Happy Camper

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These days, no brand is complete, it seems, without its own hotel. Volkswagen has Fox, a 61-room Copenhagen property named after the automaker's compact runabout. Italian jeweler Bulgari has lent its name to a hotel in Milan. And in Barcelona, Spanish shoemaker Camper has its own venture, Casa Camper, www.camper.es, set on a street off the city's famed Las Ramblas.

Like the footwear it's named after, this 25-room affair demonstrates that style and affordability are not mutually exclusive. For a low-season average of around $250 a night (roughly $300 in the high-season months of May, June, September and October), you[an error occurred while processing this directive] get not one room but two. That's because every bedroom comes with its own sitting room across the hall, each with a flat-screen TV, small table, sofa bed (for children under 12, who stay free), balcony and, best of all, a hammock with views across the rooftops.

A plethora of local dining options means there's no real need for Casa Camper to have its own restaurant, but there is a ground-floor café serving breakfast and a complimentary all-day snack buffet of sandwiches, soup, and so on. You'll be refueling there frequently if you're going to attempt all the sightseeing possibilities of the neighborhood, which include La Boqueria market, the Opera El Liceo, the Plaza Catalunya and lots of shopping. Of course, if all that walking wears out your soles, you couldn't ask for a better location. The hotel is next door to (what else?) a Camper boutique.