Barcelona is a wonderful city to explore and stay. The city offers visitors a choice between hundreds of hotels, hostels, guesthouses and homes for tourist use, all ranging from very affordable to uber-expensive. For our pre-cruise hotel night in Barcelona we stayed in Hotel Barcelona House.
Located in Carrer dels Escudellers, a side street of the famous Ramblas of Barcelona, Hotel Barcelona House offers 57 rooms with private bathroom, a safe, satellite TV, telephone and free Wi-Fi.
For this one night stay we booked a double room. Since we had read on the internet that the rooms facing the front are affected by street noise, we requested a room in a quiet location (away from the street) and possibly on a higher floor.
Upon check in we were told the hotel only had a double room on the first floor (the second floor in the USA) available. But since the room was at the back of the hotel we would not have any noise from the street.
As we entered room 105 we saw the curtains were closed and when we opened them we learned why. The view consisted of a wall less than 2 meters away. But since walls normally don’t make any noise, we didn’t care about not having a view.
The only disturbing sound we could hear was a loud ‘ting’-sound when the elevator, accross the room, arrived. We decided we would just try and ignore it.
We partly unpacked our bags, switched the air conditioning on and left for dinner.
When we came back from our dinner, our room had turned from a peaceful haven into the backroom of the local discotheque. As it turned out the room was located immediately above the next door restaurant which turned into a beat pumping party place during the night. A fact the nice lady at the front desk had forgotten to mention…
Having had a similar experience in Italy a few years ago, where the party lasted until 5 in the morning, we went downstairs to the reception to see if we could switch rooms.
We were told there were no more double rooms available, but they did have a few triple rooms available, and would that be a problem. Since beds, just like walls, normally don’t make any sound by themselves, we didn’t mind a third bed in the room. Even better, now we had some place to put the open luggage instead of keeping it on the floor.
The first room we checked out was on a higher floor but facing the front. As soon as we opened the door to the room we could hear the noise coming from the street. So we went back to the reception and explained that a room facing the street was the one thing we definitely did not want.
The second room we checked was on the first floor, a few rooms from our original room. As we stepped inside the room we noticed the sound of silence. We had a look out of the window and again all we could see was a quiet wall. We immediately called down to reception to inform them that we would be packing our bags and move into room 127.
The rooms themselves are maybe rather basic in decor but they are spacious and clean (wooden floors instead of carpets). The only thing we did not like were the thin pillows. Luckily we could use the pillow from the third bed and otherwise putting a towel underneath made them more comfortable.
The location of Hotel Barcelona House means some of the city’s top attractions, like the Gothic Quarter, Barcelona’s Cathedral, Placa Reial and La Boqueria Market, are only footsteps away, while others are within easy reach as the nearest metro station is less than 500 meters from the hotel. All around the hotel there are plenty of shops, restaurants and bars (just be aware some of them turn into nightclubs after sunset).
All in all we had a comfortable stay in Hotel Barcelona House and will keep it in mind the next time we book a pre-cruise stay in the city of Gaudi.
Planning a visit to Barcelona and looking for a heterofriendly place to stay? We stayed in Two Hotel by Axel and think this may be the place for you. Find out more by visiting TWO Hotel Barcelona – a stay.