Hotel Neri Relais & Chateaux

Hotel Neri Relais & Chateaux

The Gothic Quarter is the part of Barcelona that was there before Barcelona as most people understand it. The Roman settlement of Barcino was established here in the 1st century BC, and the walls, columns, and foundations of that city are still visible beneath the medieval streets that built over them. The Cathedral of Barcelona dominates the high ground, its Gothic spires rising above a labyrinth of narrow streets, hidden courtyards, and small squares that disorient pleasantly and reward those who simply walk without a plan. The Barri Gòtic, as it is known in Catalan, is also where the old Jewish quarter survives. Tucked within this quarter is the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, a small square of weathered stone arcades and a 17th-century church, the walls still bearing the marks of Civil War bombing, the pavements shaded by trees. Gaudí used to come here to pray. Most visitors to Barcelona walk past its entrance without noticing it exists. Hotel Neri occupies two historic buildings on Carrer de Sant Sever, one façade giving directly onto the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, the other onto the medieval street. The buildings were merged in the 18th century, one of them a 12th-century medieval palace whose original courtyard has been revealed during the hotel's renovation, its original sgraffito wall decoration considered among the finest surviving examples in the city. The hotel is the only Relais & Châteaux property in Barcelona, a status it has held since 2012, and everything about the operation reflects the standards of that membership. Twenty-two rooms and suites, each individually designed with wooden floors, delicate fabrics, and an exclusive photograph collection by artist La Mirada Transeúnte, some with private balconies or terraces facing the square or the surrounding streets. The interior design, by Virginia Figueras and Franco Corada, engages in a precise dialogue between the medieval fabric of the buildings and a contemporary warmth that makes the place feel alive rather than preserved. The restaurant serves a seasonal Mediterranean menu in the square, the only restaurant in the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri. The rooftop terrace, Roba Estesa, is wrapped in jasmine and looks over the Gothic Quarter roofscape, a private pool for hotel guests. The guests are those who chose the Gothic Quarter because they understand that the oldest part of a two-thousand-year-old city is more interesting than its waterfront, who want to fall asleep to the quiet of a medieval square rather than the noise of a boulevard, and who find a 12th-century palace with a Relais & Châteaux kitchen an entirely sufficient reason to visit Barcelona. It is for those who have been to Barcelona before and come back specifically for this. The short version: The only Relais & Châteaux hotel in Barcelona, occupying two historic buildings, one a 12th-century medieval palace, on a hidden square in the heart of the Gothic Quarter. Twenty-two individually designed rooms, a restaurant in the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, and a jasmine-wrapped rooftop terrace with views over the old city. Steps from the Cathedral, minutes from the Picasso Museum and the Boqueria. For those who return to Barcelona specifically for the oldest part of it.