Serras Barcelona

We recommend the Serras to thirty- and forty-something couples who want a design pied-à-terre facing the port, not an old-school palace. It's a hotel for romantic weekends, starred dinners, rooftop aperitifs until midnight. Families will find the rooms too small, the clientele remains adult and cosmopolitan.

The Serras occupies a bourgeois 19th-century building renovated in 2015, neoclassical façade overlooking the Passeig de Colom. Contemporary interior by Equip Xavier Claramunt: blonde wood, limestone, grey terrazzo, bespoke furniture. Nine rooms spread over four floors, compact volumes (18 to 35 m²), ceiling height 3.20 metres. The rooftop adds 200 m² of terrace with pool, bar and sun loungers facing the port.

The Informal by Marc Gascons restaurant (one Michelin star since 2017) occupies the ground floor and the Colom-side terrace. Contemporary Catalan cuisine, produce from the Boqueria, tasting menu at 95 €, à la carte around 70 € per person. The rooftop bar serves cocktails and tapas until midnight, view over the port and the Barceloneta. Buffet breakfast served in the restaurant or in room, 28 € per person.

The Serras stands at the corner of the Passeig de Colom and carrer d'Isabel II, right between the Barri Gòtic and the Port Vell. The Ramblas are two minutes on foot, the Picasso museum eight, the Barceloneta ten. Drassanes metro station (L3) 300 metres away, El Prat airport 25 minutes by taxi. The neighbourhood is lively day and night, touristy without being noisy on the sea side, very residential on the Born side.