Mandarin Oriental - Barcelona
- Nick, Editor
- Sep 15
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 24
Design-led serenity on Passeig de Gràcia
Article summary>>
In this article, you will get our unbiased, independent review and thoughts on the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona
Rooms & suites
Food & Drink
Amenities
Service
Vibe
Location
Thoughts
Booking
There’s a moment, just after you step off the bustle of Passeig de Gràcia, when the street’s carousel of taxis, window shoppers and Gaudí gawkers goes silent. An elegant ramp draws you upward from the boulevard into a hushed, light-box atrium and the lobby’s polished calm. This is Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona’s signature sleight of hand: the art of creating sanctuary at the city’s most conspicuous address, then layering it with serious culinary ambition, a spa that takes wellness to heart, and design details that reward the curious eye.
As a travel editor who returns to Barcelona frequently, I’m often asked where to book when the plan is equal parts culture, cuisine and shopping, with a dash of dolce far niente on a roof terrace. My answer lands here more often than not. Not because it’s the “shiniest” (Barcelona is spoiled for choice), but because of how coherently it pulls together place, personality and polish. Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona is a story you can read in one sitting or live in chapters, over a long weekend, or one of those too-brief business trips that you somehow transform into a little holiday.
The look:
The building itself began life as Banco Hispano Americano, a mid-20th-century dowager by Basque architect Manuel Galíndez. When the hotel opened in 2009, Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola reimagined the interiors, threading the straight lines and stone of Eixample with textures, perforated metal screens and custom furniture that feel tactile and human. Look up: the dramatic grid floating above Blanc, the all-day restaurant, creates a “hanging garden” effect, a whisper of the leafy Mimosa Garden hidden just beyond. Even the approach is a design gesture; that quiet, ascending ramp from the street is deliberate, a palate cleanser between city and sanctuary.
In the bar, the building’s past is on cheeky display. Banker’s Bar, its dim, sexy glow a magnet after dusk, wears a ceiling fashioned from authentic safety-deposit boxes. It’s one of those design moves you can’t unsee, and it makes your first martini taste like a secret.
Rooms & suites:
With 120 rooms spread across eight floors, the hotel is intimate by big-city standards. Rooms start at a generous 32 square metres and scale up to the eighth-floor Penthouse, 236 square metres of apartment-style fantasy with two terraces. Views toggle between Barcelona-as-postcard and the private, botanical hush of the internal courtyard. Some categories add balconies or terraces; suites connect flexibly for families.
The design DNA is Urquiola’s: pale woods underfoot, creamy textiles, lacquer-box wardrobes, mosaic-trimmed bathing spaces. It feels crisp and calming, but not cold; elegant without the hush that kills conversation.
If you’re a light sleeper or prefer a cocoon, book into the garden-facing side; for extroverts (or diligent flâneurs), a boulevard view is irresistible. This is the prettiest stage in town. Either way, it’s the kind of room you happily linger in before dinner, and linger again after, with the balcony doors cracked open to the city’s soft night sounds. For more information and to book a stay, click here
Eating & drinking:
The kitchens at Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona, have long punched above their weight, and they still do. Moments remains the gastronomic heart, stewarded by Raül Balam with guidance from his mother, the legendary Carme Ruscalleda. As of the current MICHELIN Guide, Moments holds one Michelin star and focuses on creative, seasonally expressive Catalan cuisine in a room glinting with amber and gold. It’s a tasting-menu experience that reads like Barcelona itself: precise, colourful, and a little playful around the edges. Book ahead; this is a local occasion as much as a hotel treat
For the rest of your day, Blanc is the convivial anchor. Beneath that luminous atrium, breakfast stretches into late brunch on weekends, with a Mediterranean-leaning menu throughout the day, think clean flavours, market freshness and a city-smart crowd taking meetings that look suspiciously like second breakfasts.
Up on the roof, Terrat is the hotel’s alfresco mood board: a linear deck framed by city views and a slender dipping pool that glints like a ribbon at sunset. The current concept leans Mediterranean with a strong cocktail game; Terrat operates seasonally and is the place for a golden-hour aperitivo that tends to become dinner.
And about those cocktails: Banker’s Bar is where the narrative shifts from “glass of cava” to “tell me what the bartender’s building with that bottle of yuzu liqueur.” The creative list is long, but there’s pleasure in simply ordering a classic and watching the room, design people, fashion editors, couples mid-city break, cohere into the night.
The spa:
Downstairs, the 1,000-square-metre spa is quiet, dim and disciplined about results. There’s a 12-metre indoor heated pool (great for a gentle rhythm swim), a hammam and experiential showers, plus an always-open Technogym fitness centre for those who prefer their endorphins at 5 am or 11 pm. Treatments are tailored rather than templated, and the HairSpa by Miriam Quevedo adds a scalp-and-hair ritual that’s both restorative and surprisingly indulgent after a day of sun and sea breezes.
On the roof, the outdoor pool is intentionally shallow, a shimmering corridor best for cooling dips rather than laps, hemmed by loungers and city views. If you’re craving “lengths,” do them inside; if you’re craving rays and a chilled glass of something pale, you’re in the right place.
Service:
Mandarin Oriental’s service ethos, present, anticipatory, never fawning, travels well, and the Barcelona team wears it lightly. You’ll feel it most in the details: a concierge who pivots from Gaudí tickets to a hard-to-book exhibit, a breakfast host who remembers your tea after one morning, housekeeping that gets your rhythm right. This is a luxury hotel that knows when to step into the frame and when to stay just offstage.
