COOL HOTELS | Barcelona | Casa Camper
You’ve got to love a hotel where you get two rooms for the price of one: a bedroom with en suite bathroom, and a lounge across the hall…with a hammock.
Casa Camper is a boutique hotel (there’s also one in Berlin) owned by Spanish hipster footwear manufacturer, Camper. It is located in the arty El Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, which is abundant with galleries, restaurants, bars, and just around the corner from the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The most unique aspect of the hotel is that each guest has two rooms: a bedroom and a “mini lounge.”
The bedroom decor is comfortably minimalist. There’s a platform bed and open cupboards, and a Shaker-inspired aluminum peg rail along one wall. A step stool hangs on the pegs to use for access to the upper shelves. I loved this updated interpretation of the traditional Shaker pegs, and found myself using them frequently…for everything from my umbrella to bathroom towels to the card key that they so wisely attach to a long cord.
The bathroom area at one end of the room faces a large window that overlooks the inside courtyard, which is lined with a wall of green potted plants.
A side note…the window steamed up when I showered, and a romantic remnant of the last guest showed up!
Now back to that hammock…the “mini lounge” is a cozy room with seating, table, flat-screen TV, and the delightful hammock that turned out to be my favorite spot at the end of a busy day of walking. A boldly graphic map of Barcelona serves as art, and the peg rail picks up along the wall in the lounge where it left off in the bedroom.
French doors open to a balcony that faces the street. The street is mostly pedestrian, except for the occasional taxi, so it’s not all that noisy. Even so, it is one thoughtful architect that decided to put the sleeping rooms on the inside of the building, where it would be quiet, and the lounges on the street side.
Instead of individual mini-bars, the hotel has a tentempié, a 24-hour buffet in the lobby where guests can help themselves to fresh fruit, salads, and sandwiches, hot soup, desserts, snacks, and a variety of hot and cold beverages.
The large open lobby is a welcoming space with a hip, young staff always on hand for restaurant recommendations, directions, or a friendly chat.
I was surprised by how much I loved Barcelona, and, most certainly, my home away from home at Casa Camper contributed to the great experience I had there. Oh, how I miss that hammock…
http://www.casacamper.com/barcelona
