When trying to book a hotel in a strange city on the other side of the world you tend to rely on a few things: Price point, number of stars and location. I can honestly say that when trying to figure out where to stay in Barcelona for our recent trip we were doing the same and we were disappointed at every turn. Either the areas we wanted were too expensive, or there wasn't anything of a high enough star rating at the price we wanted to pay.
So we began looking at other popular neighbourhoods with access to good transit, a high concentration of restaurants/bars/nightlife and set a low ceiling for price.
The result was we can across a hotel ranked as €€ and 3-4 Stars located in one of our top 3 neighbourhoods - El Born/La Ribiera. This neighbourhood, unbeknownst to many travellers has a higher concentration of restaurants, nightlife and bars than even the Gothic quarter and is s short 10 min metro ride away from basically anything you could want to see or do.
The Hotel Catalonia Born is located right near the Arc de Triomphe (yes Spain has one also) and with that a major transit hub with access to subway and buses running direct to any destriation we could hope for.
Best of all, the cost was about HALF of anything at the top of most travel sites lists and other popular BCN choices (Hotel Arts, The W, etc).
This boutique hotel was beautifully decorated, modern, extremely clean, with very friendly staff. They offered free tapas during a happy hour every evening from 5-11pm (they weren't great but it was nice if ordering drinks at the bar and looking for something to snack on). The hotel also has a very modern, albeit small, rooftop pool with plenty of space to lounge and sun bathe. And from a convenience standpoint, if you didn't feel like leaving the hotel and walking 25 steps to get breakfast for cheap at a local cafe, you could easily go to their in house breakfast buffet for about 13€/person. Not a great deal but the spread was impressive mixing both western and traditional Spanish/Catalonian fare.
Our room was extremely generous in size we thought, especially given that many of the views of rooms online of other establishments seemed to be little larger than the beds. We had more than enough room to move around, inclusive of a couch a large long bathroom with TWO showers (the rain one was one of the best showers I've ever taken).
As I mentioned, with all things being equal this was a good hotel, not a great one BUT for us what put it over the top was the location. We were able to get to the beach in 10 minutes, Pl. Catalunya in 15 (walking), and rows upon rows of restaurants within 30 seconds. We were also 15-20 min away from the famed Gothic Quarter but far enough away to avoid the major Tourist crowds, the tourist centric prices and piss poor food .
*** There are likely some good spots in the Gothic Quarter BUT it's basically the Times Square of Barcelona (a main tourist hub that attracts camera toting tourists like moths to the flame). If you want a more local, more authentic experience, areas like the Born neighbourhood are where it's at.
No complaints at all about our stay here, I only wish we could have stayed longer. Writing this review makes me realize how much I loved my stay and how badly I would love to go back!
Thank you Hotel Catalonia Born for making our trip memorable! read more