H10 Metropolitan

If you can get to Barcelona’s central Catalunya rail and metro stations, you can get to the H10 Metropolitan Barcelona. Just be sure you’re not dragging your luggage into one of the other H10 hotels near the train station. There are three, after all, on two blocks, and nearly a dozen in the city at large. What makes the H10 Metropolitan a standout, apart from its location, is the fact that it’s housed in a beautiful historic building that’s been thoughtfully revamped by one of the city’s better-known interior designers, the self-described “urban archaeologist and style hunter” Lázaro Rosa-Violán.

The aesthetic, at once old-world romantic and playfully modern, channels Barcelona’s 19th-century industrial era. Picture wide-plank wood floors, antique window frames, bookcases stacked with vintage volumes, and leather Chesterfield sofas mixed with contemporary elements — a bronze cast of a bicycle perched on the mantel of an old fireplace, striking light fixtures that look like modern sculpture.

The 85 guestrooms are sleek and mercifully quiet, given the location, with funky carved-wood headboards, black lacquered furnishings and white marble bathrooms. All feature large flat-screen TVs, Nespresso machines, and iPhone docks; some have private balconies overlooking the city. An ample breakfast buffet is laid out each morning at The Kitchen restaurant. Any time of day, grab a café con leche in the lobby-level Cafeteria, or have a glass of sangria in the garden. The H10 Metropolitan has two outdoor swimming pools — a larger one downstairs, and on the rooftop, a small terrace with a plunge pool and chaise lounges — the perfect place to relax after returning from the requisite sightseeing steps away from the hotel’s front door.