Barcelona rewards anyone willing to go up a few floors, and the seventh turns out to be about the right height – above the block, but not so high that the city stops feeling like a place you live in.
UMA House Trafalgar stands on Carrer de Trafalgar, at the seam where the Born gives way to the Eixample. It traded as Yurbban Trafalgar until the group folded it into their UMA House line, so the name on the door is new while the building, the staff and the terrace are the same. Its sister property, Yurbban Passage, still runs its own quieter terrace next door under the old name, which makes an easy second stop.
The roof is the reason to come. A small pool, loungers and a bar open onto a genuine 360-degree turn around the city – church spires, water tanks, the odd modernista rooftop and the Collserola ridge behind it all. The offer is cocktails and bar snacks rather than a full dining room, which suits the space: this is a terrace for a long drink at the hour the light goes gold, not a place you book a table and stay put. Non-guests are welcome, though the pool belongs to the hotel.
Go up for the last of the sun, then walk it off downhill into the Born.