Barcelona Hotel?
 

My friend and I are traveling to Barcelona and then Madrid in late May. Neither of us have been to Spain, so in searching for our Barcelona hotel I wanted to get some feedback on what area of Barcelona I should be searching for a hotel in. We would prefer a safe area that has sites to see as well as good restaurants, bars and nightlife within walking distance of our hotel. I read on this board that the El Born region of Barcelona is a trendy area with good restaurants and nightlife. Is this accurate? Are there other areas of Barcelona that would fit the bill? And what hotels in the $200-250/night (less if possible!) range would you recommend in those areas? The post I read recommended the Hotel Boria BCN.

Hi

Some bad reviews on Trip Advisor - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...Catalonia.html. Seems that the area/street the hotel is located is seedy.

Born is fine, other areas could be Eixample (Esquerra), Upper Raval, or Barri Gotic. You will find enough bars and restaurants to keep yourself entertained.

A hotel on Pl Catalunya would be in a strategically good location to cover all those districts, but I would not focus on it. Even if you find a nice hotel at the edge of Born and think that the club in Eixample is too far to walk, you pay little for a taxi (around €5 or 6) to get there.

Several sights are not in comfortable walking distance anyway (like Montjuic with its museums, or Sagrada Familia), so you will use subways or buses to some extent anyway.

As worldinabag suggested, I would always check tripadvisor. They also have an ongoing Top x list of hotels. Those ratings are usually based on hundreds of feedbacks, and are more reliable and much more up to date than what I experienced half a year ago in BCN.

Thanks everyone! I will check out Trip Advisor right now.

With that budget shouldn't have any trouble finding a nice hotel. Check the Atrium Palace. You can usually get rates lower than your budget. It's on Eixample area, near Plaza Catalunya.

I tend to stay at Hotel Windsor which I guess almost reaches 2 star but is over a great breakfast bar and just up from some good Tapas