ninasdream

Hello All,
Looking for the best modest accommodations for 3 nights in Barcelona, before I join my group on Sunday evening April 14. Thanks in advance for any help.

I am departing for a work trip in less than 5 weeks for a site visit to Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon, Portugal. I am arriving 4 days early to explore a little of Barcelona, and want some help finding a modest hotel, B & B or will consider paradores. I am arriving Thursday morning April 11, and join my group Sunday evening at a hotel in the Barrio Gòtico section. We are then there with a full itinerary through Tuesday, when we will catch a train to Madrid. It is my first visit t Barcelona, and I plan to just visit museums, parks, and an outdoor market , with meals out squeezed in-between. I am very excited to see Gaudi works, and Miro is a favorite of mine. I am a walker, however, I have had 2 total knee replacements, and though in good condition, a bit slower than I used to be with inclines and steps. I love to get into the middle of things and talk to locals, and eat local. My Spanish is serviceable, and I am trying to learn a little Catalan.

My hotel is booked for those dates, and I thought I might see if anyone here knows a small or less modern but interesting or enjoyable place to stay. I will be traveling light with a small carryon suitcase and a little backpack, so I won't mind if the place is in a different section of the city and I have to traverse it to get there. I hope to be near a bus route, or the museums and Gaudi sites.
I realize Barcelona can be an expensive city. I already booked Lisbon, so if I have to increase my nightly cost, I will . But by "modest", I mean under $200, and clean, and not too noisy. I see listings, but would prefer it came from my Fodor's friends, who I know are reliable. Thank you in advance!

Maribel

Have you done a booking.com search, putting in on the left as your parameters a price of 180 euros (more or less $200) and the area of the Eixample, which many Fodorites prefer because of its relative safety, its less density, not in the middle of the huge crowds found these days in the Gothic Quarter and its being surrounded by lovely Moderniste architecture?

I did a quick search for your dates, and you might check the local chain, Praktik and its Eixample hotel, the 2-star Praktik Garden on Diputación in the pretty Eixample. I see a single room for your dates for 164 euros. It´s located in the Right Eixample, 4 blocks east from the elegant Passeig de Gràcia. The Praktik chain has several hotels in the Eixample district, and this one is usually the least expensive.

Barcelona, unfortunately, has the highest hotel rates these days in Spain.

jgrynol

I see Maribel has responded, and she knows her stuff, but you might look at Hostal Poblenou. It’s recommended in Lonely Planet and gets very good reviews. Good luck!

HappyTrvlr

ninasdream, in Barcelona, we enjoyed our stay at Hispanos7Suizas in the Eixample on the side near La Sagrada Familia. They are apts but the concierge at the front desk makes dinner reservations and makes good suggestions, very helpful. We found it on Maribel’sGuides.

wilson93david

What I generally do is either look for hotels on https://www.booking.com/ or on https://www.airbnb.com/, and if I like the price, I will check for reviews on Google.

rialtogrl

I stayed at Hotel Via Augusta last October and I really liked it.

https://hotelviaaugusta.com/en/

‘Easy to get around on the metro, lots of restaurants and cafes in the neighborhood, and well within your budget for a single room. I’ll return for sure.

edited to add: it’s in the Gracia neighborhood. On April 14 at noon, there should be castellers (human towers) at Plaça de la Revolució de 1868 in Gracia, with the neighborhood club (Castellers de la Vila de Gràcia.) Of course you do not have to stay in Gracia to see them, but I urge you to check it out for a truly Catalan experience

Christina

I wouldn't bother learning Catalan, it isn't used anywhere else and any educated adult there you interact with will know Spanish, they are both official languages. Road signs and museum signs, etc., are bilingual (Catalan/Spanish) I remember once I was in a grocery store buying some coffee as I had a rental apt, and the packaging was in Catalan and had some words I didn't know . I know Spanish fairly well, so just asked some guy in the aisle what some of the words meant, that's all. Of course he understood me speaking Spanish. I mean I asked him what Spanish word was equivalent, I don't know if he knew English, but probably since he was fairly young.

If you just think it would be fun to try to learn it, go for it. Of course, workers in a local office may speak Catalan amongst themselves and it might be nice for you to just say hello, goodbye in Catalan, etc.but you probably do . Adéu

EatSleepTravel

It's a little over your budget (currently $241 a night on booking.com) but I have stayed at Grupotel Gravina 3 times in the past few years and find it to be excellent value. It's in a great location, easy walking distance of La Rambla and Placa de Catalunya. I picked it because it's basically on the bus route to and from the airport so an easy and cheap to get to the hotel. Breakfast is included and the rooms are basic but clean and comfortable

ninasdream

Hello All. Sorry for the radio silence. I had some very long days last week, and a lot of eye strain. Thanks for these helpful replies.
Hi Maribel! It was good to see that I was on the right track. I was looking in Eixample area. Praktik did not have consecutive nights available in their locations.

