Updated: 6 April 2026 · Reading time: 12 min

Barcelona on Points: Best Hotels and Restaurants with Amex Benefits

Late February I landed at Barcelona El Prat after a flight of barely two hours from Brussels Airport. The sun broke through the clouds, it smelled of sea and coffee, and I had paid exactly zero euros for my hotel room that night. No catch, no timeshare presentation. Just smart booking with Amex Platinum benefits and points I'd been saving for months. Barcelona on points — it sounds almost too good to be true, but it works.

Honestly, I was sceptical myself when I first read about the Fine Hotels + Resorts programme. Free room upgrade? Daily breakfast for two? A welcome gift of €100? Sounds like marketing speak. But when I actually stepped into that suite at Hotel Arts with a view over Barceloneta, I went quiet. This wasn't a hotel room. This was a reward for smart travel.

For Belgian travellers, Barcelona is a top destination anyway. Short flight from Brussels (BRU to BCN, barely 1h50), affordable flights with Brussels Airlines or Vueling, and a city buzzing with architecture, gastronomy and culture. But when you combine that trip with the benefits of a premium credit card, a nice weekend away turns into something you'll talk about for months.

Fine Hotels + Resorts in Barcelona: which hotels and what exactly do you get?

The Fine Hotels + Resorts programme from American Express is, put simply, the reason I completely overhauled my hotel bookings in Barcelona. The programme includes more than 14,000 luxury hotels worldwide, and Barcelona has a solid selection. Think Hotel Arts Barcelona, The Barcelona EDITION, Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, Hotel El Palace and Almanac Barcelona.

What do you concretely get with every booking through Fine Hotels + Resorts? A free room upgrade when available (and believe me, it's available more often than you'd think outside peak season). Daily breakfast for two. Early check-in and late check-out, which on a Sunday in Barcelona is worth its weight in gold when you want to take one last stroll through El Born. And then there's that welcome gift worth approximately €100, which varies by hotel: sometimes a spa treatment, sometimes a dining credit, sometimes a bottle of cava in your room.

My personal favourite? Hotel Arts Barcelona. The beachfront location, the sky-high rooms with panoramic views over the Mediterranean Sea, the Enoteca Paco Pérez restaurant with two Michelin stars on the ground floor. I booked a standard room and was upgraded to a sea-view suite. The breakfast alone was worth €45 per person. Add that up over three nights and you're quickly at €270 saved, on breakfast alone. Add the welcome gift and the upgrade, and the total value per stay easily reaches €500 to €650.

The Barcelona EDITION is a different story, but no less impressive. Located in the heart of the city, near Plaça Catalunya. Sleeker design, younger crowd, a rooftop bar where you want to be at sunset. Through Fine Hotels + Resorts I received a restaurant credit as a welcome gift there, which made my dinner at the Catalan-Asian fusion restaurant virtually free.

Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, on Passeig de Gràcia, is for those who really want to go all out. The spa alone is worth a visit. And with the FHR benefits you often receive a spa credit as a welcome gift, which makes that experience all the sweeter. I didn't stay there myself (my budget has limits, even with points), but a fellow traveller who booked through TravelLux.be shared photos that made me jealous.

Flights to Barcelona on points: how does it work from Brussels?

The BRU to BCN flight is perhaps the easiest way to put your Membership Rewards points to use. Brussels Airlines flies direct daily, and their Miles & Smiles programme is a transfer partner of Amex. But there are smarter routes.

I prefer to transfer my points to Avios (British Airways / Iberia). Why? Because Avios uses a distance-based system, and Barcelona falls in a cheap zone from Brussels. A return flight in economy often costs just 15,000 to 20,000 Avios points plus taxes. In business class (on long-haul routes at least) it gets more interesting, but for such a short flight economy is perfectly fine.

Via Lufthansa Miles & More, another transfer partner, you'll pay around 20,000 to 25,000 miles return in economy. Slightly more expensive, but the advantage is that you can book through Brussels Airlines and still keep that direct flight number.

My tip for Belgian travellers: if you have the Amex Platinum with the Booster option (4 points per €1 for €10/month extra), you accumulate points incredibly fast. Two months of normal spending, and you have enough points for a return flight. Your daily groceries at Delhaize literally fund your next trip to Barcelona. I still find that idea absurd — in the best way.

And don't forget the lounges. At Brussels Airport you can use the Fast Lane security with your Platinum card (normally €169 per year), visit the lounge, and even pick up a free meal at Black Pearls restaurant twice a month. At Barcelona El Prat, the Sala VIP Colomer in Terminal 1 and the Plaza Premium Lounge await, all via Priority Pass. Free for you plus one guest.

Dining in Barcelona: restaurants where you make the most of your Amex benefits

Barcelona is a foodie paradise. You already knew that. But did you know that the Amex Platinum card can significantly enhance your dining experience there? Let me give you a few concrete examples.

