Overview
It hasn't served up meals for more than a decade, but El Bulli will always be a famous culinary name. Until 2011, when the spot in the town of Roses in Catalonia, Spain was operating as a restaurant, it was the pinnacle of fine-dining. It boasted three Michelin stars to prove it. Documentary El Bulli: Cooking in Progress also told its story. Head Chef Ferran Adrià didn't just oversee one of the world's best eateries, either — he's one of the world's best chefs, too.
Didn't get the chance to enjoy a dish there, for all manner of reasons? How about sleeping at El Bulli for a night instead. That's the latest money-can't-buy experience on offer via Airbnb, and for one evening only. Slumbering at elBulli1846, the museum that's now onsite, is also free — for two people, but you are responsible of getting yourself to Roses, including paying your own way from Down Under if you score the booking.
Airbnb loves opening up places that you wouldn't normally be able to kip in, as seen in the past with Shrek's swamp, Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse, the Ted Lasso pub, the Moulin Rouge! windmill and Hobbiton, for starters. It has also listed the Bluey house, the Paris theatre that inspired The Phantom of the Opera, the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine, The Godfather mansion, the South Korean estate where BTS filmed In the Soop, the Sanderson sisters' Hocus Pocus cottage and Santa's festive cabin in Finland. Earlier in 2024, Christina Aguilera hosted a two-night Las Vegas stay.
Adrià does the honours at elBulli1846 — which, as you'd expect, goes all in on El Bulli's history. As you spend the night in the venue at Cala Montjoi, within the Cap de Creus Natural Park, he's hoping that you'll get inspired by its gastronomic innovation while soaking in the Mediterranean sea views. The museum is named after the 1846 dishes that El Bulli created in its restaurant days, after all.
"The mission of elBullirestaurante was about pushing limits. We had reached what we felt was the limits of what can be done in a gastronomic experience at the maximum level," said Adrià.
"Now I'm excited to push new creative boundaries, to share this way of seeing the world with the guests who stay here and to introduce them to our latest chapter as elBulli1846."
This is the first time that El Bulli has allowed anything like this within its famed culinary halls. Whoever nabs the reservation will meet Adrià, and hear all about the restaurant from him; eat at one of his favourite restaurants in Roses; and get overnight access to El Bulli, including its private rooms. You'll also have dinner the next day at Enigma in Barcelona, where Adrià's brother Albert is the chef.
And, in-between all of that, you'll be sleeping in a bed designed to look like a plate, which takes its cues from El Bulli's spherical olive.
To enjoy all of the above, you'll need to be free to stay across Wednesday, October 16–Thursday, October 17 — and you'll be getting booking at 2am AEST / 4am NZST on Thursday, April 18. Again, while you won't pay a cent for accommodation or the two dinners while you're at elBulli1846, you will need to fork out to get there and back.
For more information about the elBulli1846 Airbnb stay, or to book at 2am AEST / 4am NZST on Thursday, April 18 for a stay across Wednesday, October 16–Thursday, October 17, 2024, head to the Airbnb website.
Images: Marc Ensenyat.
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