Refurbed hotels have something new hotels can’t offer, they have history and this combined with a face lift creates hotels to be reckoned with. El Palace in Barcelona is one of those hotels, from the minute you arrive you can feel the glamour and glitz of the roaring 20s whilst still having access to a host of mod cons of course…..Did we mention that this place used to be The Ritz?
One look inside and it’s easy to see why this is LondOntheInside’s favourite hotel. The interiors are timeless; velvet curtains, chandeliers dripping from the ceilings, deep sinking arm chairs, golden tables, lamps, plush carpets….we could fill pages just listing everything we love about this hotel, but we won’t bore you.
We stayed in one of the Junior Suites with Jacuzzi bath, double rainfall showers, huge bed and separate walk-in wardrobe. These suites are seriously swish. Elsewhere in the hotel the Mayan spa has the only temazcal sweat lodge in Europe and offers a range of treatments for individuals and couples. The basement cocktail bar ‘Rien de Rien’ has live jazz music every night and is manned by handsome chaps who know all the tricks in the book, and if you’re lucky they’ll get the shiny disco ball out!
The hotel’s Michelin starred restaurant Caelis located in a ballroom style setting is headed up by chef Romain Fornell who was the first French chef to be awarded a Michelin star in Spain. The restaurant serves some of the finest food we’ve ever eaten, courses come in a variety of props; fish bowls, dishes made from ice, perfume spritz and popping candy.Breakfast is another joyous occasion served in El Jardin with a whole host of hot and cold goodies on offer as well as champers on ice.
[URIS id=73220]There are deals which come up all year round but lets not pull the wool over your eyes to stay here requires cash and lots of it, you may want to swap the army plimsolls for your dad’s Clarks.
El Palace, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 668, Barcelona
www.hotelpalacebarcelona.com