El Palace Hotel Barcelona is one of the world’s most luxurious hotels
For old-world glamour and illustrious former guests such as Salvador Dali, few lodgings can rival this bastion of luxury.
For more than a century, an imposing hotel has dominated a block on the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes in Barcelona. I often walked past it when it was called the Ritz but I never dared to go in, fearing for my wallet. When I first stayed in the city, back in the 1980s, I was a peseta-less student, living in a hostel on the Raval side of the famous Ramblas thoroughfare that runs down to the sea. El Raval is now largely gentrified but was then generously described in the tourist literature as a colourful neighbourhood, with a few dodgy streets populated by drug dealers and muggers.
Happily surviving those days, I’ve revisited Barcelona dozens of times since. As my disposable income improved, so did the standard of my lodgings; although never having considered myself (or, sadly, been considered) grand, I’ve never stayed anywhere worthy of that adjective. Until this year, that is, when I was invited to stay at the former Ritz, now revived and renamed as Hotel El Palace. Following the establishment of famed hotelier Cesar Ritz’s properties in Paris, London and Madrid, the Ritz was Barcelona’s first and greatest luxury hotel, opening in 1919. Recently renovated, this carefully curated reincarnation is making a credible bid to reclaim that exclusive title.
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The building sits in the stately Eixample district, its facade looking southwest down the Gran Via that crosses the entire city, at 13km the longest street in Catalonia. “Eixample” is Catalan for expansion, and the area was designed by urban planner Ildefons Cerda to relieve pressure on the overcrowded Ciutat Vella, the old town that once again throngs with humanity as tourism booms. Eixample is only a few minutes’ walk northwest of the charming, tiny streets of El Born but comprises broad avenues and elegant blocks, their corners chamfered at 45 degrees to allow olden-day trams to turn.
El Palace’s smart entrance is magnified by the scale and opulence of its interior, with elegant, expensive fittings that justify the hotel’s name. Walk through the lobby and you arrive in the great hall, an enormous, high-ceilinged, mirror-walled space that has operated at various times as a ballroom, wedding venue and fashion runway. Beautifully upholstered couches and armchairs, given privacy by indoor plants, sit beneath huge crystal chandeliers, and welcome their occasionally well-upholstered guests. At the end is a stylish bar, again done in the grand manner befitting a property of such pedigree.
My attention is taken by the leather-rich, wood-panelled Cigar Club, with competition from the Bluesman cocktail bar, but for more formal dining the hotel’s Amar restaurant is rapidly building its reputation. A few weeks after my visit former US president Barack Obama dined there with filmmaker Steven Spielberg and veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen, on the recommendation of celebrated Spanish-American chef Jose Andres.
More casual is El Jardin, the semi-outdoor restaurant where breakfast is served amid wrought-iron fittings and more greenery. There are Catalan staples of bread with grated tomato, garlic, olive oil and perhaps an indulgent slice of jamon with cheese and chorizo; or, for the less Iberian palate, a full range of international favourites from bacon and eggs to steamed Chinese dumplings.
Head up to your room and expect a high degree of comfort, with abundant natural light and furnishings of restrained refinement. The hotel has 120 rooms – between quite large and enormous. The “classic” rooms, with comfortable armchairs, pillow menus, desks, and dressing rooms, overlook the bustling city streets. There are suites designed for people who want even more luxury, with what look like ancient Roman bathrooms of Italian marble, plus the thoughtful inclusion of a guest bathroom in the sitting room.
Family suites of three rooms with a private common entrance are ideal for those who, incomprehensibly, cannot bear to leave their loved ones behind. Top of the range are the six specially themed 150sq m “art” suites reflecting the tastes of celebrated guests associated with the hotel: Catalan artist Joan Miro, novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon, performer Josephine Baker, surrealist Salvador Dali, Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and Cesar Ritz himself. The ritziest might be Baker’s: inspired by a French chateau, it features floral fabrics, gilded furnishings and artworks that depict its namesake.
They are a tiny sample of the great and the famous who have stayed here through the years. From Frank Sinatra to Paul McCartney, Maria Callas to Margot Fonteyn, John Wayne to Gina Lollobrigida, Ella Fitzgerald to Sean Connery, the hotel’s fascinating visitors’ book covers a century of glamour. The international nature of that cavalcade of talent is reflected in El Palace’s clientele, who judging by their accents come from all over the world. They are warmly welcomed by young, polished, multilingual staff, dotted with a few greying heads who maintain the Spanish tradition of hotel and restaurant service as a noble and dignified art.
Like all the best city hotels, El Palace is within easy reach of all the major attractions but with one special plus: the Eixample district contains architect Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral, just a pleasant stroll away. Also nearby are his undulating redesign of the Casa Batllo and the flowing lines of Casa Mila, commonly known as La Pedrera, with its extraordinary, seemingly organic, rooftop.
Take the lift seven floors to the top of El Palace to discover another exquisite rooftop, a 1500sq m open-air garden with swimming pool, restaurant and bar, its tables set between ponds, pergolas and fountains, embraced by the scent of flowering plants and the gentle sound of trickling water. The rooftop garden, said to be Barcelona’s biggest, commands 360-degree views to Mediterranean and mountains, and of the Sagrada Familia, which appears to grow out of the cityscape.
If you’re looking for a cheap, grungy holiday in Barna, as locals call it, El Raval is still there; but if maturity leads you to seek out luxurious modern exemplars of the grand tradition of European hotels, you need look no further than El Palace.
IN THE KNOW
Barcelona is a popular and convenient entry point not only for Spain but for the rest of Europe, thanks to its many connections to the continent’s budget airlines and its position on a high-speed (and, if more leisurely travel appeals, slow local) rail network. Booking is essential for the Sagrada Familia, Spain’s most popular tourist attraction, with more than three million visitors a year. Classic rooms at Hotel El Palace from €516 ($875); seasonal variations apply.
Steve Waterson was a guest of Hotel El Palace.
https://www.lhw.com/hotel/El-Palace-Barcelona-Barcelona-Spain