Excellent hotel for the location…read more Found this on TripAdvisor and it was true to the reviews. Just a 5 minute walk from the Aeroplan bus from the airport at Placa de Catalunya. Very safe metropolitan area of town. Lots of places open late at night - as most restaurants don't open until way late! Perfect place for those that are uncertain about the city. Help is always there - their cozy front desk and ease of asking traveller questions. Stayed for 4 nights in one of their very historic rooms (see photo of ceiling in the room). Breakfast was spot on - hot and cold dishes plus an assortment of home made cakes, breads and preserves! Beverages and snacks throughout the day. They have an honor bar where you serve yourself a glass of wine or liquor (I had their single malt Scotch) and write down what you had and they will charge your room a very reasonable rate! They were so nice to have booked for us the bus tour and the La Sagrada Familia museum tickets. Just outside the Urquinaona metro station so it's easy to connect to many places. Perfect for couples, families and solo travelers as this place is small and takes care of every client!

Stay here. This was the best place we stayed on our 3 week European vacation. It is clean,…read morecomfortable, and the service is excellent. Maria and Gustavo made sure we always had everything we needed including recommendations for restaurants and things to do. Large bathrooms made it easy to spread out, complimentary breakfast helped to save money on one meal/day, and the patio/garden was a nice place to relax. Little touches like turn down service, snacks in lobby, and the self service bar helped us feel at home. Walking distance to most things we wanted to see/do.

Amazing location in Born adjacent to Bari Gotic. Steps from amazing food and shopping. Walk to…read morePicasso museum, the beach, catch the teleferic to Mont Juic, one bus ride to Camp Neu. Ana speaks great English, Spanish, German. Super helpful with directions, suggestions, transportation. Additions of yogurt, gorgeous fruit, and whole grain breads to the normal ham and cheese, jam breakfast helped our teenagers motivate to get going in the morning. (Of course, delicious cafe con leche helps too.) Balconies off every room. Super clean common areas, especially important when sharing a bathroom.The three teen girls got the room with bath. (Room 2) We felt like we got the better deal with beautiful decor and spaciousness (room 1). Never had to wait to take a shower or otherwise use the bathroom. Comfy robes and towels. Tons of closet space. Charming views. Great wifi.

From the owner: El Balcon del Born is located at El Born District, a very tendry area where you can find…read morerestaurants, funky shops, tapas bars, nightclubs, boutiques, pubs, park and museums. Close to Barceloneta Beach (15 min), Las Ramblas (12 min), Ciutadella Park (5 minutes), Gotic District (10 minutes). And next to Barceloneta Metro Station, L-4 just 3 minutes walk. Our BnB have 5 confortable rooms with balcony. Prices from 70eur - 130eur with breakfast included. For booking please send me an email to elbalcondelborn@gmail.com or call me at + 34 634 52 45 05 and I will send you all the information: availability, pictures and rates.

This is a great b&b, but they also have 2 apartments that they also rent out - we were 3 so we…read moredecided to stay in the apartment so we could go to the markets and prepare our own food. The apartments are really really beautiful - stylishly decorated and spacious and really well equipped, with microwave, fridge, freezer, washing machine and dishwasher - fabulous. We had great communication from Bianca before we got there making us feel very welcome and looked after. The apartments are so close to the centre that we could walk right to the main catalunya square in minutes. It's a real gem and I would recommend it to any one in a heart beat.

Beware of this place if you want a minimum of flexibility when it comes to your travel plans…read more 5Rooms will make you pay the first night if you cancel 14 DAYS ahead. And they will charge you the full price of your entire stay if you cancel or change your reservation 1 WEEK ahead. ONE WEEK. What a joke. In my case I fell for a bad marketing ploy on booking.com that created the impression I could cancel the reservation free of charge which was most misleading as I made the reservation and cancellation within one day, 5 days prior to my travel. So there never was no such thing as free cancellation, which I painfully figured out after receiving my credit card bill. I understand this is a smaller place and owners don't want to deal with short-term changes but to charge full three nights (560 EUR!) for a room that has been booked and cancelled within only one day and in a hotel that is fully booked year round is just ridiculous.

