The chic and intimate AbaC sits on the Tibidabo hill at the north end of the city, on a street lined with fantastic (and fantastical) modernist mansions. The welcome is discreet but warm, and includes a tour that culminates in the small but attractive spa. In the 15 airy guest rooms, white dominates while daubs of dusty color and at least one but sometimes two plasma-screen TVs add interest. Divided bathrooms aren't huge, but they're well-planned, and come with his-and-her Hermès toiletries. And as you move about the room, the high-tech lighting responds to your location. That said, you may never want to leave the sexy banquette-style sofas along the picture windows in some of the larger rooms. Never, that is, except to dine in the restaurant, which is overseen by chef Xavier Pellicer, who moved his avant-garde two-Michelin-star restaurant to this uptown location last year. Breakfast, an indulgent three-course affair, is worth getting up for.

Barcelona's Raval district—a central neighborhood just off Las Ramblas—has seen the most aggressive regeneration in the city over the past decade. It used to have underground appeal; now it has wide, pretty plazas and boulevards. Luckily, it hasn't lost its artsy sensibilities, which shows in the Barceló Raval, a striking elliptical building encased in black wire mesh that opened in 2008. On the ground floor, local interior designer Jordi Galí has paired furniture in pinks and reds with madcap lamps, flocked wallpapers, and a curved dividing wall covered in tiny black and silver Bisazza tiles—somehow it all works. The decor has been turned down a notch in the 186 rooms (around 269 square feet in size), which are white with a splash of either lime green or hot pink. Rooms also include a suspended flat-screen TV, iPod dock, and mini Nespresso maker, plus a lighting control panel next to the plump and generous bed. And because the Barceló is housed in a ten-story tower, incredible city views from the giant curved windows come as standard. Hopefully you're already intimate with your roommate, because the shiny, modular bathrooms are open-plan. The B-Lounge downstairs is a hip hangout for locals and visitors alike, while the rooftop terrace has 360-degree vistas and a mini plunge pool—the hotel's free Wi-Fi works up there, too. Come here if you're looking for an edgier neighborhood in Barcelona (think NYC's Meatpacking District before it became totally gentrified).

The latest brand extension from the ever-growing Mallorcan cobbler, Casa Camper is as idiosyncratic as the company's offbeat shoes. Designed under the exacting eye of Catalan designer Fernando Amat (of Vinçon, the high-end design store), this is a hotel that demands you pay no tips, instructs you to use the stairs in lieu of the elevator, and offers a free, 24-hour health-conscious buffet from its podlike kitchen. The 25 rooms are minimalist wombs with red walls, dark floors, and Shaker-inspired furniture. There's no view, but there is a nifty "vertical garden," which is a wall lined with 117 potted plants. If you book a standard room, the door opposite your bedroom leads to a personal lounge with a balcony, sofa bed, wide-screen plasma TV, and Brazilian hammock. In Camper Suites, the living area and bedroom are integrated. Should you stay here? Look at your shoes and you'll have the answer.

Like the Taj Mahal, the Casa Fuster was a labor of love. In 1908, Mallorcan aristocrat Mariano Fuster commissioned architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner to transform a chocolate factory into the most "spectacular house in the city" for his beautiful wife, Consuelo Fabra. Nearly a century later, Catalan architects GCA turned the residence into a sweet state-of-the-art luxury hotel. The Café Vienés—a hot spot for city intellectuals in the 1940s-has been re-created with plush velvet, silk cushions, and snaking sofas in warm, modern colors (coffee, spice, and Bordeaux). The 96 Bedrooms are similarly sumptuous, decorated with more silk and lavender and sage accents. But it's the four tower suites that get top marks for ingenuity. With their oval shape, silver undulating ceilings floodlit by Fortuny lamps, mini-cinemas, king-size beds, saunas, and extra-large sacks of Loewe toiletries, they're every bit as spectacular as Fuster's wife could have wished for.

The name Chic & Basic may suggest a rudimentary hostel with a bit of designer frippery thrown in, but there's a lot more to this good-value hotel in the trendy Born district. The renovated 18th-century mansion retains much of its original grandeur, particularly in the common areas—witness the sweeping creamy-marble staircase. While the 43 all-white rooms—each with its entrance swathed in curtains of crystal beads—are admittedly pretty small (around 183 square feet), the clever design makes a lot out of a little: The showers are housed in space age–style clear-acrylic cylinders, and there are metal clothes racks rather than wardrobes. Your brown-paper-bag "welcome pack" contains bath gel, lollipops, and a survival guide to the hotel, explaining how to work the lighting and TV. We recommend the rear rooms, which overlook a pretty interior patio—ask for one of the two rooms with a private terrace. At these prices, you shouldn't expect room service, but Chic & Basic has a stylish little lounge where you can help yourself to tea and coffee.

With a relaxed atmosphere, this 147-room hotel in the heart of Barcelona—everything seems a ten-minute walk from the front door—is hip without the attitude. No sooner do you arrive at the converted 1920s office building than smiling staff fall all over themselves to take care of you. The library is stocked with periodicals, books, and a TV, and in good weather, a small rooftop terrace with a plunge pool affords stunning views over the recently renovated Santa Caterina market. Rooms are Zen on the Med, with light eucalyptus parquet floors, limed oak furniture, and taupe walls, and the complimentary minibar is a welcome touch.