Jgrynol - funny, I actually had a Lonely Planet Barcelona from the library that I was working my way through. I had actually checked Hostal Poblenou before I posted, and they were all booked.

Wilson93david- good advice, but on some of these sites reviewers do not have reasonable expectations and so navigating hotel ratings is trickier. Next month marks 20 years ago! that I came to fodors to plan a return trip to Paris on my own, adding Brussels and Bruges. I "know" and can rely on the posters here.

Hi happytrvlr- sounds great, but too much space for solo me!

Rialtogrl- thank you for sharing your experience of last August at Hotel Via Augusta. On March 6, that same day, I booked a reservation directly through the hotel's website. It was listed at $122 euros/night, but what I got was $139. I am guessing the difference was I had to pay more for free cancelation as the no cancelation rates were sold out. It looks like a nice area, near Gracia, which Maribel also recommended.

Thanks for the Castellers tip. If that is still going on, sounds like a good plan. Whether I get up early, explore nearby first, come back, check out, watch the performances or have a leisurely morning, watch the castellers, and then head to my Sunday night hotel to check in and meet my group, they are now part of my plan!

Eatsleeptravel- thank you so much. I had actually looked at Grupotel Gravina. It was a bit high for me, but as you noted, reasonable for what you'd be getting.

Christina, yes, I was essentially just learning some phrases for fun, as a personal challenge, and as a courtesy. Thank you for your thoughtful post with good information and perspective.

I have to ask- was this you? Are you a devotee of homemade detergent? Before I moved, someone at Fodors recommended a recipe to me, her name was either Christine or Christina, it would have been around 2013. After I moved and had my own washer and dryer, I did eventually come to appreciate that approach, and used it for the past 5 years or so.

Thanks again for all the great suggestions. I will probably walk around each of these neighborhoods. Happy travels.

rialtogrl

Ninasdream, there should be other events going on that morning if April 14, like processions.

https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/gra...de-les-quintes

Get to where the castellers will perform a bit early. It’s a community and there will be much drinking of beer and vermut and socializing of all age groups. A fun day to be in Gracia, for sure.

ekscrunchy

Sorry to seem contrary, but I do not believe that Barcelona is the only place in the world where Catalan speakers reside.
I thought they spoke Catalan in and around Alghero in NW Sardinia (been reading up that area lately!!) , and in Mallorca.
I think Catalan is the official language of Andorra...

Is not Valenciano considered a dialect of Catalan? Or is its considered to be Catalan?
I was told that the language spoken in parts of Languedoc-Roussilon is Catalan. Not the ONLY language, but Catalan seems to spoken in parts of SW France as well.

Which is not to say that anyone NEEDS to learn Catalan as a visitor to any of those locations. Certainly you would want, or I would want, to learn if I planned to live or have an extended stay in one of those regions an I think it would be a fascinating language to learn, with probably so many variations from place to place.

No visitor needs to be a fluent Basque speaker, either, but you sure do have many conversational opportunities open up to you if you DO speak some of that language.
I imagine same with Catalan....


And hey, as per Christina's comment...maybe some of us want to chat with UN-educated people!!!

ninasdream

[QUOTE=rialtogrl;17543091]Ninasdream, there should be other events going on that morning if April 14, like processions.

https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/gra...de-les-quintes

Get to where the castellers will perform a bit early. It’s a community and there will be much drinking of beer and vermut and socializing of all age groups. A fun day to be in Gracia, for sure.[/QUOTE

Thanks- I will look into it more fully. Thanks for the link; it's on Spanish only and the page translation is not functioning, so I will research. The celebration is how I will be spending my day. Plus I do like vermouth.

Ekscrunchy- duly noted.

danon

Interesting. I am not sure which version of Catalan they speak in Valencia either. It seamed to me that Spanish was spoken everywhere in the city..
. For my many visits to Barcelona, I did learn a few words of Catalan, although speaking Spanish was just fine….many people who live in Barcelona are from other regions of Spain or even from South America.
One time I told the taxi driver in Barcelona “I am sorry I don’t speak Catalan” ( in Catalan) He responded in Spanish “ Yo tampoco”. ( me neither)😸

Maribel

Our hosts, members of the Valencian Tourist Board, who guided us around during Fallas, insisted that Valenciano is a separate language.

rialtogrl

[QUOTE=ninasdream;17543406] It is in Catalan! Use Google translate.. and if you like vermouth you will find it everywhere, but I never go to Barcelona without stopping at Morro Fi for vermut blanco and potato chips with hot sauce.
https://www.morrofi.cat/index.html

ekscrunchy

Danon I got a good laugh about your taxi driver story!!!!

