Cool Hunting

For a holiday spent taking in Barcelona's seamless blend of old and new architecture, food and sounds, the sublime Chic and Basic Hotel couldn't be more well-suited. Located in the trendy Born area, it's an ideal jumping-off spot for wandering the many narrow, meandering streets of the city's neighboring areas. But it's the hotel itself that symbolizes so much of what we consider Barcelona to be about.

Housed in a century-old building, with 22 foot-high ceilings, a crystal shower at the center of each room and a sophisticated lighting system that transforms the appearance of rooms according to mood, the Chic and Basic features the kind of thoughtful design that makes the interior both functional and an adventure. The look and feel come courtesy of architect and designer Xavier Claramunt, who made wandering down the corridors to the rooms an sensory experience.

His ultra-modern and unconventionally-styled rooms go for high-impact with details like shimmering walls of beads that visually divide the stark white walls. Those same beads dripped mischieviously from the roof in the hallways add a continuous sparkle to the common space.

Hotel Chic and Basic Born
Calle Princesa 50
08003 Barcelona, Spain map
+34 932 954 652
You can make a booking via their website, rates are around 70 euro, nightly.