Essentials
• Location: Carrer dels Lledó.
• Hotel address: Carrer dels Sagristans, 5
• Hotel phone: +34 93-310-7480
• Check rates for Mercer
Mercer Hotel – Medieval heritage combines with minimalist luxury in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter.
Within a tranquil pedestrian street in the very heart of Barri Gòtic, the Mercer presents an abundance of historical architecture elements – medieval lintels, bare stone walls, even part of the Roman city wall. Thoughtfully restored by award winning architect Rafael Moneo, it combines original features such as centuries-old stone columns and frescoes with the contemporary art of Agusti Puig as well as minimalist however luxurious rooms with oversized beds, blonde wood floors, and Scandinavian furniture. Each of the 28 rooms possesses its own distinctive characteristic – a private terrace, two-person bathtub, or Catalan vigas (bow-beamed ceilings). Aside from excellent onsite dining, there’s a wonderful rooftop terrace with plunge pool that serves as a summer bar.
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Table of Contents
Mercer – Location
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- Nearest Public Transport Hub: Jaume I is 200m away.
- Location: Quiet, narrow lane near the eastern boundary of Barcelona’s medieval center – Barri Gòtic – just minutes` walk from La Catedral, Museu Picasso, and other attractions. The nearest subway station is a 3-minute walk away, while the western border of lively La Ribera neighborhood is a couple of minutes away on foot. El Raval neighborhood and La Rambla are a 6-minute stroll west, La Barceloneta is a 7-minute stroll south, while L’Eixample is 15 minutes away on foot. Barri Gòtic is the most compact of Barcelona’s neighborhoods, its narrow maze of streets lined with numerous bars, restaurants, and shops; best navigated on foot.
- To arrive from Barcelona International Airport, take the train to Barcelona-Sants train station, then travel by metro Line 5 four stops eastbound towards Vall d’Hebron and change to Line 4 to ride four stops southbound towards La Pau to disembark at Jaume I. Mercer Hotel is a 3-minute walk away.
- Private Transfer: We advise using and propose Welcome Pickups car service. Booking through a private vehicle provider will cost a bit above a taxi – around €37 from the airport – but may be worthwhile to avoid the long taxi queue and for the ease of prepaying.
- Nearby: La Catedral, Museu Picasso, La Rambla.
Mercer – The Basics
- Ages: The hotel has a mature atmosphere (most guests tend to be couples on a romantic vacation or honeymoon), but families with children can be accommodated. Mercer Cocktail Lounge is 18+.
- View: Good views of the Gothic Quarter rooftops from the hotel’s rooftop terrace.
- Private Pools/Jacuzzis: No private pools or hot tubs.
- Laundry: In-room laundry services can be arranged.
- Parking: No on-site self parking, but valet parking service is available for €45/night.
- Amenities: Turndown service is offered, as well as use of an iMac and library for guests. A knowledgeable concierge service can customize city tours based on guest interests.
- When to Book: Reserve 2-3 months in advance for high season (mid-March to June), as well as September and October and the Christmas/ New Year period.
- How to Reserve:Booking.com will likely have the best rates.
- Phone: +34 93-310-7480
- Contact information: [email protected]
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Mercer – Amenities
- Pool: There’s a small dipping pool on the rooftop terrace.
- Spa: No spa.
- Fitness Center: There is no on-site fitness center, but the hotel has an arrangement permitting guests to use the nearby gym at a discounted cost.
- For Disabled Guests: One room has been modified for wheelchair users.
- For Families: Baby cots are available for young children under 2, extra beds can be provided for older kids (€75), and babysitting can be arranged upon request.
Mercer – Food and Drink
- Restaurants: Led by chef Xavier Lahuerta, Mercer Restaurant (7-11pm Wednesday to Saturday) provides inventive Mediterranean cuisine that utilizes local ingredients skillfully. Impressive decor, including medieval frescoes and remnants of Roman city wall. Reservations essential, expensive. Le Bouchon (12.30-11pm) is an informal bistro and tapas bar open daily, with the menu designed by the same chef and a good choice of mainly Spanish wines available by the glass, moderately priced.
- Lounge/Bar: The Mercer Cocktail Lounge serves classic and original cocktails along with a nice selection of wines within a ambiance set amongst medieval stone walls. Open daily from 5pm until 1am.
- Breakfast: A complimentary breakfast is not provided. However, an extensive breakfast buffet as well as à la carte options are available daily in Mercer Restaurant from 7:30-11am.
- Room Service: Available from Mercer Restaurant around the clock.
Mercer – Rooms
- Smoking Rooms: Mercer Hotel prohibits smoking throughout the property.
- Best Suite: In warmer weather, the suite with its private spacious outdoor terrace is particularly sought-after, while the room with one bedroom is the most roomy and architecturally striking.
- For Families with Children: Rooms to accommodate more than two people are not provided.
