SD › Barcelona › Hotels › Bagués Review
Updated: May 5, 2022
By Santorini Dave
Essentials
• Location: La Rambla opposite Betlem Church.
• Hotel website: hotelbagues.com
• Hotel phone: +34-933-435-000
• Check prices for Bagués
Bagués – Contemporary luxury boutique hotel, right on Barcelona’s La Rambla.
Ritzy, super-central Bagués sits right in between the Barri Gòtic and El Raval. As a nod to its past as a jeweler’s showroom, this stunning hotel makes terrific use of exotic materials: expect plenty of Venetian glass, rosewood, leopard skin and ebony. Due to the historic building’s design, rooms vary both in size and amenities provided: some come with view of La Rambla, others – the Betlem church. Some of the Indian slate bathrooms have tubs as well as rain showers, and there’s a rooftop sundeck with plunge pool for all. The terrific on-site restaurant serves Mediterranean dishes, and there are plenty of other options in the surrounding streets. Perfect location for sightseeing and dining out in Barcelona’s historic center.
See Also
- Best Barcelona Hotels
- Best Barcelona Hotels for Families
- Best Barcelona Budget Hotels
- Best Boutique Hotels in Barcelona
Hotel Bagués – Location
- Address: La Rambla, 105.
- Nearest Metro: Liceu is just 100m away.
- Area: Super-central location right on Barcelona’s most popular pedestrian boulevard. On the border of lively El Raval neighborhood and the historic Barri Gòtic. La Ribera is a 10-minute walk away, while Barceloneta and L’Eixample are both a 15-minute stroll from the hotel. Barri Gòtic is the most compact of Barcelona’s neighborhoods, its narrow maze of streets lined with numerous bars, restaurants and shops, while El Raval is the gentrified former red light district, with historic bars, independent shops and a clutch of attractions. Both are very walkable. The nearest metro stop is a 1-minute walk away.
- How to Get There: Take the train from Barcelona International Airport to Barcelona-Sants train station, then metro Line 3 in the Zona Universitaria direction to the Liceu stop. Hotel Bagués is a 1-minute walk away.
- Private Transfer: We use and recommend Welcome Pickups car service. Booking through a private car service will cost only a bit more than a taxi – about €37 from the airport, but can be worth it to avoid the long taxi queue and for the convenience of paying ahead.
- Handy to: La Rambla, La Catedral, MACBA.
Hotel Bagués – The Basics
- Ages: Guests with small children can be accommodated, but most guests tend to be couples on a romantic vacation or honeymoon. The hotel bar, La Terrazza del Bagués, is 18+.
- View: Good city views from higher floors – either of La Rambla or the Catholic church across the street. Terrific city views from the rooftop terrace and pool.
- Private Pools/Jacuzzis: Suites come with spa baths.
- Laundry: In-room laundry service.
- Parking: Parking not available.
- Extras: Free computers for guest use on the 5th and 6th floors. The Exhibition Room on the 1st floor displays unique Modernist and Art Deco jewelry pieces by Lluis Masriera, with more pieces featured in the guest rooms. The knowledgeable front desk staff are happy to arrange tours of the city according to guest interests.
- When to Book: Reserve 3 months in advance for high season (March to June and September to November) and the busy Christmas/ New Year period.
- How to Book: Booking.com will have the best rates.
- Phone: +34-933-435-000
- Email: bagues@derbyhotels.com
- Website: hotelbagues.com
Hotel Bagués – Amenities
- Pool: Rooftop plunge pool with excellent city views.
- Spa: No spa. In-room massages are available on request.
- Fitness Center: There’s a small gym onsite with an attached steam room.
- For Disabled Guests: One Superior room is adapted for guests with disabilities, as is the rooftop pool.
- For Families: Baby cots available for children under 3, and babysitting can be arranged on request.
Hotel Bagués – Food and Drink
- Restaurants: El Regulador (7.30-11 pm) is a stylish yet informal all-day bistro that specializes in Mediterranean dishes using fresh produce from nearby Mercado La Boquería. The 6-course tasting menu is an affordable market extravaganza (€50). Dinner reservations recommended. $$-$$$.
