Award: Best for palatial style
With its grand staircases, gilded ceilings, and parlor palms, Barcelona’s original luxury haunt first opened in 1919 as the Ritz hotel on one of the city’s major avenues. Since then it has hosted everyone from Salvador Dalí and the Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood—both of whom have Suites named after them—to Pablo Picasso, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Sofia Loren, Michael Douglas, and Pierce Brosnan.
In 2005 it was reborn as El Palace and has undergone numerous revamps since then, so it’s not at all fusty. The 114 rooms, including 24 junior suites, six superior suites, and five deluxe suites, feature lofty ceilings and marble bathrooms. For truly palatial style, the six Art Suites—including Salvador Dali’s favorite and another designed by Ronnie Wood—have grand fireplaces, vast walk-in closets, and Roman-style mosaic tubs.
Dining options include the superb Amar, as well as a large rooftop terrace with a restaurant, garden, and pool. At the award-winning Mayan spa on the first floor, you can indulge in stress-banishing massages using volcanic rocks and medicinal herbs. The hotel also has its own luxury speedboat if you fancy seeing the Barcelona skyline from the water. Choose from a day out on the SeaRay SDX 270 or savor a three-hour sunset cruise with a bottle of Ruinart or Brut Reserve cava.
Best amenity: The hotel’s Amar restaurant is run by Rafa Zafra, a former chef at Ferran Adria’s legendary three-Michelin-starred El Bulli—five times voted the World’s Best Restaurant. Sample seafood in the grand midnight-blue dining room.
Can’t-miss experience: Named after Ronnie Wood, the Bluesman Cocktail Bar in the hotel’s basement is all red velvet, leather chesterfields, and 1920s chandeliers. Come for the top cocktails and a boogie (or the adjacent cigar cellar with humidors) and you might just run into a Rolling Stone.
From $490