Hotel Colon by Jamie Dunford Wood

This is a hotel with plenty of character in a great position, but you need to choose your room carefully. Right across from the Cathedral in Barcelona’s atmospheric Gothic barrio (‘quarter’), the reception and public areas downstairs are old fashioned in feel, furnished in wood and pink/coral marble, 50s style, with a parqueted salon dotted with traditional Spanish dark oak pieces and a collection of china dogs and military figurines framing the bar. A magnificent antique Spanish grandfather clock completes the look.

Upstairs, the 175 rooms are for the most part simply furnished in an unremarkable way, rather dated, with small old fashioned bathrooms, wall mounted showers and slightly stained carpets, but furniture seems in good repair. Standard rooms have no view, so superiors should be chosen. The hotel is on a corner, so you ask for views over the cathedral – all outside rooms have small balconies and old fashioned Spanish shutters. Don’t expect luxury, but for those who yearn for the traditional, if sometimes eccentric, hotels of Europe of 50 years ago, when the word glitz had not been invented, then the Colon may fit the bill.

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