W Barcelona

Few modern buildings have joined a city's skyline as quickly as W Barcelona. Ricardo Bofill's curved glass sail rises at the seaward end of Barceloneta, planted where the beach meets the harbour breakwater, and it has become as much a landmark of the waterfront as the cable-car towers nearby. The position is unique: open Mediterranean on one side, the full sweep of the city and Montjuïc on the other, with the beach promenade running straight to the old town.

Inside, the mood is emphatically W—glossy, sociable and loud in the public spaces, with DJ sessions around the pool decks in summer and a rooftop bar on the twenty-sixth floor built around its panorama. Rooms are sleek and light-filled, and because every floor sits above its neighbours' rooftops, even entry-level categories get sea views that most Barcelona hotels cannot offer at any price.

The trade-off is distance: the Gothic Quarter is a long walk or short taxi away, and the scene skews young and lively in high summer. But for beach-first stays, design enthusiasts and anyone who wants to wake up over open water without leaving the city, the tower remains one of Barcelona's most distinctive propositions.