BARCELONA — The NH Constanza, one of Barcelona’s newest hotels, has a lot going for it.
The six-story hotel, which opened in February, boasts a streamlined design by Pritzker Prize-winning Spanish architect Rafael Moneo and a stylish restaurant-lounge run by three-star Michelin chef Ferrán Adrià. Called Nhube, the eatery is not meant to be haute Adrià, but it beats not having him at all. Try his “Italian” cheeseburger or lightly battered veggies with a thick blend of fresh tomatoes, chorizo, red pepper and garlic.
Then there’s a pint-size spa and warm-water pool with thalaso jets on the fifth floor, seductively lit for evening dips, and the off-the-beaten-path location — read: no Gaudi buildings in this part of town — fronts the L’Illa shopping center that houses more than 125 stores.
Standard doubles in dove grey and dark woods start at 126 euros ($182 at current exchange), depending on the season, but the best deal is a junior suite for 250 euros (about $360), featuring lacquer furniture, two plasma TVs, a bath with tinted glass and a Jacuzzi tub and the hotel’s signature layered horizontal blinds, a quintessential Moneo touch. Note, you have to call the front desk to open the windows or adjust the outside blinds.
NH Constanza, C/Deu i Mata 69-99; +34-93-2811-500; nh-hotels.com; e-mail: nhconstanza@nh-hotels.com.