Wearing sneakers in a holiday suitcase is something that is becoming increasingly real. Travel and run, at last, have agreed and have found a shared space in Hotel Claris, Barcelona, and Urban in Madrid.

From Derby Hotels Collection we want to promote the practice of this sport and that’s why we have joined with Josef Ajram, triathlete and trader, to present four routes for runners who visit Barcelona or Madrid.

Josef Ajram

A new city experience

Josef Ajram’s routes are designed for those who stay in the Hotel Claris and Hotel Urban. “These are the routes that I’d choose for running in Madrid and Barcelona, explains Josef Ajram. For him, running is also “a different way to know the cities”. And that is why he has designed routes through emblematic areas of each city. In Barcelona, ​​the route passes along the Avenida Diagonal or Litoral, for example, and in Madrid you can run in el Retiro and Casa de Campo.

Josef Ajram and our runners!

Derby Hotels wants to create an experience beyond the sport, wants to experience the city in a different way. Routes, designed for beginners and experienced runners are very flexible proposals that each rider can adapt to their level or available time.

Josef Ajram’s recommendation is to run in the less busy hours. According to the triathlete “early in the morning is the best time” as there isn’t so much traffic. Josef Ajram recommends eating a piece of fruit before going out and enjoy Derby’s buffet breakfast when returning to the Hotel.

Joaquim Clos, general director of DHC with Josef Ajram

“Running in the city is a different way of living every city”, says Ajram. And Urban and Claris routes offer this possibility. “They are an original resource for tourists and for people travelling for business,” explains Josef Ajram. Moreover, the routes are so easy to follow for those who don’t know the city and could get lost.

Maps available on Derby Hotels’ Facebook – http://on.fb.me/Yj15Ev 

The itineraries are designed to be affordable and easy to use both for guests and for those interested in accessing them. They can also serve as a channel of communication and exchange of views and advices to users.

The interactive map can be downloaded from phone or computer.

Josef Ajram routes for Derby Hotels Collection 

- Route 1,Diagonal-Cervantes Park: Route for beginners with little difficulty. It can be done in less than an hour (about 9 km). Starting point is located in Hotel Claris. It is a very easy journey, impossible to get lost because once you reach Diagonal Avenue you don’t have to abandon it until you arrive to Park Cervantes. To return to the hotel you just have to follow the same route but in the other way back. Of course, it can be lengthened or shortened for convenience.

- Route 2, Coastline: Route to experts from the Hotel Claris part up to Diagonal Av. In this case the route continues towards the Plaza de las Glorias. It is proposed to seek the Rambla del Poble Nou throughCastella Street and Pere IV. Get to the Avenida Litoral down the Rambla del Poble Nou, not-traveled by tourists and very interesting to get to know Barcelona. You can run down the promenade up to the Olympic Village. Return to the hotel going up through Marina’s street to the Diagonal. It can be done in an hour.

- Route 1,Retiro Park: Route for beginners. A different way of knowing downtown Madrid and also a way to integrate into the “runner” environment of the city. From the Hotel Urban, tour begins east on Highway S. Jerome to Plaza de las Cortes. Follow along Calle Felipe IV to take the Calle de Alfonso XII and finally enter the park by the Marquis de Pontejos Paseo. From this moment the asphalt is allowed to run on land. May extend into the park as much as wants each runner. Josef Ajram’s proposal for those who have more time is to walk around Paseo dela Republica de Cuba, Uruguay Paseo, Paseo Paseo Fernan Nunez and Colombia to return along Calle de Alfonso XII and go back to the hotel.

- Route 2, Casa de Campo: The purpose of this route is to stroll through the city to get to Casa de Campo. We also offer an interesting tour of the center and some of the city’s tourist spots such as Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace. The route is quite long so it is recommended to experienced runners or those who have more time.

We expect you to enjoy the rutes, now you just need to put on your sneakers and run!

Check our Facebook to find the interactive maps:

https://www.facebook.com/DerbyHotelsCollection

http://on.fb.me/Yj15Ev 

Fiesta Inauguracion La Terraza del Claris 2012

Category: Travel & Events
Uploaded by: derbyhotels
Hosted: youtube

This year, celebrating the hotel’s 20th birthday, the event paid tribute to the Barcelona’s 1992 Olympic Games. Epi, the last Olympic torchbearer and Ramon Bigas, designer of the cauldron, opened the party were over 700 people were invited to. The Clos family were accompanied by the representatives belonging to all spheres, from culture to sports or politics. Surrounded by glasses of Pommery, personalities such as Xavier Trias, Mayor of Barcelona, Alicia Sanchez Camacho, President of the Catalan PP political party, Sandro Rosell, President of FC Barcelona, the designer Lydia Delgado, the artist Rafael Amargo or the celebrated writer Ildefonso Falcones, among others, passed by the Claris Hotel. Dani Padro’s  ramekins, the bossa nova performances, the following live DJ session and the fun staging were specially successful. The good vibe and atmosphere lasted until dawn.

Thank you very much to everyone for making this event an essential appointment in Barcelona ​​and for joining us year after year! As Los Manolos proclaimed in their Barcelona’s Olympic Games dedicated song “Friends forever!”

Since its opening in 1992, coinciding with the Olympics in Barcelona, ​​entering a room of this hotel was a surprise as every one of them was different. The Claris Hotel was pioneer in combining  in a sensational way such concepts as modernity, art and classicism through the decoration of its rooms, as well as the incorporation of Egyptian art in each one of them. Who would have thought that one day we would be able to sleep next to an Egyptian antique? A privilege, without any doubt.

After all this time the Claris Hotel reinvents itself. A “deluxe reissue” where rooms have been completely redesigned into lounges housing 200 unpublished pieces of Pre-Columbian Art from the Maya, Chimu, Nayarit, Tairona, Quimbaya, Veracruz and Jalisco cultures  among others, complementing its renowned collections of Egyptian, Roman and Buddhist art.

In addition to a complete change of decoration which deals with the contrast between original lamps, photographs coexisting  with classical paintings, Japanese wardrobes  and the use of high quality fine materials such as olive tree root and erable wood, rosewood marquetry, mervaux and aged oak wood flooring, gold leaf, plaster, black granite titanium from Brazil, glass mosaics and aventurine …

Amongst all this art, Víctor Fernandez art reveals a very special painting, one of the few existing portraits of Calderón de la Barca, hitherto unpublished, and painted by Andrea Giuliani in 1781 as the signature shows in the lower left corner. A celebrated Italian painter at the time that came to Spain in the late nineteenth century from Tuscany (…). He was one of the best portrait painters of his time and some of his paintings are kept in the Prado Museum in Madrid. (…) Giulani dresses Calderon with his priest robes and the Order of Santiago. According to Jose Florencio Martinez , a specialist in the Spanish Golden Age, with this distinction the author was  recognized as being “clean of blood”.

A painting acquired by the Clos family a year ago at an auction which sleeps in room 612 of the Hotel. Twenty years later, the Claris Hotel is still surprising. What else will this new hotel provide in the future?

Room 612 Claris Hotel

Claris Hotel

Claris Hotel