- Lounge/Bar: La Terraza del Bagués is a hip rooftop pool bar open only during the summer season (May to September) for cocktails and tapas overlooking the city.
- Breakfast: Not complimentary. Breakfast buffet of cold cuts and fruit, plus hot dishes made to order and a glass of cava available from 7.30-10.30am in El Regulador; €23 per person or €16.50 if booked in advance.
- Room Service: Available from El Regulador around the clock.
Hotel Bagués – Rooms
- Room Types: Standard Single • Superior Double • Deluxe Double • Suite • List of all rooms
- Smoking Rooms: Hotel Bagués is 100% smoke-free.
- Best Room: The light, airy 6th-floor Jewel Suites have the best views, and each comes with a private rooftop terrace, solarium, and spa bath. Each one also showcases a unique piece from the Masriera Museum modernist jewelry collection.
- For Families: No family rooms available.
Hotel Bagués – Local Transport
- Walking: La Catedral is a 6-minute walk away, La Rambla is just out front, and it takes around 10 minutes to walk to Museu Picasso. The surrounding streets in El Raval and Barri Gòtic are packed with cafes, restaurants, bars, and independent stops. Walkable to Barceloneta, La Ribera and L’Eixample neighborhoods.
- Metro: From the nearby Liceu stop, the u-shaped Line 3 metro runs north to Plaça Catalunya and L’Eixample, plus south towards the waterfront and then northwest past Poble Sec to Barcelona-Sants train station.
- Taxis, Uber, MyTaxi, Cabify: Taxis and Uber charge around €25-38 from the airport to the hotel. Within the city, Uber rides cost around half of taxi fares. It’s often quicker to walk, cycle, or jump on the metro.
Hotel Bagués – What’s Nearby?
Recommended Nearby Tours
- Runner Bean Tours – Highly recommended free walking tours of Barcelona; these include the popular walk around the Gothic Quarter and a Gaudi-themed walk.
- Food Wine Tours – A range of foodie tours, from a tapas walking tour to Penedes and Sitges wine-tasting tours outside the city. Private options available.
- Barcelona Sun & Segway – Eight different segway tours to choose from the classic (Port Vell, Barceloneta) to more specialized (Gaudi’s works, Montjuïc, Barcelona ’92 Olympics). Start location: 9-minute walk.
Nearby Restaurants
- Gats – Stylish fusion bistro with dishes that range from arroz de montaña (paella with botifarra sausage and asparagus) and tuna tataki to classic tapas. Short and sweet cava and wine menu, too.
- Elisabets 1962 – Old-school, unpretentious neighborhood eatery, ideal for a filling menu del día (daily special), bocadillos (sandwiches) and classic tapas.
- Caravelle – Hipster eatery with a Mexican slant that serves craft beer to a laptop-toting crowd between mealtimes and a mix of tacos, smoked pork ribs, cheeseburgers, and ceviche bowls the rest of the time.
- Dos Palillos – Michelin-starred Spanish-Asian fusion bar dining at its finest. Diners sit around the open kitchen and choose between the 17 and 20-course tasting menus. Courses range between bite-sized and tapas-sized and are a fun, creative exploration of Spanish, Thai, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese flavors. Reservations essential.
- Can Cullertes – Step back in time in Barcelona’s oldest restaurant (1786) and taste some centuries-old recipes: rice casserole, wild boar stew, pork sausage with beans. Old-world decor, popular with families.
- Suculent – Just three multi-course tasting menus to choose from here, with celebrity chef Carles Abellan wowing diners with his innovative takes on seasonal Catalan dishes, such as oxtail and mushroom croquettes and calçots with hazelnuts. Book ahead.
- Viana – Vintage decor, internationally-inspired tapas (burrata with guacamole, slow-cooked beef cheeks, cod in blood orange sauce), carefully chosen wines and great service. Of the house cocktails, the signature blackberry mojito is a winner.
