Apartment or hotel in Barcelona?
 

My wife and I are traveling to Barcelona in early March. After much research, we've found several centrally located apartments that are much less expensive than hotels in the same area. What should we do? One obvious "con" to staying in an apartment is the absence of concierge service. What would you recommend? I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Thanks,
Steve

I think there is much to recommend an apartment stay in any good-sized city like Barcelona. I have only stayed in hotels there, but I think I would have enjoyed an aprtment a lot.

You might also ask this question on www.slowtrav.com or its sister website www.slowtalk.com

A search here on "Barcelona apartments" yields a LOT of info - - here's just one example thsat is fairly recent and seems to have some good info:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34648333

Best wishes,

Rex

How much hand holding do you need? We spent 3 nights in an apartment this past May. While we liked it and the room to spread out, we were completely on our own. We were met by a rep when we arrrived and then that was it. We had a phone number for emergencies, but nvere saw a soul again. However, it didn't bother us at all as we are independent travellers. You need to figure out what your comfort level is.

I've only stayed in an apartment in Barcelona. Someone met us when we arrived (actually quite late at night), gave us a key and we just posted it in the mailbox when we left. We had a contact phone number if needed.

Personally I prefer to rent an apartment. OK, you have to make your own bed and pick up your clothes, but so what - most of us do that at home and it doesn't take that much time.

For me one of the best things about an apartment is you get a fridge larger than a hotel minibar - so you can fill it with wine, cerveza, olives, etc, and have a lovely time sitting on your balcony early evening before you go out for tapas etc!

Have a great time in Barcelona whatever you decide to do.

Thanks everyone for your input. We decided on an apartment (a great location in Eixample). The bottom line is we're both independent, resourceful people, so this makes sense for us. Thanks again.