METT Barcelona: A Hilltop Haven with the City Below and the Mediterranean Beyond
Perched high above the bustle and beauty of Barcelona, the newly opened METT Hotel & Beach Resort Barcelona has quietly taken its place atop the city’s highest point, offering a perspective that’s both literally and figuratively elevated. Set on Tibidabo Hill, the hotel blends storied grandeur with a fresh, contemporary spirit — not so much reinventing luxury, as softening it.
This isn’t a place shouting for attention. Instead, METT Barcelona draws you in with an understated confidence, the kind you’d expect from a hotel occupying what was once the Gran Hotel La Florida, a 1920s-era icon designed in the graceful Noucentisme style. Almost a century later, the building has been reimagined under the METT Hotels & Resortsbrand, part of the Sunset Hospitality Group, and the result is a property that feels timeless yet resolutely of the moment.
A Historic Soul with Modern Sensibilities
The hotel’s past guests read like a who’s-who of 20th-century icons — Ernest Hemingway, Rock Hudson, Princess Fabiola — with a more recent roll call that includes the Obamas and Tom Hanks. Today, after an extensive renovation, METT Barcelona opens its doors anew with 70 rooms and suites, all thoughtfully designed with Mediterranean tones, tactile textures, and a sense of calm that contrasts the kinetic energy of the city far below.
The views, of course, are the real showstopper. From nearly every room — particularly the Sea View Suites and Signature Suites with Plunge Pools — Barcelona stretches out like a living canvas: sunlit rooftops, spires and sea all laid out before you.
A Spa With Swiss Precision and Hollywood Appeal
Wellness here is more than a buzzword. The hotel’s Valmont Red Carpet Spa brings the Swiss skincare house’s signature blend of clinical innovation and Alpine purity to Barcelona for the first time. Whether you’re here for a targeted facial or a deep, ritualistic reset, treatments aim for more than just glow — they promise transformation.
Of particular note is the spa’s namesake Red Carpet Treatment, a favourite among fashion insiders and film stars alike. It’s indulgence, yes, but the quiet, restorative kind — the sort that leaves you better aligned with yourself than when you arrived.
Lladró in the Lobby, and on the Menu
A nod to local artistry runs throughout the hotel, but it’s most visible — and perhaps most surprising — in the Florida Lounge by Lladró, a collaboration with the legendary Valencian porcelain house. Here, signature pieces by Jaime Hayon and Marcel Wanders sit beneath soaring ceilings, part of a permanent installation that turns the lobby into something of a living gallery.
There’s even a Lladró Cocktail on the menu, a playful extension of the brand’s identity into taste and texture, served up in surroundings that are elegant but never overly precious.
A Culinary Program Rooted in Place
Food is no afterthought at METT Barcelona. At Albarada, modern Mediterranean cuisine is reimagined with local flair and an emphasis on produce from the region’s markets. 1925 Vermutería pays homage to Catalonia’s tapas culture with a menu that’s both simple and refined — think anchovies, tomato-rubbed bread, perfectly chilled vermut.
The Pool Club, meanwhile, is exactly where you’ll want to spend a languid afternoon, reclining by the heated infinity pool with a sea breeze in your hair and something crisp in your glass. The views alone — stretching from the mountain to the Med — might justify a visit on their own.
Where the City Ends and the Sky Begins
If Barcelona is a city built on layers — of history, art, architecture, and energy — then METT Barcelona offers a moment of remove, a breath between those layers. Its terraces, cascading over Tibidabo’s edge, are designed for celebration and pause alike: private dinners, long breakfasts, sundowners that linger until the stars take over
METT Barcelona is now open.
For more information and reservations visit metthotelsandresorts.com/barcelona