1.) Just to warm you up: I am here in Spain, my Yelping…read morefriends. I figure this is my time to start christening my profile with some reviews from Europe. This starts Review #1 for Summer of 2013 in Spain. I was online at some Hostel booking place and saw this place. The place looked spectacular online as well as the reviews from there were pretty good so I went in and got the spot. 2.) What your eyes may see: It's Spain, so you're always going to get that very traditional feel. A lot of antiquity, but still kept in mint condition. The elevator was very fascinating. A kind of sliding metal door like you'd see in those artsy type buildings, but then an inner elevator door that resembled much like a cabinet type door. Inside this place was kept immaculate. It definitely is more of an apartment floor than a hostel. You would feel right at home, or, at least as a guest in someone's house. There are two bathrooms - a main bathroom that has a washer/dryer and secondary bathroom that is without one. The dining room is nice - well stocked liquor cabinet, antique yet upscale looking furniture (sorry, I like saying antique after the maintenance man kept saying the word "antiquo" which means antique). There are about 6 rooms on the floor I am on. The bathroom is not necessarily locked and can be shared, which could make some people a little uncomfortable. The floor itself is pretty intimate, where you can walk out of your room and into the dining room you can find a bunch of strangers eating and laughing at the dinner table. 3.) Staff: Very friendly people. I got to sit down, share some laughs and talk to Billy, the guesthouse owner, who is originally from Los Angeles California. Very nice and helpful people I must reiterate. I feel at home when I am here. 4.) Impressions: I got to meet some other Americans who were here. Good to know it's not just rowdy teenage or college kids coming here. Seems to be a nice eclectic crowd of people who come here.

I don't really know if I should write a true review of this place. Because if people knew how…read morefantastic it is - it will be impossible to get a room. This is place is amazing! The decor is lovely and charming in the best way possible. The location is really good near transportation and the city center. Everything is very clean. But the most remarkable is the friendly staff, who goes all the way to make you feel at home "or at Billy's home". My room was small but suited for a princess. I will definitely come back to this beautiful place.

So a couple of things: the location on the Yelp map is wrong; this hostel is actually right at the…read moreother end of Correr del Mar, smack on the beach. That's pretty much the best thing about this hostel, and I'll never forget watching the sunrise early in the morning here. Unfortunately, I got up so early during my stay here in Winter 2007 for another reason besides the sunrise: the room and bed in the hostel were disgusting. The whole interior had a concrete, ramshackle, "I wonder how many people have had sex on this white-spot stained dirty mattress?" feel to it. And actually, since the concrete "walls" don't go all the way up to the ceiling, once during my stay here, I and everyone else in my "room" were treated to the sounds of two people doing it in the next "room" over (apparently there were other non-participants in that room too, just....trying to sleep). Now I dunno...2007 was a while ago, but unless they've improved the interiors, made real walls, lightened the colors, killed the cockroaches, and just in general made this place seem less like you're staying in a dank dungeon, I would definitely not recommend Equity Point Sea, (unless the dirty dungeon theme is your particular thing). It was cheap though, and on the beach.

Right on the water but that's about all they have going for them. Although this area of the beach…read moreis nothing but tourist/tourist traps. You will be relentlessly approached the entire time. The beds are uncomfortable and they don't give you blankets! You can "rent" one for 3 euros but they feel like sandpaper. If sharing a room with 10 other people isn't already enough of a challenge, there's huge gaping holes in the walls leaving the the rooms completely open so you can hear everyone in the neighboring rooms as well...

My husband and I had a wonderful stay here. Big breakfast spread with lots of options each morning,…read morevery fun to sit and chat with other travelers from around the world. Hosts went above and beyond, would sit with guests every morning and chat, then answer any questions and help figure out how to get wherever you needed to go. It was also very quiet even though the house was full, and located near a busy street. Wish I could give them more than 5 stars!

Isn't it often a problem when one's expectations are so high? I was concerned after reading all of…read morethe excellent reviews that we'd be disappointed during our trip. Not to worry -- we enjoyed virtually everything during our 4-night stay. A B&B experience adds so much to visiting a city for the first time. Jon and Kiku were wonderful. Poor Jon was under the weather while we were there but he still came through for us when he provided a half-day driving tour around the City. He also got out of his sick bed to greet us on arrival (our first contact was Thelma). BTW, it wasn't immediately obvious to us that we had arrived at the B&B as there is no sign outside. Trust that Mallorca 319 is the right building, and then ring the doorbell to #1 to get buzzed into the building by your greeter. We had a very nice apt. upstairs - bedroom, sitting room and bathroom. There's nothing fancy or upscale about the rooms (which was a little bit of a surprise), but our apt. was homey, comfortable, clean and well equipped. Our sitting room had a Nespresso machine that we LOVED, and we visited a close-by market for our cream - we kept it in a small fridge. Kiku joined us for breakfast each morning -- as others described, they were very good. Kiku is a vivacious, energetic, warm host who couldn't have been more helpful. His recommendations and directions were so helpful everyday. We saw less of Jon, presumably because he didn't feel well, but during our time with him found him delightful, informed and interesting. They are the couple you always want in your friendship circle! I second all of the other positive comments found in this forum -- there was nothing we didn't like and the stay at Barcelona B&B framed our time in Barcelona in a wonderful way. I wouldn't hesitate to highly recommend this for your stay in Barcelona.

