Some hotels make statements, some push the boundaries of architecture or engineering or aesthetics, some invite you to live for a few days like a Ferragamo or a maharaja — and some, like Barcelona’s H10 Catalunya Plaza, are just good hotels. It starts with a polestar-central location right on Catalunya Plaza, at the axis of the Barri Gòtic, El Raval and L’Eixample, where La Rambla and Passeig de Gràcia intersect. (Did you hear the sonic boom as this page just shot up the search-engine rankings?) Arrive by train and the distance to the check-in desk may not be any longer than the line for a taxi; Catalunya station is twenty meters away.

If you can get to Barcelona’s central Catalunya rail and metro stations, you can get to the H10 Metropolitan Barcelona. Just be sure you’re not dragging your luggage into one of the other H10 hotels near the train station. There are three, after all, on two blocks, and nearly a dozen in the city at large. What makes the H10 Metropolitan a standout, apart from its location, is the fact that it’s housed in a beautiful historic building that’s been thoughtfully revamped by one of the city’s better-known interior designers, the self-described “urban archaeologist and style hunter” Lázaro Rosa-Violán.

There are a lot of great hotels in Barcelona — after all, this is a city that handles a staggering amount of tourism. So why is this the One? Well, for our money, there’s no better location in Barcelona, situated at the point where two of the city’s best neighborhoods meet. There’s Eixample, a leafy residential district south of the Avenguda Diagonal off the beaten tourist path (don’t mistake the Rambla de Catalunya, one of the neighborhood’s charming pedestrian thoroughfares, with its more well-known and highly trafficked counterpart La Rambla). And there’s Gràcia to the north, lively, trendy, and where young Barcelona lives and plays. You’re within walking distance of all the major sights — Gaudí’s Parc Güell, the Sagrada Família cathedral, the Gothic Quarter — but you’re firmly on the locals’ turf. And that makes all the difference.

If there’s one European city that’s consistently punched far above its weight when it comes to high-design boutique hotels, it’s Barcelona, and it’s a trend that shows no signs of reversing itself. H10 Cubik begins with a refurbished modernist building in the center of the city, an emblem of Barcelona’s adventurous architectural spirit, and takes it one further with colorful, vibrant contemporary interiors by designer Lázaro Rosa-Violan.

It takes some nerve for a hotelier to think they can improve on a 16th-century palace in central Lisbon. But we’re grateful for the confidence shown by One Hotels, the high-end division of the Spanish H10 chain. They’ve managed to transform this 1533-vintage aristocratic home into something more than a restoration, thanks to the work of designer Jaime Beriestain, whose contemporary minimalist interiors are a delightful counterpoint to the palace’s ornate architecture. The One Palácio da Anunciada is impressive from top to bottom, and its expertly balanced style will appeal to traditionalists and design enthusiasts alike.

Right in the heart of Seville’s pedestrianized city center is the H10 Casa de la Plata, a boutique hotel from the Barcelona-based H10 group which offers what might be the best of both worlds: the modern functioning of a newly built hotel along with an aesthetic that complements, rather than imitate, the city’s distinctive architectural setting.

About Tablet Hotels: