Reviewing hotel Circa 1905

When doing research on hotels in Barcelona we stumbled upon a boutique hotel named Circa 1905. From reading the excellent reviews online we decided to book a night at the hotel. We walked to the hotel in the Barcelona heat. It's perfectly located in Eixample, close to the beginning of the Gràcia neighbourhood and right next to one of the famous Gaudi buildings on Passeig de Gràcia. We were buzzed in and walked up to the first floor. As we walked into the entrance hall we noticed the antique furnishing, with a lovely table full of interesting coffee table books and pomegranates.

We were greeted by the very polite owner María, who gave us a quick tour of the communal rooms, as well as a brief history lesson about the hotel. The old building was built in 1905 by a wealthy family, and the hotel was installed in 2011. The early twentieth century atmosphere had been perfectly recreated, and the interior looked just like you can imagine that it did back in 1905. The mosaic tiled floors throughout the hotel were absolutely beautiful. The building had pre 1905 been owned by a wealthy Spanish family that had lived on the 1st floor (where the guest rooms had now been built). Back in the days the Spanish bourgeoisie usually used the ground floor for their shop or stables. They would then live on the 1st floor and rent out the above floors.

The boutique hotel now consists of nine rooms. Four of these face the main street, four face the backyard and have terraces with tables and chairs, and lastly, one, the Roselló room, face a small interior courtyard in the middle of the hotel. The two main communal rooms were full of old antiques that truly made it feel like you went back 100 years in time. The biggest of these had a large fireplace, 3 tables and books to read about Spain and Barcelona. The lightning was quite dim and, with small spanish lamps scattered throughout, which created a really nice atmosphere.

The main communal room is also where breakfast was served in the morning. This breakfast included fresh juices, fruit, filter or Nespresso coffee, yoghurt and various cereals.

In addition to the indoor communal rooms there was a beautiful inner yard, belonging to the Roséllo room, covered by glass roof letting in beautiful natural light. A perfect place for the guests of the room to sit back and relax after a long day exploring this multifaceted, vibrant city.

We were then taken to our room for the night - one of the Mallorca rooms. We had decided to choose the Mallorca Room as this had a terrace with a table and two chairs. The room was breathtaking. It was centered around the king size bed covered in lovely linens. Just like in the communal rooms, the armoire and table were antiques and the floor was covered in fascinating mosaic tiles dating back to the beginning of the last century. Our spacious terrace was a beautiful space to relax with a good book and faced magnolia trees and blue skies. It was possible to bring out breakfast to the terrace, which we really enjoyed. 

Room Mallorca 1

Room Mallorca Terrace

María was kind enough to show us around two of the other rooms, one other type of Mallorca room and one of the Provenca rooms with a balcony, facing the tree-lined Carrer de Provenca. All rooms are unique and therefore differ slightly in furnishing and original details.

Room Mallorca 2 

Room Provença

We absolutely loved our stay at Circa 1905. Not just because of the lovely hotel and the time-traveling feeling that we got from staying there, but the staff was really friendly too, and were great at guiding us around Barcelona. The location is perfect. Not the hip and trendy part of Barcelona, but rather the nicer and more upper-class area and just a short walk to many other areas of interest. There were good restaurants in the neighborhood and it was easy to walk anywhere. We hope this visual review has inspired you to give Circa 1905 a visit.

Circa 1905 on the Map