If someone wanted to learn some very basic Catalan, where could they go in the US? Or are their courses online that you all think are good??
(I've tried 2 languages courses back in the days when they were on LP records and the records came in boxes boxes illustrated with drawings of the Leaniing Tower of Pisa, a man with a black beret, etc etc.
Neither of those record-based courses worked out for me. At all. French was a disaster, even after I attended a semester of live classes in New York.

I did pick up a few Italian words but traveling in Italy was so superior to the audio classes--two weeks there and you can really pick up a lot if you make an effort. I imagine it's the same with any of the Romance languages which are some of the easiest to learn (I think).

ninasdream

Danon cute taxi story!

Ekscrunchy- "If someone wanted to learn some very basic Catalan, where could they go in the US? Or are their courses online that you all think are good?"

That is a good question! I work at a university and they provide Mango. We used to have Rosetta Stone. I checked both of those for learning Catalan, then checked with Babbel, Berlitz and Pimsleur. Wish I could have given you a resource. I guess Internet look-ups will be the best resource, unless your library can turn something up.

I didn't phrase the question right in my Rosetta Stone inquiry, so when I asked how many languages, it said 3, referring to the original Rosetta Stone!

I bought Pimsleur no book audio only cd set for French, before my trip to France, but I had studied French for several years.

On Barcelona, tell me what you all think of this. I will preface my question by saying that usually when I have just a few days in a city, I focus on exploring that city, rather than trying to do day trips to other areas.

But I have been captivated by something I saw quite by accident, featured in a travel show. I am in Barcelona on my own Thursday afternoon until late Sunday afternoon, when I meet my group.

I saw a travel segment on Salvador Dali's house, and it looked fascinating, and the site beautiful.Is this a nutty idea? I only have 4 days in Barcelona before my official visit begins. But this day trip to Girona, Figueres and Cadaqués is about 2 h 45 min each way and really appeals to me.

The trains and buses didn't work for me time-wise. I found some bus and van tours for the day. Some do not include any entrance tickets, to be flexible to what people want to do. I wouldn't be interested in shopping, or even lunch, really. I'd want to spend time at Dali House, and the museum, and walking around the stop at the Jewish Quarter.

One of the van tours said cancellation is possible if not enough people sign up, so I probably wouldn't be able to reschedule or find some alternative. These are pay now or later, cancel up to 24 hours before.

I signed up for a tour for $60, no entrance fees, which would be about another 60 euros for 3 sites, including the Dali Teatro/museum, and the Dali House. It's a coach bus. The tour company has been responsive to my email questions. They said this tour will not be cancelled. It's free cancellation up to 24 hours before. I figured I could also ask my hotel what they think when I artive.
I just don't know with airfare being as it is when I would get back to Spain outside of the shoulder season, so I'd love to see this area right on the water when I am there during the warmer month of April. I will have my 4 days, plus 2 1/2 more days in Barcelona with the group.

What would you do? Go on the bus tour and see what you can, or stay in Barcelona?
Thanks in advance for your perspective.

here is what I am talking about
Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out

Cadaqués, Spain -- Livin' It Up on the Costa Brava
SEASON 1, EPISODE 3

Maribel

ninasdream,
It's hard to combine Girona (which merits at least one full day to explore all its interesting sights if not an overnight or two) with Figueres for the over-the-top Teatre-Museu Dalí (which gets very busy) and then make one's way to his house in Port Lligat, which sits 1.1 km from Cadaqués (about a 20-min. walk) .
That's why these coach tours exists, to maximize one's time, but it will be a very busy 11+ hour day.

I don't know why the tour bus company wouldn't include the obligatory timed ticket to the Dalí house, as it's necessary to purchase these in advance, unless there isn't time allowed in Cadaqués for participants to make their way to his house on foot or by taxi. Entrance is every 10 minutes in small groups of 8, thus the need for a pre-purchased ticket.

From the website:
Important! The visit to the house-museum is undertaken in restricted-size groups (up to eight people), with entry of each group every ten minutes from the stated opening time.

Reservations must always be made in advance to visit Salvador Dalí house in Portlligat. That applies to all types of visitor. The reservation can be made via the website, by phoning 972 25 10 15, or by e-mail to [email protected]

Did you book this, perhaps, via the wholesaler Viator? If so, the actual company offering this tour is Buendía, and this tour doesn't go to Port Lligat to his house, but instead just to Cadaqués, the final stop.

Or perhaps it's another company?
But if the fine print of your tour lists the final stop in Cadaqués, you would be on your own to get to the Dalí house, and I would check to see how much actual time the tour allows for Cadaqués.

Maribel

ninasdream,
I left you a comment about the bus tour trip but my post is in moderation, so stay tuned.

ninasdream

Thanks Matt.
maribel- thanks for the heads-up & reply! Look forward to reading it.