Barcelona

cson

Booked flights into Girona a few weeks back for late May and I'm trying to sort out the accomodation now. If some Barcelona veterans could help me with a few things, I'd be much obliged

Right, firstly been looking at lastminute.com for the hotels and have come up with 2 that I'm thinking bout. For €172 for 2 nights the Onix Liceo seems pretty good given the location just off the ramblas. The one thing that is slightly bothering me is that the city's rep precedes it and I'm kinda worried that it'll be in a dodgy area, and I could do without that stress. Great location though. http://www.hotelonixliceo.com/en/

Secondly, found one of the top secret hotels and I'm pretty sure I've figured out that its this -http://www.solmelia.com/solNew/hoteles/jsp/C_Hotel_Description.jsp?codigoHotel=0801 - which for €194 for a 5 star in Barcelona is excellent. The catch is its a good way from the centre. Its near the Hospital Clinic and I'm thinking it's gonna be awkward to use this place as a base.

I have this place - http://www.ciudadelaparc.com/ booked already for €130 but tbh I wouldn't mind spending the extra €50 or so for a nicer place. It seems like a decent base though, in fact prolly the best of the bunch!

Q1 = What would be the best location/hotel from the above?
Q2 = If I went for the 5* one, how difficult would it be to get from estacio del nord to the hotel?
Q3 = I'm only going for 2 nights so what would be the best places/things to see? (not too hung up on seeing as much as possible, I'd prefer to pick maybe 2/3 things and make it relaxing more than anything)
Q4 = Restuarants?

Thanks for any help + apologies for the length of the post (sorta wanna get this hol right, theres a lady involved )

kaki

Hi cson,

I was in Barcelona for New Year's, great city. We stayed at an airport hotel because I got a discounted employee rate. We spent more on taxis than the discount was worth anyway...

Remember that the metro makes it so easy to get around, well worth buying a 2-day pass, even if you would be in the 5 star (which actually is in a great location on Avenida Diagonal, near Casa Mila, the university e.t.c.)
at max you would spend 15-20 minutes transitting to almost anywhere in the city.

Tbh I wouldn't stay on ramblas. It's a nice street, the market (La Boqueria) is awesome, but it does feel a bit dodgy. We were always on our guard when we were there... if I were you, I wouldn't stay there, especially if you're bringing a ladyfriend

Getting to the hotel(the five*) : not too bad- One way to do it is to walk for around 2 minutes from Estacio' de Nord to the "Arc de Triomph" metro, take line L1 Direction Hospital de Bellvitge, get off at Placa de Sants, change lines, then take the line L5 in the direction of Horta. Get off at the "Hospital Clinic" metro, then I'd estimate you have a 3 minute walk to your hotel

Restaurants: my advice would be to have your main meal at lunchtime, tapas in the evening. I can't recommend one place in particular, all I'd advise is to
try to eat away from Las Ramblas - it's generally all overpriced touristic menus.

And enjoy, whichever one you pick!

cson

Cheers kaki, excellent post!

I'd say the 5* would be a bit more impressive alright (for herself ) and my only concern was that it'd be awkward to get around Barcelona from that far away (well what I thought was that far away) but from what you've said it seems like its not that big a deal. Another plus I spose we're not too far away from the Nou Camp too with that hotel

Thanks again

zAbbo

Transport in Barcelona makes getting around so much easier, especially the Metro service.

I've been twice to Barcelona and I wouldn't be worried at all(but obviously, be more aware around areas like La Rambla), Felt very safe and secure.

kaki is spot on with the advice

mkem

Stayed in http://www.hlloret.com/ which is right in the centre at the top of La Rambla. It's a bog standard 1 star hotel but the location is great. Hard Rock Cafe is just across the road. Get the busturistic tour. Gives you a great tour, you can get off and on as often as you like. The port is a great place to socialise as la rambla can get rough after 10p.m Get a taxi back to the hotel door. Great city with loads of character but beware of pick-pockets.