The best hotels in Barcelona, neighbourhood by neighbourhood

The textile palace on Gran Via

The building was once the headquarters of the city's cotton trade, and the hotel leans into it: a spiral staircase that seems to hang in the air, a dark-panelled library, bedrooms done in linen and white. The terrace at the back is quiet enough to hear cutlery.

Staying here feels like being lent a floor of a grand relative's house. It appeals to first-timers who want the Eixample without the traffic noise, and anyone who likes a long breakfast. It is less suited to those who want a late bar scene on site; evenings here are gentle.

The garden nobody sees from the street

From Carrer de Mallorca, two blocks off Passeig de Gràcia, Alma is a handsome but unremarkable facade. Walk through the lobby and you reach a garden with mature trees and chairs in the shade, and the city simply stops.

It is the hotel for people who want to be in the middle of things and then not be. Couples and groups of grown-up friends love it; the restaurant opens onto the garden so dinner needs no coat. Families with young children may find it a touch too hushed.

Modernisme with a jazz club downstairs

At the very top of Passeig de Gràcia, where the avenue meets the Gràcia district, Casa Fuster is a white modernista landmark with a rooftop pool and a view straight down the avenue. The café on the ground floor hosts jazz nights.

You are sleeping inside a piece of the city's architectural story, with marble, arches and staff who have done this for years. It is well suited to anyone who wants both the Gaudí houses and the small squares of Gràcia on foot. You need to enjoy classic grand-hotel style; minimalists should look at Mercer instead.

The square where the city lowers its voice

Plaça de Sant Felip Neri is a small square with a fountain and a single tree, a couple of minutes from the cathedral, and Neri occupies an old palace on its edge. Rooms have stone walls, dark wood and fabrics you want to touch.

It is a hotel for two. Breakfast is on the roof terrace, the lanes empty out once the coach groups leave, and you come back to silence. Travelling with children, or wanting a proper pool, choose elsewhere. For a weekend with one person you like very much, little in the city compares.

A Roman wall in the building

Sections of the old Roman city wall run through the hotel, and parts of it are left exposed indoors. The rest of Mercer is contemporary: a courtyard of orange trees, clean-lined rooms and a small pool on the roof.

It feels like living in a well-kept piece of archaeology where someone has thought hard about the mattresses. Design-minded couples will be happiest here. Rooms on the street side are not soundproofed against a Saturday night in the Gothic Quarter, so request the courtyard.

The pool on the edge of Via Laietana

Via Laietana is the wide avenue that separates the Gothic Quarter from El Born, and Grand Hotel Central sits halfway along it. The draw is the roof: an infinity pool that appears to spill over the edge towards the Old Town's rooftops.

Rooms are large by Old Town standards, dark and calm. It is a sound choice if you want both halves of the Old Town on foot and a swim at the end of a long day. Via Laietana carries real traffic, though, so this is not the hotel for those dreaming of a silent lane outside the window.

The harbour across the road

The Serras stands on Passeig de Colom with the yachts of Port Vell directly opposite and the Gothic Quarter directly behind. The roof has a small pool and a bar that fills up as the sun drops over the marina.

This is one of the few hotels where you get the sea and the lanes without a metro ticket. It suits couples and anyone who likes a small, personal address with a serious restaurant. It is less ideal if you plan to lie on the beach all day; Barceloneta's sand is a stroll away rather than at the foot of the building.

The tower by the beach

Hotel Arts is one of the twin towers at Port Olímpic, with the beach below and rooms facing either the Mediterranean or the city and the hills behind it. It is a big hotel with several restaurants and an outdoor pool in the garden.

You stay here for a holiday feeling rather than a city break. Mornings start with a run or a swim before breakfast, and the restaurants along Port Olímpic are right underneath in the evening. It works well for families who want pool and beach in the same morning. Count on a taxi or the metro to the Old Town and the Eixample; this is Barcelona at a distance, with a view.

The family townhouse in Tres Torres

A small, family-run hotel in a townhouse in the residential district of Tres Torres, with its own garden and the FGC station a short walk away. Rooms have parquet floors and bookshelves, and the place has the air of a home someone actually lives in. Breakfast moves out to the garden when the weather allows.

This is the hotel for a slower Barcelona, and for paying less than you would downtown for the same quality. Repeat visitors and grown-ups who value a quiet night will be happiest. If this is your first trip and you want to step out of the door into Gaudí, stay further down the hill.