Mercer Hotel Boria BCN

Mercer Hotel Boria BCN

At Boria, 24-26, in the old merchants' quarter of El Born, Mercer Hotel Boria BCN occupies an eighteenth-century palace, converted into eleven rooms that opened in 2008; the building still carries that history in its restored details, even as its four floors run on air conditioning, heating and free Wi-Fi. Every room window here is soundproofed, which matters more than it sounds in a neighbourhood built on atmospheric, busy streets and the Santa Caterina market; guests get the address without the noise. Rooms range from Superior doubles to a Grand Suite, several set up for five, with minibar, safe and toiletries as standard, so families or groups travelling together aren't squeezed into a single king bed. Downstairs there is a restaurant for breakfast, a library for the quieter hours, and a rooftop terrace open from nine in the morning to eleven at night, the one part of the property where smoking is allowed and the only spot with a proper view over the rooftops of Barcelona. Concierge, laundry, dry cleaning and airport transfers are handled by staff who work in English, Spanish and French, and a massage room and solarium cover wellness without pretending to be a full spa. There's no pool on site, so anyone set on lap swimming should look elsewhere, and with only eleven rooms this fills fast in high season. Extra beds run thirty euros a night and check-in starts at 3pm. What's left, once the practicalities are done, is Santa Maria del Mar, the Picasso Museum and Las Ramblas within walking distance, and a night's sleep that stays quiet in a district that rarely does. Mercer Hotel Boria BCN occupies an eighteenth-century palace in El Born, reopened in 2008 with just eleven rooms and soundproofed windows against a neighbourhood that never quite quiets down. Santa Maria del Mar and the Picasso Museum are a walk away; there's a rooftop terrace, but no pool.