I stayed in the friend's apt. just a couple buildings away from the apt.
last Oct.
I would not recommend the location especially at night.
A lot of drunks, yelling, people " selling".
Most of the streets are well lit, but, as even as a savvy traveler ,
I did not like it at all.
On previous visits to Barcelona , I stayed in Eixample and Born
much preferred IMO. habitat has many apt.
Why not pick a better location for your money.

Staying in the Raval would be a poor choice. The location you have doesn't seem bad because it's really close to Placa Reial and close to two other main streets - going deeper into the neighborhood away from Placa Reial and away from La Rambla would be more troubling.

As for noise - I can see where that'd be a concern. Check out barcelonastuff.com - they have apts about 2.5 blocks from Placa Catalunya and 2.5 blocks from La Rambla on a private alley that is nearly silent.

Thanks a lot for swift feedback. Crossing this apartment off the list. Habitat has great selection of apartments indeed, although the other favorite I was looking at in Eixample got booked while I was dithering... Just checked Barcelonastuff now, and they have really lovely apartments, but at this late date, only Barceloneta locations are available. I am basically trawling through old forum posts and checking out every agency mentioned Have to say that I really appreciate Habitat's website design and clarity of descriptions, wish more listing sites had the same...

Thanks for steering me away from this location. I didn't realize this was part of Raval, as the habitat description had it in Barrio Gothic.

It is BG, but not the best location.

Hello! Plaza Real is in the Barrio Gotico, not in the Raval!
what about this one: http://www.habitatapartments.com/en/barcelona/apartment/view/portal-de-l-angel.htm?arrivalDate=25/10/2012&departureDate=30/10/2012&n_bedrooms=&n_adults=2&n_children=0&n_babies=0&area=0&orderBy=price&pagina=2
it looks nice and is right next to plaza catalunya.
hope this helps!
Bridget

I don't know your budget, but we were more than satisfied with the flat we rented last year from DestinationBCN. Location was very central--just west of Placa Catalunya.

Hi Bridget, Portal de L'Angel is on the short list too, thanks for confirming it's a good location.

I imagine it's a better location then this apartment I am looking at as well, although Palau 3 seems a little more comfortable:

http://www.habitatapartments.com/en/barcelona/apartment/view/palau-3.htm

My budget is somewhere around 140/night, otherwise we'll just stick with cashing in points at Le Meridien.

You might want to reconsider Palau. I had considered it for my January trip. After reading several reviews that mentioned an intermittent foul odor, I asked habitat about it. They said it is a problem and one they have not yet been able to fix.

The Princesa apartments in Born get good reviews (I've not stayed there yet but will). On my first trip I stayed in Born 1 through Habitat, also good though not fancy. You might also try BCNGotic in Born, a couple apartments available through Habitat as a broker but all available through BCNGotic. Stayed there with my mom in March and it was lovely.

Thank you. This kind of real time information is what makes this forum such an incredible place and resource. I think I will strike Palau 3 off the list. I find that I am drawn to Habitat apartments because of the clarity of presentation and the fact that checkin is as early as 11 am (per their website).

BCNGotic has *very nice* looking apartments (thank you for the reference), but alas, all booked.

In addition to Habitat's Portal de l'Angel, I am looking at a few places from BCNinternet

http://www.bcninternet.com/apartdet.php?apartmentid=636
http://www.bcninternet.com/apartdet.php?apartmentid=89
http://www.bcninternet.com/apartdet.php?apartmentid=3273

And one more from Apartment Barcelona
http://tinyurl.com/CatedralApartment

I should just pull the trigger on any of them, but the feedback I have received so far has been invaluable and helped weed out a couple I was initially enamored with.

Thanks again for your tremendously useful feedback.

Hi Kasperdoggie,

Yes, go for any of these last ones you've found... perfect location, make sure thye have elvators... Recently I had some clients over on a fourth floor without elevator and it was a bit hard on their legs after walking around all day

And it was good you asked, because the first one you mentioned was in quiet a doggy area...

Hope you enjoy our fabulous city!

Having just returned from Barcelona (what a wonderful city!), I wanted to update this thread in the hope the info might be useful to someone else doing similar research.

We have ended up booking this apartment and couldn't have been more satisfied.

http://www.lodginginbarcelona.com/apartamento.php/apartamento/202/accommodation-barcelona.html

the apartment was exactly as described - central location (corner of Rambla Catalunya and Carrer Del Consell de Cent), modern apartment with a charming terrace, very clean. Lodging In Barcelona agency was very responsive - we had a number of questions prior to arrival, then had to extend the stay twice due to flight being cancelled and they were great in getting back to us and accommodating our requests. On arrival, I noticed that there were no wine glasses and only one large mug (that was just in passing, to the agent who was checking us in) and the agent returned a couple of hours later with several newly purchased glasses and mugs, to our appreciative surprise.

And on a separate food note, we very much enjoyed a tapas and wine (plus some history thrown in) with Paul at Taste Barcelona.

http://www.taste-barcelona.com/

We stopped at 4 locations (Cuidad Condal in Eixample, a small place in Raval, La Vinateria del Call in Barrio Gothico and a cava cave (so to speak), progressively tasting tapas and local white, rose and red wines, finishing it off with cava. Paul was knowledgeable, very accommodating and it was a wonderful introduction to the city.