Hotel Market

Any doubts about whether Barcelona really is one of the world’s capitals of cool are quickly settled by a look at the boutique hotel scene. And in a city full of funky, well-designed small boutiques, the Hotel Market fits in perfectly.

It’s a hotel-restaurant, to be exact, the sort of place where the food comes first, with the bedrooms in a supporting role. But the lodgings are anything but perfunctory — while the restaurant is a fixture in the neighborhood surrounding the Sant Antoni market, the hotel pulls its weight as well, with fifty-eight rooms decorated in smart monochrome hues and rich hardwoods.

The neighborhood is the Eixample, the extension just outside Barcelona’s old city walls, and this particular corner of it is hip and rapidly improving. Here you’re largely free of the typical tourist traffic, but by no means isolated — the Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas are not far off. The restaurant draws more than its share of locals, and the San Antoni market itself is often buzzing. Best of all, perhaps, is the price; even accounting for the fact that it lacks many of the more indulgent services you’ll find in higher-end luxury boutiques, the Market Hotel is an excellent value.