- Tickets – Owned by Albert, the brother of Catalan superstar chef Ferran Adrià, this is a circus-themed tapas bar with the most creative tapas you’re ever likely to taste – a globally-inspired world tour in a few dishes. It’s a casual, informal, buzzy place, and the only tapas bar in town that you have to book online 2 months in advance.
Nearby Cafes
- ARTiSA – This buzzy little café just off Plaça Reial does many things well: great coffee, imaginative brunch dishes, gooey cakes and an array of tapas. Pleasant outdoor terrace.
- Churreria San Roman – This little café is among the best places in the city for crispy, piping-hot churros (deep-fried tubular doughnuts), served in paper cones. For best results, dip them in super-thick hot chocolate.
- Satan’s Coffee Corner – Bright hipster café, popular with Barcelona’s younger crowd. Good Ethiopian coffee, plus interesting breakfast options, from tuna melts to chia pudding and Japanese-style omelettes.
Nearby Bars and Craft Beer
- Bar Pinotxo – Arguably the best tapas counter bar in La Boquería market, going strong for over 70 years. Just look at the platters along the counter and ask the bow-tied owner, Juanito Bayen, about the daily specials, such as truita de carfoxes (artichoke omelette), botifarra (grilled Catalan sausage), bacallà amb Samfaina (codfish with ratatouille) and cap i pota (veal head and leg). Busy, fun, quick meal. Cash only.
- Beer’linale – Stone-walled bistro serving nicely presented Mediterranean fare, with over 180 bottled brews from around the world to wash it down with.
- Boadas – Barcelona’s oldest cocktail bar has a timeless elegance about it, as well as professional, bow-tied bartenders who’ll mix you a Fantasia or a Dracula.
- Kælderkold – This Danish-run, intimate craft “beertopia” has 15 regularly rotating beers on tap, with a particularly good selection of Scandinavian brews. There’s always pils and weizenbier on tap, and you can also go for a beer cocktail.
- El Drapaire – With 14 rotating craft beers on tap, this wooden-beamed tavern sources brews from Spain, Germany, Belgium, the UK and New England. The bar nibbles are as varies as the beer: stuffed bao buns, charcuterie platters, filled bagels, and nachos.
- La Alcoba Azul – Tiny, candlelit bar with low ceilings and medieval stone walls. Squeeze in for good tapas – morcilla, tostas (open-topped sandwiches), patatas bravas – and plenty of wines by the glass.
- Bar Marsella – This dedicated absinthe bar has been around since 1820 and you’d be propping up the counter just like Hemingway once did. Drip the water over the sugar cube provided into your absinthe glass.
- Ølgod – With 30 craft brews on tap from Denmark, the rest of Scandinavia, Catalonia and the UK, this Norse mythology-themed bar brings a touch of beery sophistication to bohemian Raval. Creative beer cocktails and well-prices tapas, too.
- Casa Almirall – Dark, old-world bar that’s been around since 1860, with Modernista decor, good selection of quality beers and absinthe done right. Very reasonable prices.
- Negroni – This dark little bar heaves nightly with a youthful, studenty crowd that comes for the reasonably priced cocktails. The celebrated Negroni (Campari, gin, & vermouth) is what they do best, but the bartenders can personalize each cocktail to suit the drinker’s tastes.
Nearby Shopping and Cool Shops
- Chök – All things chocolatey, as well as a huge array of doughnuts, macarons, cronuts and more.
- Sala Parés – Barcelona’s oldest art gallery doubles as a shop selling many works from Catalan artists such as Magí Puig, Xavier Rodés and Núria Guinovart.
- Torrons Vicens – Different varieties of turron (nougat) are the specialty, sold here since 1775. Handmade chocolates and other sweet treats also available.
- Petritxol Xocoa – Handmade chocolates and chocolate bars, gooey red velvet cake, sugar-dusted pastries and more. And if that’s not enough, you can also dunk your churros here into extra-thick hot chocolate.
- La Portorriqueña – Going strong for over a century, this shop sells coffee beans from around the world.
- Teranyina – Textile workshop where you can purchase rugs made by artist Teresa Aguayo or even take part in a weaving class.