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Mercer – Local Transport
- Walking: The Catedral is merely a 3-minute stroll away, La Rambla a 5-minute walk as well as the Museu Picasso. The surrounding streets teem with cafes, restaurants, bars and independent boutiques. Within easy reach of Barceloneta, El Raval and L’Eixample neighborhoods on foot.
- Metro: The Line 4 subway runs south to Barceloneta and north to L’Eixample from the nearby Jaume I station.
- Taxis, Uber, MyTaxi, Cabify: Cabs and Uber charge about €25-38 from the airport to hotels. Within town, Uber rides cost around half of taxi fares. Often it’s swifter to walk, cycle, or hop on the metro.
Mercer – What’s Nearby?
Recommended Nearby Tours
- El Corte Inglés – Popular Spanish retail chain on Plaça Catalunya with a gourmet supermarket, home goods store, and electronics department.
- Barcelona Segway Fun – Small groups of guided trips of the old city that range from 90 to 180 minutes. Starting and ending in Barri Gòtic, they include Port Vell and the waterfront in Barceloneta, as well as the medieval heart of the city. Start location: 2-minute walk.
- Eco City Barcelona – Situated near Plaça dels Traginers, this company rents out “trixi-kids” – tricycles fitted with a front-end cart for young children, and conducts tours around the city using three-wheeled taxi cycles. Starting location: a 2-minute walk.
Nearby Restaurants
- Capet – Stylish restaurant known for reasonably priced, attractively presented Mediterranean dishes crafted from seasonal, locally sourced ingredients such as skate with black butter and fennel salad paired with mussels. A popular choice for dates and relaxed evenings out.
- Bistrot Levante – Nested away in a tiny square, this bright, light-filled bistro blends Middle Eastern-inspired dishes with a good selection of local wines.
- Shunka – Situated one block north of La Catedral, this casual Japanese classic features minimalist decor and an open kitchen area. Its brief but fulfilling menu is split into rice, seafood, meat, udon, sushi, sashimi, and maki sections. The 10-course surprise tasting menu is worth indulging in.
- Casa Delfín – Renowned for its solid menu of Catalan dishes for over a century, this stylish bistro serves traditional seafood stew and roasted pig trotters, as well as seasonal delicacies such as calçots. Popular and busy.
- Oaxaca – Some of the most authentic Mexican cuisine in Barcelona, serving traditional dishes like cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork from Yucatan), chicken with mole negro sauce and tacos al pastor. Sultry decor, numerous Mexican art pieces, plus an adjacent mezcal bar.
- Els Quatre Gats – Once frequented by Gaudi and other Modernista artists, this restaurant serves traditional Catalan dishes. The food is passable; come for the beautiful tilework, the atmosphere, and a coffee.
7 Portes – A longstanding seafood restaurant that was once frequented by Picasso and Orson Welles. It`s one of very few establishments in Barcelona serving individual portions of paella, fideuà (a rice noodle dish), and other rice dishes
Nearby Cafes
- The Black Remedy coffee shop has a gallery-like interior that is suitable for working with a laptop. They serve what many consider to be the best coffee in Barri Gòtic. Great options include cakes, breakfast dishes like eggs cocotte, and smoked meat sandwiches.
- Salterio – Tiny place with heavy wooden beams, gourmet teas, largely plant-based snacks and Middle Eastern music in the background.
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Nearby Bars and Breweries
- L’Ascensor – This refined bar featuring vaulted ceilings and vintage mirrors serves carefully crafted cocktails to a discerning clientele. Relaxing jazz music is usually playing softly in the background here.
- A minute, candle-lit bar with low ceilings and medieval stone walls, Alcoba Azul is a tight squeeze but good for quality tapas like blood sausage, open-faced sandwiches, and fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce, as well as many wine options by the glass.
- Bar del Pla – This vaulted, tiled tapas bar specialises predominantly in conventional tapas – baby squid with chickpeas, smoked sardines and patatas bravas, coupled with an extensive list of Catalonian wines.
- Euscal Etxea – Especially busy Basque bar with a wide selection of pintxos (tiny, elaborate snacks on slices of bread); choose the ones you want and keep the toothpicks for the staff to tally. Wash them down with a fresh txakoli (Basque white wine).
- The Bodega Vidrios y Cristales – A traditional bodega located in an 1840s building, offering house-made vermouth, an excellent wine selection and traditional nibbles in a standing-room-only setting.
- Perikete – This wine and vermouth bar is adorned with ham legs and offers over 200 drinks. Limited seating, so in the evenings it’s often standing-room only.
- Can Paixano – Extremely busy with locals, this establishment serving sparkling wine and appetizers has gained devoted fans through its pairing of rosé bubbly and small dishes.
