Luxury Locations

A luxury location is one where the setting does part of the work: a terrace with a view you would otherwise queue for, a beach you can reach barefoot, a street quiet enough to sleep with the window open. This section is organised around those settings rather than around star ratings.

On the coast, our guide to Spain's finest beach resorts covers the stretches where a premium rate buys genuine seclusion rather than simply a larger pool. In the city, couples who want the volume turned down tend to start with adults-only addresses, which cluster in a handful of districts rather than spreading evenly across Barcelona.

Two of those districts do most of the work here. The residential calm of Sarria-Sant Gervasi sits above the tourist city, with wide streets, neighbourhood restaurants and a short metro ride into the centre; it rewards stays of a week or more. Montjuic and its hillside hotels trade street life for gardens, museums and the best views back over the port.

Season matters as much as postcode. A seafront address that feels generous in May can be hemmed in by crowds in August, and a hillside terrace that is perfect in September is simply cold in January. Each location guide therefore states the months it is written for, and what the same room is like outside them.

If the trip is not limited to Barcelona, our coverage of hotels elsewhere in Spain applies the same criteria to Madrid, Seville and the islands, so a shortlist built here stays comparable when it crosses the country. We revisit these locations each season, because what counts as quiet in February rarely counts as quiet in August.