Hotels in Barcelona
 

Anyone out there stayed at banys orientals hotel in Barcelona, or even seen it. Also can i expect good weather when we go in september, thanks

kate,
I saw the Banys Orientals last June, a month after it opened, and was impressed by its style, so I spoke to the desk staff, got a brochure, and posted about it here.
Didn't see the rooms-hotel was full. It was built by the Parellada family, well-known restaurateurs who have been in the hostelry business for years. They own the well known Fonda Europa in Granollers. B.O. is attatched to their highly acclaimed restaurant, Senyor Parellada, one of my Bcn favorites.

Since seeing it, I've read a half dozen British travel articles about it, most recently in May's Conde Nast Traveller. B.O. was chosen as one of the 50 "Hot Hotels-the World's Coolest New Places to Stay", along with Bilbao's Hotel Miro.
Article says it's the result of an intelligent reading of the hotel scene by Ramon Parellada, who saw a gap btwn cheap pensiones and exp. , impersonal places and tried to offer a small, fashionable, inexp. alternative in the heart of the city. He closed his restaurant for a yr. and gutted the 18th c. building above to build the "minimalist" 43 rm. hotel and chose a "hot" young Spanish designer to create it. A pool, steam room and massage salon are due to open in the basement later this year to fulfill the oriental baths theme. The hotel is "simple and sparse, soft lighting, grey and black tiles contrasting with the ancient stone and deep ochre of the facade". No minibars in rms-only small TVs. "Young and eager (and still learning) staff." Best rms, says this article, face Argenteria street, but from pictures, the rms do look rather small.
Hope the regular poster who has stayed there recently will see this and give us a better first hand account.

Thanks for that Maribel, just been on the conde nast web site, looks like we have chosen a nice hotel for the price, roll on september.

A couple years ago we stayed at the Hotel Majestic. We got one of their stay 3 nights get 4 night free deals. Worth looking into. It is in a great location; not in the Rambla, and close to the "tour" around town buses, and across the street from Gaudi's Casa Batllo. I would definately stay there again. Down the street is the restaurant Tapas, Tapas, Tapas where half the fun is looking at the menu.

Princessmu....I have read on this board that some people said the beds at the Majestic are uncomfortably hard. I'd like to stay there,but only if the beds are comfortable. Do you remember the beds as being too hard?

I am traveling to Barcelona in July and then to Pamplona for running of the bulls and then back to Pamplona. I know I am late & may not find a hotel room but can anyone recommend a hotel in or near Pamplona for me to try? Also, what transportation is recommended between Barcelona and Pamplona - train? This trip was planned at the last minute as you can see and all I have booked so far is the airfare. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

I talked to Erreka Servicios Turisticos yesterday, and they do still have rooms available at the Hotel Albret, which is a nice 3 star that I can personally recommend. It's a good 20 min. walk from the encierro route but also on the bus line. During the Running of the Bulls the busses run 24/7.
You can email Mikel Ollo or Nieves regarding a room. See www.erreka.net

From Bcn to Pamplona there are Iberia flights or you can take the train. See
www.renfe.es for train schedule.

Maribel - THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU for the quick response and info! I will contact the Erreka Servicios Turisticos about the Hotel Albret asap. First trip to Spain and I haven't planned very well in advance. I will post back to let you know how it goes. again, many thanks!

Maribel - I just sent a message to [email protected] to inquire about the Hotel Albret in Pamplona during the Fiesta of San Fermin. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Dezi,
Great! Erreka will take good care of you-they're business partners of ours.
Good luck.
Gora San Fermin!

I will be in Barcelona for part of my honeymoon from Aug 29th to Sept 6th, I have heard great things about hotel COLON. Does anyone have an email address for this hotel? Would anyone recommend staying at couple of different places? We're open to suggestions as this is our 1st trip to Spain.

email for the Colon:
[email protected]

Maribel,
Thank you kindly for your response.
I know you have been great help to many who seek your advise. My finace and I would love to get the most out of our stay in Spain. Originally we planned on staying in Barcelona for the full week (We'll be in Ibiza the followig week). Now that I'm seeing other responses, maybe we could cut the stay in Barcelona to 4 days and go down to Valencia or Alicante for the other 2.
We're open to suggestions if you have any. Thanks again.

We are trying to decide between the Banys Orientals and the Hotel Continental. They seem to be quite different, but they are around the same price (Banys is more expensive). Should we "splurge" and go w/ the Banys or stick to the Hotel Continental? Any advice is appreciated!

Hi There Shelbel, go with banys orientals, this is purely a selfish reason so you can give me more info on the place as thats where we have booked to go in september.
the reviews that i have read all seem to think it is nice.
when do you go?

Hi krysmiz,
You may find the Alicante area hotels fully booked for those dates. The Levante coast is extremely popular among Spaniards in Aug. You could go down to Valencia on the EuroMed but since you'll have a week in Ibiza, here's another idea:
You could head up to the gorgeous Catalan Pyrenees instead for truly awe-inspiring scenery. The area around Camprodon, the medieval villages of Santa Pau, Besalu, Rupit, the Val de Nuria, the beautiful Cerdanya. The Pyrenees in late Aug. are busy, it's true, but still not as saturated as the eastern coast beaches. The weather is great (warm days, cool nights) and the scenery simply spectacular, unforgettable and a total change from the beach scene! If I had my choice of which direction to head for, I'd choose the Pyrenees any day, but the mountains appeal to me more than the beach.

shelbel,
Choose the Banys Orientals; it's only a yr. old so everything will be fresh rather than faded and tired, and it has some designer flair.

krysmiz,
I just reread your post and see you would only have 2 days, so going up to the Pyrenees might be a problem, as some hotels (but not all) have a 3 night minimum in high season. Also you'd absolutely need a car! It's only about 2 hrs. from the Camprodon area to BCN airport. We stayed at the very pretty, inexp., immaculate Swiss chalet-like 4 star Hotel Grevol btwn Camprodon and Setcases for 2 nights last July.

I'm trying to talk my husband into the Banys. We are going in mid June and will only be in Barcelona for 3 nights. We will spend the rest of the trip in Mallorca.

Shelbel, if you do stay at Banys Hotel i would be most grateful if you would let me know what it is like when you return. Have a fab time.

We just returned from our Spain trip yesterday (still kind of out of it), but want to comment on Banys. We stayed there for four nights. It is in a great location in the Born district and the Parellada restaurant next door serves authentic Catalan dishes which were great, and very good prices avg. 15 euro/person. The hotel itself was ok, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I'd be. The rooms were large enough, but there is absolutely no soundproofing--we could hear the people in the next room sneeze. Our room location was off the street (5th floor) but the noise from employees in the restaurant after closing was very annoying. The bathroom was nice with a large counter, but the lighting was really poor. The bottom line is I might stay here again but only for the location. If anyone has more specific questions, I'd be more than happy to help if I can.