- La Capell – Inside the Collegi de Arquitectes, this gift shop sells wonderful gadgets, educational toys, original, Barcelona-themed jewelry and books on architecture and art.
- Artesania Catalunya – Unique, locally made gifts, from thimbles resembling Gaudi’s chimneys and Salvador Dali-inspired sculpture to jewellery, wooden toys and more.
- La Manual Alpargatera – A local institution for decades, this footwear store has been selling hand-made espadrilles (rope-soled canvas shoes) since 1941. Salvador Dali famously bought a pair here.
- Art Escudellers – One of several branches selling colorful handmade ceramics, some with Modernista designs. Terrific gifts.
- Les Topettes – Unusual, beautifully presented scents, perfumes and soaps. Great gifts.
- Fantastik – Fun and quirky gifts from Mexico, India, Russia and beyond; come here for all your skull rattle, pineapple lamp and wooden crocodile needs.
Nearby Attractions
- Las Ramblas – Stretching from the waterfront to Plaça Catalunya, La Rambla is Barcelona’s most famous pedestrian boulevard, overlooked by stately 19th-century buildings and lined with restaurants, historic buildings and souvenir stalls. It’s a great place for people-watching and acts as a boundary between Barri Gòtic to the east and El Raval to the west.
- Palau Güell – Less well-known than Gaudi’s other buildings, this 1880s palace is a lively mix of architectural styles (neogothic, Art Nouveau, Islamic). It’s particularly worth a visit to check out the striking music room, the dome-like hall and the magnificent mosaics on the roof.
- La Catedral – Barcelona’s vast Gothic cathedral has pride of place in the heart of the Gothic Quarter. Apart from the richly decorated interior, it’s worth paying to take the elevator up to the roof for a bird’s eye view of medieval Barcelona.
- Museu Frederic Marès – The former home of count Frederic Marès I Deulovol, this palace contains a fascinating collection of medieval Spanish sculpture, weaponry, 19th-century daguerrotypes and much more.
- Sinagoga Major – Hidden down a tiny street, this small, vaulted space is the remains of the city’s main medieval synagogue – the only one of four that survived the 1391 pogroms. Inside there’s a display on Jewish culture in Barcelona.
- MACBA – Barcelona’s premier contemporary art museum is home to a permanent collection that focuses mostly on contemporary art movements in Catalunya and Spain since 1945. Temporary exhibitions range from sculpture and paintings by Catalan greats such as Antoni Tàpies or Joan Miró to installations by the likes of Francesc Torres.
- Museu d’Història de Barcelona – The excellent Barcelona History Museum walks you through the excavated ruins of the original Roman settlement of Barcino, dating back to 12BC. Upstairs, the displays explore medieval Barcelona’s growth as an important Mediterranean trading port.
- Museu Picasso – One of the world’s most important collections of Picasso’s work, spread across five medieval palaces. It includes pencil drawings he’s done as a boy, paintings of Barcelona landscapes from his art school days, Impressionist landscapes, a few paintings from his moody Blue Period and several Cubist works. Book your tickets online.
- Museu de Cultures del Món – Across from the Picasso Museum, two medieval palaces house the Museum of World Cultures, with an impressive collection of masks, statues, textiles, jewelry and ritual objects from Africa, Oceania, the Americas, and Asia.
Nearby Markets or Grocery Stores
- Mercat de la Boquería – Barcelona’s most famous produce market – meat stalls with dangling legs of jamón and displays filled with botifarra (Catalan sausage) and chorizos, seafood stalls with heaped razor clams and shrimp, olive stalls offering dozens of different kinds of olives and fresh juice stalls. The tapas stalls that fringe the main market area make an excellent stop for a snack and a drink.
- Mercadillo de la Plaça de Sant Josep – Every weekend, this little plaza in front of the church showcases the works of 15 or so local artists, some of whom are happy to draw a caricature of you.
- Mercat Gòtic – This flea market has been taking place in front of La Catedral every Thursday for over 40 years. Browse the stalls for antiques, decorative art, vintage cameras, silverware, coins and more.
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