Mr & Mrs Smith

Primero Primera

Barcelona, Spain

Run by the same family who’ve lived here since 1955, Primero Primera in Barcelona has Fifties glamour (toffee-brown wood and leather, mid-century furniture, sepia photography) and a quiet, exclusive setting.

Need to know

• Rooms 30, including 10 suites.
• Rates Double rooms from $223.24 (€173), excluding tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional government tax of €1.21 per person per night on check-out.
  The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (€173) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
• More details Rates include WiFi, free minibar and snacks. Buffet breakfast is extra (€15 each).
• Facilities Gardens, small gym, library, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TV, iPod dock, minibar, Gilchrist & Soames bath products.
• Check-out 12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 1pm.
• Children The hotel has the bare essentials for little Smiths: cots for babies and beds (free) for under-12s; a local nanny available for babysitting (book 48 hours in advance).
• Also Dogs can come too for €25 a night, but remember to bring everything they need.

Food and drink at Primero Primera

• Hotel restaurant

  Every morning, follow the smell of freshly baked bread wafting from the snug bar area and settle in for the spread: home-made cakes, croissants, hams, fruit, cereals and yoghurt. Befitting a bar-cum-breakfast room, decor is cool and casual: cowhide bar stools, cushion-strewn sofas, framed sepia photographs and bookshelves crammed with National Geographic. Breakfast is the only meal the hotel serves, giving guests all the more reason to discover the city’s tapas joints and sherry bars.

• Dress code Euroflash with vintage accents. Channel the Fifties feel: ladies, opt for full skirts with nipped-in waists; gents, follow Don Draper’s lead.
• Top table Out on the little terrace if it’s sunny; inside by the fire if it’s not.
• Last orders Help yourselves to drinks from the honesty bar at any time. Breakfast is served from 7.30am until 10.30am.
• Room service Request Continental breakfast in your room between 8am and 11am.
• Hotel bar

  The breakfast room doubles up as the bar room. Expect to hear the likes of Sade warbling away as you deliberate over which Spanish wine to uncork (remember to jot down the damage in the honesty bar’s log book).

Primero Primera Doctor Carulla 25-29, Barcelona, 08017