Best place to stay in Barcelona??
 

HI,
Wondering where the best place to stay is in Barcelona. I have never been there and i am wondering if you can point me to the right hotel (s). HOpefully an inexpensive hotel not too far from the sites... Would like to find a hotel for under $100 a night...
Tia

TTT
I'm curious too....which area of Barcelona is the most central to sites/restaurants/etc??

The main areas people stay in Barcelona are the Eixample (the "Expansion" outside -- to the north of -- the old city walls), and the Old Town, basically comprising the Gothic Quarter/La Ribera on the east side of La Rambla and El Raval on the west side. These two areas meet at the Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona's central square at the north end of La Rambla.

There are plenty of hotels in the Gothic Quarter -- including a very popular one, the Hotel Colon -- on La Rambla, and in the Eixample. Staying right on La Rambla certainly puts you right in the heart of things but it's also a very busy pedestrian street, to the liking of some, not to the liking of others.

The Gothic Quarter has sights like the Cathedral, the gorgeous modernisme Music Palace, and the Picasso Museum; the Eixample has Gaudi's two most famous modernisme apartment buildings, Casa Batlo and Casa Mila, both on Passeig de Gracia, as well as Gaudi's famous church, La Sagrada Familia, and most of the other modernisme buidings in Barcelona. Plenty of restaurants in both the Eixample and the Gothic Quarter. On La Rambla you'll find La Boqueria, Barcelona's wonderful food market.

Essentially you can look at barcelona as being above Placa Catalunya (Eixample, etc) or below Placa Catalunya (Barri Gothic, Ramblas, Waterfront).

We stayed on Placa Catalunya (H10) and were very please with the excellent location.

3 minutes walk up Passeig de Gracias. 15 minute walk to Columbus statue.

The Hotel Continental is a quite decent, moderate hotel that's about $100 per night and the location can't be beat - at the top of the Ramblas right next to Placa Catalunya. From there, you can walk down the Ramblas, thru the Barri Gotic, to the Eixample or down to the harbor. Also, four metro lines and the suburban rail line to the airport all converge at Placa Catalunya.

For 1/2 people I have a new studio apartment for 65€/night,.
You can visit my web page: www.freestanza.com. The page is under construction and english version it`s not available at the moment but you can see the photographs of the apartments.
The apartments are in barceloneta, a very animated and friendly district close to the beach and some of the city's best seafood restaurants and tapas bar. The Ramblas, Gothic Quarter and Born area (La Ribera) are all just a short walk away.
Please, if you are interested send me and e-mail with your preferences: [email protected]

Cheers!

Angeles

El Raval, The Gotic Quarter and El Borne are plenty of restaurants, clubs, bars, ... and nignt life.
La Barceloneta are plenty of tapas bar and seafood restaurants close to the beach.
I recomend you some restaurants:
El Raval: "Bar RA", "Ipoosa" and "Dostrece restaurant". All of them have a dayly menu for 9€ (lunch)
El Borne: "El Rosal", "La cocotte", "Gente de Pasta"
Barceloneta: "Bar Jaica" (tapas)

Enjoy it!

Someone mentioned the Colon. There is a sister hotel, the Regencia Colon just around the corner. Both of these are in the Gothic Quarter. We had a wonderful week's stay at the Regencia Colon.

If you haven't read Maribel's Barcelona Guide, check it out at: http://maribelsguides.com/

Her recommendations are right-on-the-mark!

- Sharon

Check out the bancotel options: http://www.bancotel.es/esp/index.htm