For some, it's too far removed from Barcelona's bustle. For others, the setting is the draw—high atop a lush mountain 15 minutes outside the city center. Known as a pleasure palace for visiting kings and celebrities during the 1920s, the hotel fell into decline until it reopened in April 2003. Today this classic property has been yanked into the 21st century, filled with contemporary art by the likes of Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu, whose 88-foot fiber-optic Homage to Gaudí graces the inner courtyard. The 52 rooms are done in an Art Nouveau style and some have huge arched windows—none will disappoint, but the 22 suites are even better. The Sky Terrace Suite bears the imprint of artist Rebecca Horn (the creator of Barceloneta beach's rusty cubes) and has a large patio with a Jacuzzi. The Japanese suite has a Zen garden and mountain views. But it's the 121-foot L-shaped indoor-outdoor infinity pool—made of stainless steel—that makes it perfectly clear this is no Old World hostelry anymore.

Opened in October 2005 in an old Philippine tobacco-company headquarters, the 169-room Hotel 1898 takes its name from the year the Philippines gained independence from Spain. This high-end hotel's old-fashioned approach to hospitality is an antidote to the overdesigned swarm of boutiques that have colonized the city in recent years; it attracts a fortysomething crowd that's in touch enough to want to be based in the center of town. Catalan designer Rosa Rosselló's vision is firmly rooted in the 18th century, and draws on the building's original carved wood and plasterwork and evocative black-and-white photos of tobacco plantations. Rooms and corridors are striking in black, red, and green candy stripes; the best are the suites, which have private terraces, plunge pools, grass lawns, and views of the Ramblas from the hotel's perch on the Plaça Catalunya end of the street. Expansive views are also to be had on the roof terrace; it's an ideal spot for a glass of cava (Catalan sparkling wine) at sunset. In the basement, the guests-only spa revives the jet-lagged in a faux-Roman bathhouse with arched ceilings over a turquoise pool. 

Located at water's edge, a 20-minute walk from the Ramblas, this hotel under the Ritz-Carlton umbrella has a lot to thank for its reputation: the best service in town, world-class restaurants, a Six Senses rooftop spa that's a shrine to pleasure with 43rd-floor views. Now, the hotel has renovated the 483 guest rooms (56 of them suites) in smart tones of rich chocolate and charcoal, adding an array of Bang & Olufsen gadgets. But the best feature is primarily a natural one: the Mediterranean light that floods in through the high-tech steel and glass facade. Our favorite rooms are the El Club Corner Suites on the 30th to 33rd floors, which at 700 square feet are nearly 50 percent larger than standard rooms and have access to a team of concierges and a lounge where champagne and canapés are served.

It might not be smack bang in the Barri Gòtic, but the Hotel Me (opened in August 2008)—a slightly askew, retro glass tower designed by French architect Dominique Perrault—is likely to attract design buffs east of the city center to the Diagonal Mar neighborhood. The hotel's view of architect Jean Nouvel's Torre Agbar, along with the nearby Olympic Port and Sagrada Familia, should seal the deal. The Hotel Me, part of Spanish Sol Melía group's upmarket brand (there's another Me in Madrid), has 259 rooms spread over 29 floors with a choice of impressive views—either of the Mediterranean or of the city and Nouvel's bullet-shaped tower. The accommodations have been done up in bold red, blue, and purple textiles, with lacquered floors and surfaces, and have the expected extras like iPod docks and plasma TVs. There is a very generous selection of Aveda products in the spacious bathrooms, which have both rain showers and tubs. The Me also hosts Dos Cielos, a rooftop restaurant helmed by young-gun chefs Sergio and Javier Torres (try the excellent tasting menu) and a branch of Angels & Kings, the NYC and Chicago–based nightclub owned by pop star Pete Wentz. There's also a spa, with cool wood and slate floors and vibrant blue tiles. The Me's less tourist-centric location and fabulous amenities have proved a hit with young, trendsetting nighthawks who don't mind dishing out the €15 cab fare into the center of town. (For those that do, the metro is a ten-minute walk away).

This lavishly restored 18th-century palace opened in 2003 in the Barri Gòtic. Decor in the 22 rooms—each inspired by a different local artist whose painting hangs above the bed—ranges from fairy-tale (shades of peach and tangerine) to vampish (scarlet and red wine hues). It's a curious mix that somehow manages to blend the building's original neo-Gothic archways and heavy stone floors with the comforts of a contemporary hotel. The deeply planted roof terrace provides a welcome oasis from the otherwise frenetic city center, and Jordi Ruiz's on-site restaurant reverberates with traces of his training at El Bulli and Akelarre. If you're looking for an Arab-inflected take on the cuisine of the Middle Ages, this is your place.

This 59-room hotel in the Eixample is Rosa María Esteva's first foray into the hotel world (she's the wildly successful restaurateur behind the Tragaluz group), and we're willing to bet it won't be her last. The hotel's Moo restaurant has taken a Zen-meets-the-Med stance (saffron-spiced scorpion fish with garlic, and veal with anchovies); it's overseen by the brothers Roca, who are known for their two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Girona. The laid-back lounge/lobby is furnished with deep sofas and armchairs arranged around a floating fireplace, while the streamlined bedrooms benefit from loads of light and storage space. The rooftop pool area, incidentally, boasts the city's finest views of Gaudí's rooftops. There's also a moodily lit spa.

On a pretty boulevard off Las Ramblas, the 53-room Murmuri gives travelers a high-design option that's still sophisticated. Rooms by British interior designer Kelly Hoppen showcase her soothing if not particularly Spanish palette of black, cream, and chocolate brown punctuated by black-and-white photos, faux ostrich accessories, and flashes of color in the pillows and throws. It's a masterful first hotel effort from Hoppen (although the two single beds pushed together to make a double is a European throwback that should be thrown back). A small rooftop with box trees and chaises overlooks the city. The stylish lobby bar/restaurant, with its huge bead lamps and brushed-suede banquettes (and a humidor for cigar aficionados), has become a city meeting point. And although it's a bit away from the usual sights (except Gaudí's brilliant La Sagrada Família), the style and service compensate.