First time I'm France for our honeymoon. We rented a home for a full week. It's very clean and…read morequaint! Picturesque European style home. They even sat out flowers for sans and fruit for us upon request.

Oh Sir William and Provence Paradise. As someone who works in hospitality, has a family-owned…read morecountry inn, and has worked in many aspects of the industry, I can say without a doubt in my mind that William and his team at Provence Paradise run the most hospitable hotel in the world. I will only say that if you have the opportunity to spend time at this place, consider yourself lucky. You will feel like you are home. I am not going to go into the details, but if you have any doubts about this hotel, feel free to message me. I hardly ever give five stars, but Provence Paradise is that rare gem in which you wish you could give six.

Provence Paradise is truly amazing in that everything is perfect and first class. The location is…read moreideal for touring Provence by car. Beautiful and impeccably maintained flowers and plants abound in this beautiful Provencal property. Our vacation rental was ample, with a beautiful outside patio, and furnished with everything we could wish for and more, down to dishwasher and laundry machine detergents, dvds to watch at leisure, numerous travel books on provence, even a whole collection of wine from the area (the request is made to replace what you drink with a new bottle!). William and his staff are always available and eager to assist, determined to make sure that you are fully pleased and satisfied. Warm croissants at your door in the morning, restaurant or touring suggestions and itinararies, a French cell phone rental; there seems to be nothing they cannot do to ensure your perfect stay. There is no better base for a Provence vacation!

While they had a sauna, gym and pool, I wasn't able to use the gym much because it didn't open…read moreuntil 0900. It had one cables weight machine that was quite limited, and some cardio machines. The pool was for toddlers, not deep enough to get my knees wet, so I really didn't enjoy that. I would have loved to use the sauna more, but you had to call in advance for them to heat it up. In Barcelona, you really don't need a pool anyhow, because the beach is only a short metro ride away. So, unless you've got big money and can stay in the really fancy hotels on the waterfront, watch your criteria for the other things. Push-ups and crunches can stand-in for a gym. Great things about the apartment were the apartment itself, the polite and helpful staff and it's proximity to the metro. We saved money by taking the metro during the day, and taxi by night. The shower was nice and big, and had plenty of waterflow, something to really appreciate in Europe. Not a shower-bath! Hotels.com was a great resource when booking, but I don't think I saved money on the plane-hotel combo because I booked the plane with them as an afterthought, and I booked everything almost last minute. I recommend Sensation Apartments also for It's location. You can be the first in line to see Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, and still have time to do other things. There are great restaurants nearby as well as the metro. A metro pass is an easy way to access the beaches and the rest of the city.

First, the positive: it's 5 minutes on the bus from center train station. The supermarket and 2…read morebanks are right next door. The walk to centerville is 15 minutes. Now reality: If traveling in the warm months or especially the summer, stay away from this hotel. No money you will save can make up for the conditions you will live in: No air conditioning. 100 degrees everyday in July. Windows have no mosquito nets so no hope for any fresh air at night to get some oxygen. A fan in the room is fairly useless, the air is still stale and hot when you return after 12-14 hours of walking and touring. No room cleaning, ever. They also rely on previous residents to have done the dishes before they left. So make sure to wash everything before using it. No change of towels, we are staying 6 days. We got 1 face towel and 2 bath towels for two adults. No change of bed sheets. Imagine sleeping in this heat even with 2 showers a day, and on the same sheets using same towels. You get 2 plastic bags to take out your own trash. Again in this heat. The kitchenette is here, but it's very tiny and basic. Shower stall collects water around your feet after 2 minutes, poor drainage. Even worse water pressure, you don't feel your hair being rinsed. And you try hard to limit the shower time not to create more humidity and heat in the room, no fan in the bathroom. WiFi does not work well if at all, even in their lobby. The breakfast facility is not open during the evening if you want to have your own snack in their air conditioned dining room. Guests are hanging out on the 2 tiny couches in the lobby area to cool off before going to bed at night. Hope this helps travelers as I fell hard on this being fooled by the rating number on Booking.com.

This is definitely a budget friendly hotel. Keep your expectations a little lower since the prices…read morehere are so affordable. This hotel was awesome for us because it was exactly what we wanted. It was convenient because it was located right in the heart of town. In fact, the location was so good that we could walk to the major tourist attractions in town within 15 minutes. The walk to the city center is also very nice because you pass by many of the cute local shops. The hotel was pretty clean and the staff were really nice. We had to check in later than the check in time. The front desk person was really nice and told us not to worry about our delay. The next morning when we saw him again, he took the time to give us pointers on where to go nearby. He was both friendly and patient in giving us directions. The rooms are very comfortable where they give you a study room and the major master bedroom. There is also a mini kitchen in case you want to cook. The rooms in itself remind of of college dormitory rooms. I think it is designed this way since the hotel is located near a university. Downstairs, there is a coffee machine, in which you can grab coffee for .50 euros. Not bad for a cup of coffee. The two downsides to this hotel are: the parking situation. We came a little late so by this time, they parking lot was full. The hotel told us to park nearby at a free parking lot. This parking lot looked simple to get to and not far at all. However, we made two wrong turns and ended up driving about 5 miles down the road (10 miles round trip). The stinky thing about this parking lot was that if you make a wrong turn, it is very difficult to make a u-turn or turn around. Many of the streets are one way so you end up needing to travel miles down a road, unnecessarily. It was quite annoying. The minor negative about this hotel is the breakfast. The continental breakfast isn't too impressive and they charge about 7 Euros per person. However, I don't blame them for charging this amount since hotel rooms are so affordable. The minor critique offered is that for 7 Euros per person, perhaps they could offer more than just cereal and bread related food items.