Alan found this B&B via TripAdvisor. We stayed here for 5 nights after leaving our transatlantic…read morecruise from Rio. The building, which was built in the 19th century, faces the Port. The rooms have been nicely and respectfully renovated, adding modern convenience to old world charm. Our first room was on the second or third floor. It was reachable via a small elevator. The building housed residential units as well as the B&B. After our first night a family arrived who wanted to have our room as well as the one they had originally booked so they could be on the same floor as their children. Our host approached us about this and we readily agreed. We moved one floor up, to a larger and more comfortable room the children would have had. We felt richly rewarded. The room, called the Captain's Cabin, was spacious, w/ a comfortable king size bed. There was a table/desk where we could set up the computer as well as a couple of comfortable chairs for reading and relaxing and an occasional table. Coffee and tea fixings were provided and storage space for clothes and luggage was more than adequate. The bathroom was well appointed. Our host was a charming and genial Irishman who'd live in Barcelona for 30 years. He prepared breakfast and brought it to us on a cart each morning. It was delicious and varied, w/ tea and pastries and cheese and fruit, enough to get us started for the day. We were happy w/ our accommodations. The B&B was centrally located and we could walk to restaurants or to the statue of Christopher Columbus, where we could pick up the tourist bus which gave us a nice overview of the city. The Maritime Museum was w/in walking distance, as was Las Ramblas. The address is not on the website, presumably to discourage walk-ups. They give you the address when you book. We were happy w/ our stay and particularly liked the Captain's Cabin.

A friend's equest for a reccomendation for a B+B in Barcelona sent me on a search for our…read moreaccomodations in August, 2012 and I was happy to locate the Marina View by Googling "Irish host" and "City Tour Bus" along with "Christopher Colon" along with Old Port and Las Ramblas. Bingo! Along with this, one could include Picasso, because in addition to being near the Picasso Museum, the young-ish Picasso stayed in this building in 1912 when he was pursuing a Russian ballerina. In fact, a famous Picasso image portrays the Colombus Statue in the distance with the wrought iron balcony of the B+B in the foreground. It may have been a Grand Hotel in those days, but today, it is as you read on earlier reviews which escribe the set-up well; common stairwell and elevator with office and residential use. The facade from the street is neither attractive nor entirely safe-looking, as it presents a series of aging locked and shuttered or disused entries, but in a week's stay, we never once felt other than secure. Even in the heat of August, the AC kept our wee room comfortable and we were treated to a visit on Paddy's (the gracious manager) rooftop eire. We cannot imagine staying anywhwere else in Barcelona, as the Marina View is so central, quiet at night and if you score a room with that wrought iron balcony, you can channel Picasso all night long.

Yuk, I did not like this hostel. The hostel and not the Apartment rentals were only one floor with…read more3-4 rooms of about 8 people each. Definitely a smaller hostel itself. Location: located right next to the cathedral and walking distant to las rambas and the aero bus. Central location and fairly closed to the downtown area. Hostel-Rooms were decent sizes. A female and male bathroom (which I didn't know because when I came it was late and I didn't see the picture of a guy on the guys bathroom and used the guys bathroom during my whole stay there! And finally saw it on the last day...was wondering why I saw no girls using this one...) hahaha. There was no curfew so you get drunk people walking in a 3am! The doors were weird and nobody ever locked it. Wifi only works in dining and lounging area. Breakfast was your typical cereal and bread thing. They lock up the lounging area after a certain time. I had a towel that was smaller than most and it looked like a hand towel, they took it by mistake and took them he next day to find it when it was just in their dirty laundry basket! I was mad! They didn't even offer me another towel to shower or anything. I hung the towel in the room and try just took it. I finally got it back all wet still and she was like we can wash it for it, it was effing late and I was leaving the next day! Had to pack. But when they were looking for it they kept saying oh were washing it right now, turned out to be in their dirty laundry basket. So irritated. I did not like this hostel. It was okay, small, and iono something about it...

Itaca is a great hostel in the middle of everything in Barcelona. It is literally a 30 second walk…read morefrom the Catedral and some great restaurants and shopping, and a 5 minute walk to the main street by the water and a really cool shot bar! The staff was really friendly and helpful in telling us places to eat and watch futball. We stayed in a 8 person dorm room which felt comfortable and cozy. There's no curfew or lock out time or anything, so we were able to nap during the day and stay out at night! I've heard about a few bigger party hostels like Kabul, which might have been more fun and conducive to meeting other young people, but I had no problems with Itaca in terms of a place to stay. The bathrooms weren't the best, but they weren't the worst either. The only real problem was that the showers were operated by a button that you had to press every thirty seconds, or the water went off. I would absolutely stay here again if I were coming to Barcelona and recommend it to others.