was the one.