Boasting an enviable location on the Passeig de Gracia near Guadi’s Casa Batllo, the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona is a luxurious marriage of styles. The clean modernity of the former bank building meets the chain’s signature modern Asian design with elegance. A sleek entrance catwalk opens into the chic lobby, setting the scene for the hotel’s glamorous mood. Patricia Urquiola’s design throughout is stylish and refined, focused on clean white walls, hip furniture and gorgeous ceramics.

The facilities

The hotel offers a 1000 square-metre spa with 8 rooms that feature a wide and innovated range of holistic treatments. The spa complex is a below-ground, luxurious cave of modern cool that houses a sleek 12-metre pool, a hammam and a fitness centre. The Mandarin Oriental's rooftop terrace, Terrat, is ideal for sunbathing and also features dynamic, panoramic views of the city and a refreshing plunge pool.

The rooms

The 98 rooms at the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona are filled with natural light that match the grace of the design. Rooms offer warm wood floors and plush French carpeting, plush beds, high-end electronics, glass-enclosed bathrooms with spacious rain showers and, in some rooms, deluxe soaking tubs with a view. Many rooms offer furnished terraces with views of the hotel’s garden or the Passeig De Gracia and Gaudi’s Casa Batllo.