Where you are:
Location is more than a pin drop; it dictates your day. From the hotel’s address at Passeig de Gràcia 38-40, you’re opposite Casa Batlló (a morning visit before the crowds is magic) and a few elegant blocks from La Pedrera (Casa Milà). The Gothic Quarter and Las Ramblas are a scenic walk; galleries, boutiques and the city’s best patisseries orbit close by. If you’re here to shop, you won’t tire of “just popping out” and returning with a ribboned bag; if you’re here for architecture, this is ground zero.
Nearby culture hit list:
Casa Batlló - Gaudí’s sinuous fairytale, directly across the boulevard; plan 75 minutes and leave time just to stand outside and stare.
La Pedrera (Casa Milà) - rooftop chimneys like sentinels, and one of the most enlightening Modernisme interiors.
Palau de la Música Catalana - a modernist jewel box of stained glass and song; tours are excellent if you can’t catch a performance.
La Boqueria - for fruit, oysters, jamón and the theatre of Barcelona’s market life; go early.
Picasso Museum - intimate, chronological, and best reserved in advance.
The vibe: Mandarin Oriental Barcelona
This is not a scene hotel in the DJ-by-the-pool sense; it’s a place where the playlist is as considered as the stemware and the chatter comes in multiple languages. Guests skew international, creative industry professionals on weekdays, design lovers and anniversary couples on weekends, with a noticeable number of repeat visitors. The public spaces invite lingering: Blanc for laptop-and-latte mornings, Mimosa Garden for a shaded hour with a book, and Terrat for sundown. It’s luxury turned to a Barcelona frequency, less “ta-da”, more “of course.”
Best rooms to book:
Boulevard Suites if you want a front-row seat to Passeig de Gràcia without sacrificing quiet glazing.
Terrace or Premier Terrace Suites for that alfresco breakfast-in-robe ritual, overlooking the Mimosa Garden.
The Penthouse if you’re celebrating big, two terraces, a dining table that actually gets used, and eye-level city views that make post-dinner drinks feel cinematic.
Practical notes & pricing:
Barcelona is a dynamic market; rates move with season, city-wide events and lead time. Recent snapshots across major booking sites suggest typical nightly rates for entry rooms often land from about £700/night, depending on dates, with suites priced substantially higher.
Transport is easy: you’re centrally located near metro and regional trains. Pack comfortable shoes; the joy here is walking.
Food for days: how I’d eat a 48-hour stay:
Day 1: Late lunch in Blanc (seasonal fish, a salad that actually fills you, a glass of local white), siesta, then rooftop cocktails at Terrat as the skyline goes copper. Book Moments for 20:30, enough runway for an aperitif and a touch of people-watching in Banker’s Bar post-dessert.
Day 2: Early swim in the spa pool, coffee in the garden, then out for architecture. Return to Mimosa Garden for a light alfresco bite if it’s in season; otherwise, Blanc’s weekend brunch is a local favourite. Dinner? Ask the concierge to steer you to a neighbourhood bodega in Gràcia, you’re five minutes and a world away.
Verdict:
Mandarin Oriental Barcelona succeeds in that rare hotel trick: it distils the city’s energy into something you can actually relax inside. Location, design and dining are the headliners, but it’s the small, well-judged graces, the mattress, the bartender who remembers your off-menu order, the gardening of the Mimosa terrace, that make it feel like a private address. When friends ask, “Is it worth it?”, the answer is yes, especially if you plan to use what it offers: eat well, walk far, rest hard. If Barcelona is on your horizon and you want the city’s grand boulevard as your living room, Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona is as refined and as rewarding as it gets, a beautiful hotel and one highly recommended by us.
Pros & Cons:
Pros:
Unbeatable address on Passeig de Gràcia, opposite Casa Batlló; easy walking to Gaudí, shopping and dining.
Design by Patricia Urquiola: stylish, warm, and unmistakably Barcelona.
Culinary depth: MICHELIN-starred Moments, lively all-day Blanc, seasonal rooftop Terrat, characterful Banker’s Bar.
Serious spa program with a 12-metre indoor pool; HairSpa by Miriam Quevedo is a standout.
Cons:
Rooftop pool is for dipping, not laps; loungers are coveted in peak months.
Pricing tracks Barcelona’s event calendar; the most popular weeks can climb steeply.
Key facts at a glance:
Location: Passeig de Gràcia 38-40, Eixample, directly opposite Casa Batlló; short walk to La Pedrera, the Gothic Quarter and Las Ramblas.
Hotel rating: Luxury 5-star city hotel (Mandarin Oriental positioning; Forbes “Verified Luxury”).
Hotel vibe: Urbane, design-forward, service-led; more cultivated hush than clubby scene.
Food & drink:
Moments - one Michelin star; creative Catalan tasting menus.
Blanc - all-day Mediterranean dining and Sunday brunch under a glass atrium.
Terrat - seasonal rooftop terrace with Mediterranean dishes and cocktails.
Banker’s Bar - craft cocktails beneath a ceiling of original safety-deposit boxes.
Hotel amenities: 1,000-sqm spa; 12-metre indoor heated pool; hammam and rain showers; 24/7 Technogym fitness; rooftop dipping pool; Mimosa Garden courtyard.
How many rooms: 120 rooms and suites; rooms from 32 sqm, Penthouse 236 sqm.
Pricing: Entry rooms from around £700/night, depending on season and lead time; suites are significantly higher.
Location recommendations & attractions: Casa Batlló (across the street); La Pedrera/Casa Milà; Palau de la Música Catalana; La Boqueria; Picasso Museum.
All hotels & resorts on The Five Star Edit are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive a small commission from advertisers when using our affiliate links.
Mandarin Oriental (Barcelona) Review 2025
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