Barcelona

[emailer]

We're going to be in Spain next month and want to spend a night in Barcelona.

Can anyone recommend a nice hotel for one night, as cheap as possible as we are on a tight budget? Also could anyone recommend a nice restaurant or bar? We are a couple in our 20s.

[spudqueen]

I stayed here last year. It is right in the centre of Barcelona and there are loads of bars and restaurants in the immediate area.
http://www.hotel-monegal.com/

[netibiza]

Try to get a hostal in or near La Rambla, that's where everything happens, and the previous post sounds excellent and that's right in the middle of it all.

[spudqueen]

Yes, the Hotel Monegal is at the top of La Rambla. We actually changed hotel TO the Monegal as we found reviews on the internet for the original hotel we'd booked saying about all the prostitutes hanging around! Didn't have any of that at this hotel.

[netibiza]

3 weeks ago we stayed in the posh 4* Petit Opera Garden right next to the Ramblas and that was super, although not cheap. Easy to nip in and out of the Rambla for dinner and sightseeing - loved it, that is the area to be in. Only saw suspicious women at 6 am when we were leaving for the airport, but there again they could have been all night revellers.

[weggiewabbit]

I�m going there for the fourth time next week.

If you want somewhere fairly cheap, you�d be unlikely to find it online. A good option is to go to the Tourist Information desk at Barcelona airport. They speak good English and they�ll ring the hotel and book for you, after finding somewhere in your price range. They make a small charge � only about 10%. Ask them anything else you need � they�re very helpful. If you come in on a late flight and find that desk closed, there are others in the city centre which I think are open later. There�s one in Pla�a de Catalunya, which is where the airport bus terminates � it�s down some steps in the square � you should see the �i� sign above it.

As for staying somewhere near the Rambla ... it�s about as central as you can get, and you can have a meal al fresco on the Rambla with some street entertainment, but be aware that you might not get to sleep till 4 a.m. because of all the bars and discos, if you�re moving on the next day!

[weggiewabbit]

Afraid I can�t suggest a hotel � I tried to book this time at the one I stayed at in February, which was near the University and relatively quiet, but they had no vacancies. That one was 36 Euros per night for a single room at that time. It�s probably fairly high season in September there (July and August can be oppressively hot, and the locals go away somewhere else if they can), but it should be quite possible to find somewhere around 25 Euros if you�re not too fussy.

[netibiza]

Just a word to the wise, if you eat and/or drink on the middle pavement of the Rambla the price will be high, we paid 18� for half bottle of wine (we usually pay 10� for the whole bottle in Ibiza) 3� for a saucer of crisps and 3� for a saucer of almonds, and had to pay an extra 3� for a cafe con leche when sitting in the middle bit, but it is fun to sit and watch the world and it's antics go by!!