With plenty of trendy shops, tons of hip bars and restaurants and dozens of cool attractions Barcelona is a city of choices. To make things even more exciting the city offers visitors a choice between hundreds of hotels, hostels, guesthouses and homes for tourist use. During our last visit we stayed in one of the city’s most recent hotels.
Barcelona has it all: a wonderful climate, streets lined with palm trees, amazing architecture and plenty of things to do. So it’s no wonder more than 32 million visitors flock to the capital of Catalonia each year. While the majority of those visitors are day trippers – including almost 3 million cruise passengers, more than 9 million people actually spend the night in the city. To accommodate those visitors Barcelona knows a constant flow of hotel openings. One of the newest hotels is Exe Plaza Catalunya.
The 4-star Exe Plaza Catalunya welcomed its first guests in summer 2018. Located in a former office building, the hotel has managed to maintain a balance between modernity and history while conserving its original architectural elements.
The hotel is easily recognisable by its remarkable main façade which stands out from the neighbouring buildings. Inside, the main stairway and the railing of the mezzanine, as well as the granite pillars found in some of the rooms are reminders of the original elegance of the building.
Exe Plaza Catalunya offers 107 rooms ranging from 15m² single rooms to spacious suites offering 37m² of minimalist functionality. Located on the front side of the building, these suites come with a balcony from where you can enjoy views of the busy Ronda de la Universitat de Barcelona.
ROOM 610
Upon enterring our standard double room on the 6th floor we were pleasantly surprised by the minimalistic style of the room. The use of light coloured wood provided a calming effect and a sense of space, perfect ingredients for a relaxing stay.
The location of the bed, in the middle of the room facing the door, makes it the focal point when enterring the room. On the other side of the bedhead, which sits between two large granite pillars, is a desk with refrigerator below.
During the day the room is flooded with natural light coming through the floor to ceiling windows. At night time, or with the blackout curtains closed, the room is lit with multiple LED lights in the walls and ceiling and a design LED light above an equally designy chair which stands elegantly in front of the window.
In the other corner, opposite the lounge chair, a separate round closet, which also holds the safe.
While most hotel rooms feature a bathroom with all amenities together, here we found the large walk in shower in a separate room on the right side and the sink and toilet in a separate room on the left side (when facing the door).
Our room came with all the amenities we like including climate control, a large flatscreen TV, a safe, a desk, refrigerator, USB charging points and a super comfortable bed.
While we stayed here during the (mild) winter season we found the room to be quite warm. When we contacted the front desk we were informed that the air conditioning only works during summer and is switched to heating during winter. Fortunately we were able to open the windows which allowed for some cooler fresh air. Unfortunately this also meant letting in the noise coming from the street below.
Hotel Plaza Catalunya is located at Ronda de la Universitat 18 Barcelona, only 200 meters – less than 2 minutes walking – from Plaça de Catalunya, a hub for Barcelona’s public transport. The hotel’s location in the heart of the city also means you are within walking distance from some of the Barcelona’s most exciting attractions. Guests arriving by car can leave their car in the hotel’s covered parking.