The Fine Hotels + Resorts welcome credit can often be used at the hotel restaurant. At Hotel Arts that means dinner at Enoteca Paco Pérez, two Michelin stars, with €100 credit. I had a five-course menu with wine pairing and ended up paying €80 out of pocket for an experience that normally costs €180 per person. Together with my travel companion, that was a saving I really felt.

Outside the hotels, the Amex Platinum card also works in your favour. No foreign transaction fees, which saves you at every pintxos bar and every terrace in the Barri Gòtic. It sounds small, but if you pay by card everywhere for five days (which works perfectly fine in Barcelona), you easily save €15 to €25 in foreign transaction fees that you would pay with other cards.

Amex Offers, the discount programmes in your Amex app, sometimes feature deals at Spanish restaurants or hotel chains. Last year I had 15% cashback at a particular restaurant chain in Barcelona. Not always predictable, but it's worth checking your offers before your trip.

My personal Barcelona dining list, apart from the fancy hotels: Tickets (Ferran Adrià's bar, book at least a month in advance), Cal Pep for the best seafood at the counter, and Bar Mut in Eixample for a glass of Priorat wine with olives and jamón. At Tickets I paid €95 for two people, and it was worth every cent. With the Amex Platinum there was no foreign transaction surcharge, and I simply earned points on it. Every dish brings you closer to your next trip.

For those familiar with the Dining for 2 programme from Amex Platinum in Belgium: that works specifically at Belgian partner restaurants (three times a year a free two-course menu for two people, value up to €300/year). Not directly usable in Barcelona, but it does show how the card earns back its value at home too.

What does all this cost? The honest calculation for Belgian travellers

Let's not pretend the Amex Platinum is free. The card costs €65 per month, or €780 per year. That's substantial. I understand you might flinch at that. But let me share the Barcelona calculation I made myself before I applied for the card.

Three nights at Hotel Arts via Fine Hotels + Resorts: breakfast for two (3 × 2 × €45 = €270), room upgrade (conservatively estimated at €150 per night, so €450), welcome gift (€100), late check-out (worth at least €50 if you'd otherwise book an extra night). Total FHR benefits for one trip: approximately €870.

On top of that: Priority Pass lounges at BRU and BCN (worth approximately €80 per visit for two people, so €160 return). Fast Lane at Brussels Airport (€169/year). No foreign transaction fees (€20 saved over five days). And I'm not even counting the Dining for 2 benefits in Belgium, nor the travel insurance that's automatically active when you pay with the card (trip cancellation, baggage insurance, medical expenses abroad).

One Barcelona trip thus more than covers the annual fee. And if you travel multiple times a year? Then it becomes almost laughable how much value you extract from it. Honestly, I earned back the card in the first year with two trips: Barcelona in February and Lisbon in May. Both via Fine Hotels + Resorts.

The welcome bonus completes the picture. Through the TravelLux.be referral link you receive the maximum welcome bonus of 150,000 Membership Rewards points. That's more than when you apply directly at americanexpress.com/be. Those 150,000 points are enough for at least five return flights BRU to BCN in economy, or one business class flight to a more distant destination. Or you use them for hotel stays. The flexibility is enormous.

My Barcelona planning: how I spent three days on points

To make it concrete, this is what my last Barcelona trip looked like. Thursday early morning departure from Brussels Airport, Fast Lane through security (three minutes, no joke), picking up breakfast at Black Pearls (free with Amex), and into the lounge for a coffee. Flight BRU to BCN at 8:25, landing at 10:15 local time.

Check-in at Hotel Arts via Fine Hotels + Resorts. Early check-in was confirmed, so by 11:00 I was already in my room. Or rather: in my suite after the free upgrade. The rest of the day: walking through Barceloneta to El Born, tapas at Cal Pep (paid with Amex, no foreign transaction fees, points earned), and dinner in the evening at the hotel with the €100 welcome credit.

Friday: Sagrada Família in the morning (book online, skip the queue), lunch at Cervecería Catalana (a classic, not trendy but simply delicious), the Picasso Museum in the afternoon. In the evening Tickets, Adrià's restaurant. Paid with Amex, points earned again.

Saturday: sleep in, breakfast at the hotel (free thanks to FHR), walk through Eixample past the Gaudí buildings, a glass of wine on a terrace on Rambla de Catalunya. Late check-out at 16:00 (free thanks to FHR), taxi to El Prat, Priority Pass lounge, and back home. Total out-of-pocket costs for three days, excluding the flight: approximately €280. Normally this weekend would have cost me at least €1,100.

That's what I mean by Barcelona on points. No tricks, no hacks. Just a card that, if you use it smartly, fundamentally improves your travel experience.

Frequently asked questions about travelling to Barcelona with Amex Platinum