Gran Hotel La Florida

"This handsome six-story take on a traditional Catalan villa, which sits atop Mount Tibidabo at Barcelona’s northernmost edge, not only defines urbane comfort for the twenty-first century but is pulling in one of the sexiest crowds on the Continent with its indoor-outdoor stainless steel pool, high-tech spa, and 70 rooms and suites, many with private gardens. In a building that dates from 1925, the hotel has reclaimed its glamorous ’50s heyday (when Rock Hudson and Jimmy Stewart checked in) with a cozy jazz club and an updated Catalan identity—from the wonderful mix of ’20s-era elements and the wall of water in the lobby bar to oak-parquet floors, tiny balconies, and big TVs in the high-ceilinged guest rooms, along with big marble baths stocked with L’Occitane toiletries. There’s also a workout room, and its L’Orangerie restaurant has scrumptious Mediterranean offerings, including a Venetian-style lamb and polenta. Superb, can-do service is the icing on the cake."