El Palauet Living Barcelona

It’s a hotel, but only just — El Palauet Living’s six suites are all two-bedrooms, and they do enough long-stay business to quote their rates by the week. That’s about how long it takes to exhaustively shop the Passeig de Gràcia, and that’s got to be more than just a coincidence. Anyway it’s hard to imagine having your first look around this place and not wanting to inquire about extending your stay.

The look is arresting, a bold combination of baroque and modern architecture, resulting in spaces that feel at once theatrical and inviting — the lobby alone is worth the price of admission, and shames many a larger hotel. In some flashy boutiques the décor is an inch deep, but here the high-end furnishings and solid construction ensure that these interiors are as functional as they are well-formed. High-tech wizardry works effortlessly behind the scenes; it’s a close call whether the ornately figured period ceilings or the rooms’ near-magical central control panels are more impressive.

Each suite has two bedrooms, and can sleep four with ease. The waking hours aren’t all that hard either, with a personal assistant assigned to each unit, fully capable of throwing together a cocktail party en suite, should you despair of having all that space to yourself. Fully furnished kitchens, dining and living rooms and either balconies or terraces don’t hurt either, with views either over the Passeig de Gràcia or up towards the mountains.

There’s even a generously sized spa, with a Finnish sauna and facilities for massage. You could complain that there’s no restaurant, but it’d be churlish indeed, especially when your suite has the space and the equipment for a decent-sized dinner party. Then again you might need some of that space for your shopping bags.

• 6 Rooms
• Style: Modern Design
• Atmosphere: Lively
• 1 Guest Review

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