To go hard on life and luxury in the Catalan capital, look no further than the W Barcelona. The five-star number on the Barceloneta is all about fun, food and feeling fabulous.
Perhaps the most iconic addition to the Barcelona skyline since the Sagrada Familia, the W Barcelona is an all-in address with an uncontested place-to-be feel and built-in wow factor courtesy of starchitect Ricardo Bofill. From a jacuzzi on the private terrace of our ‘Marvellous Suite’, we enjoyed uninterrupted views of the glittering Mediterranean Sea as seagulls flew past, envious of our champagne-laced soaking session – or at least we’d like to think so.
It’s been many years since we first learned that waking up to the world on the 23rd floor makes for an exhilarating start to the day, and thanks to the W’s location on the southern tip of the Barceloneta, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows wrapping around the entire outward-facing exterior of our 80-square-metre lodgings, we continued dreaming even when wide-awake. The views of the city below, especially as it lit up at night, were impossible to get enough of.
If you wanted to invite Barcelona’s nightlife into your room (ours had enough wardrobe space for a fully-fledged LOEWE collection), you’re perfectly equipped to do so. Two flatscreen TVs, a Bose Bluetooth sound system and the hotel’s 24h ‘Whatever/Whenever’ service are sure to come in handy – so are the ‘WOW’ lights, designed to give your suite the look and feel of a nightclub, as well as the King-size bed outfitted with a pillow-top mattress, should it come to that.
| Perfect for | Fly into | Right on time |
| The Hedonist | BCN | GMT +1 |
| While you’re Out There |
| Hop on the nearby cable car to the foot of Montjuïc hill. From here, it’s a 30-minute climb to the hilltop Castle and the scenic Mirador del Migdia garden and hiking trail. Devotees of Joan Miró could even track down the painter’s final resting place at Montjuïc Cemetery, though be prepared for a good deal of walking. |
The W also boasts with a cluster of dining and drinking outlets to suit any occasion: put the mixology experts at the top-floor ECLIPSE cocktails lounge to the test, or relax at the laidback SALT beach club. We tried FIRE, whose watermelon carpaccio with vegan hazelnut cheese served as a perfect metaphor of the hotel itself: sexy, fun and playing with convention. Though we were amazed (if not relieved) by the astonishing array of detox juices available in the mornings, we thought breakfast fell just a tad short of the W’s otherwise impressive pursuit of superlatives.
Still, it’d be hard not being drawn into hotel’s irresistible microcosm; a world furnished with poolside daybeds, popping bottles and jet-setting ‘lona lovers. At five stars and nearly 100 times as many rooms and suites, the W is easily Barcelona’s most ‘anything-goes’ hotel for sunshine-hunting luxury travellers. Though should you catch a rainy day, the hotel staff’s sunny disposition is guaranteed to make up for it. They might even make you want to sing – there’s a room for that, too: the W Sound Suite, where guests are invited to record their own ode to the hotel. Hallelujah!
Photography courtesy of W Hotels