- BlackLab Brewhouse – Barcelona’s initial brewhouse within the historic Palau del Mar. There are nine homemade brews on tap, like a passionfruit IPA and German-style pilsner. Offbeat seasonal offerings, such as the coconut toffee stout, plus a lively kitchen sizzling with hamburgers.
Nearby Shopping and Cool Shops
- Papirum – A writer’s ideal location, with handmade leather journals, Italian-made quills and ink, desktop globes and other exquisitely crafted stationary.
- Art Escudellers – One of several locations selling attractively handcrafted ceramics, some displaying Modernista styles. Excellent gifts.
- FC Botiga Official Store – The Barri Gòtic branch of the official Barcelona FC football club. Get your Lionel Messi jerseys and other merchandise here.
- This store – With its dramatic staircase and shelves full of candles, this location has been lighting up people’s lives since 1761 and is Barcelona’s oldest candle retailer.
- La Manual Alpargatera – A long-standing neighborhood store peddling personally handcrafted espadrilles manufactured with rope soles and canvas shoes since 1941. Salvador Dali famously obtained a set here.
- Arlequí Màscares – Artisanal carnival costumes and masks are handmade, as well as decorative boxes featuring Catalan themes.
- Artesania Catalunya – Unique, locally crafted gifts, from thimbles resembling Gaudi’s chimneys and Salvador Dali-inspired sculpture to jewelry, wooden toys and more.
- La Capell – Located within the Collegi de Arquitectes, this gift shop sells wonderful gadgets, educational playthings, original Barcelona-themed jewelry and books focused on architecture and art.
- Lurdes Bergada – Stylish masculine and feminine attire produced from organic fibres and designed by the local mother and son tandem.
- Custo Barcelona – A store located in Barcelona known for its cutting-edge men`s and women`s attire such as jackets, pants, and dresses. Two additional stores can be found around the city.
Nearby Attractions
- Museu d’Història de Barcelona – The excellent Barcelona History Museum takes you through the excavated ruins of the original Roman settlement of Barcino, dating back to 12BC. Upstairs, the presentations explore medieval Barcelona’s growth as an important Mediterranean trading port.
- Museu Frederic Marès – The former home of Count Frederic Marès I Deulovol contains a fascinating collection including medieval Spanish sculptures, weaponry, and 19th-century daguerrotypes.
- La Catedral de Barcelona – Barcelona’s enormous Gothic cathedral has pride of place in the heart of the Gothic Quarter. Besides the richly decorated interior, it’s worth paying to take the lift up to the roof for a bird’s eye perspective of medieval Barcelona.
- Museu Picasso – Home to one of the most important collections of Picasso`s work in the world, displayed across five medieval palaces. Pieces include pencil sketches from his childhood, paintings depicting Barcelona landscapes from his art school years, Impressionist scenes, several works from his Blue Period of moody tones, and various Cubist artworks. Advance bookings recommended.
- Museu de Cultures del Món – Across from the Picasso Museum, two medieval palaces house the Museum of World Cultures, with an impressive collection of masks, statues, textiles, jewellery and ritual objects from Africa, Oceania, the Americas and Asia.
- Museu de la Xocolata – Popular with families, this museum outlines the history of cocoa cultivation, displays intricate chocolate sculptures and offers chocolate tastings.
- Las Ramblas – Stretching from the waterfront through Plaça Catalunya, La Rambla is Barcelona’s most famous path for pedestrians, overlooked by stately nineteenth century structures and lined with restaurants, historic buildings and souvenir stalls. It’s a great place for observing people and acts as a boundary between Barri Gòtic to the east and El Raval to the west.
- Palace of Catalan Music – Covered in ceramic tiles and mosaics and boasting an elaborate façade, this performance hall was constructed in 1908 by modernista architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Even if you don’t come here for a performance (September to June), you can join one of the excellent hour-long day tours (purchase a ticket online).
- L’Aquarium – Hugely popular with families, the state-of-the-art aquarium in Port Vell showcases different marine environments from around the world and those unique to Spain. There are plenty of activities, too, from daily feedings (sharks, penguins, rays, moray eels; check timetable online) which are particularly engaging for children, to cage diving with sharks.
Nearby Markets or Grocery Stores
- Mercat Gòtic – This flea market has been occuring in front of La Catedral every Thursday for over 40 years. Browse the stalls for collectibles, decorative art, vintage cameras, silverware, coins, and more.
- Mercat de Santa Caterina – Architecturally remarkable market for food. Come here to acquire all your deli meats, olive oils and organic produce needs; there are likewise a couple helpful cafeterias here.
- Located in Barcelona, the Mercat de la Boquería is the city`s most renowned produce market. It houses meat stalls displaying legs of jamón and Catalan sausages along with botifarra, as well as seafood stalls overflowing with razor clams and shrimp. Olive stalls offer dozens of varieties of olives and fresh juice stalls. Surrounding tapas stalls provide an excellent snack and drink stop for visitors navigating the main market area.
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