August 20, 2007

Europe | Spain | Pyrenees

Posh Paulita

By Nicole Cotroneo

Discover how to summer like the Barcelona bourgeoisie.

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With a clutch of hotels scattered throughout Spain’s south, the Hospes hotel group ventured to the Catalan Pyrenees to find the eighth and newest addition to its burgeoning boutique portfolio. Just opened, Villa Paulita is a splashy-red Art Nouveau mansion basking in the region’s sunniest valley. Once a private summer home, it’s been beefed-up with Hospes’ signature Bodyna spa and a Senzone restaurant, specializing in regional cuisine. Villa Paulita nestles on the edge of an alpine lake in the heart of Puigcerda, the southern capital of the Cerdanya region, which straddles the Franco-Spanish border.

A 90-mile trip from Barcelona, the town was once a renowned retreat for the Barcelona bourgeoisie, and today remains favored by outdoors types. Nearby, Spain’s first ski resort, La Molina, morphs into a summertime mecca for hiking, mountain-biking and “pony-trekking.” A cog railway takes ambitious climbers to the otherwise inaccessible Nuria Valley, where they can tackle 9,000-foot summits. For more soulful exploration, take the train to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Nuria, a revered Catalonian shrine with a 12th century statuette of Madonna and child.