Help with locations of Barcelona apartments, please!!

I love this too http://www.destinationbcn.com/cadaques.php and it's maybe too conveniently located, perhaps a bit noisy.

http://www.homeaway.com.au/holiday-rental/p3668242 and http://www.vrbo.com/331194 are in similar (very good) locations. Personally (to avoid the ghastly pink) I would choose the first (3668242) - closer to metro at Poble Sec.

This http://www.vrbo.com/326616 is not a convenient location for sightseeing.

I concur with @djp_syd

no t'agrada, ja sigui de color rosa?
no te gusta, ya sea de color rosa?
you don't like pink either ?

hahaha, no that I don't care, I concur with the overall advice :)

Oh, thank you, both of you! Yes, we were having a bit of difficulty with the "PINK" and also the elegance (none of us are very elegant!), but we love the idea of having a terrace for our nightly debrief of the day. If, as you both say, the location of the VRBO is good, we will probably go with that one, (in spite of the over the top PINK!...we are talking 5 nights, not a lifetime). Neither of the Homeaway ones have terraces and the Cadaques one is more than we want to pay, if not necessary. Now hopefully the weather will be such that we can actually ENJOY the terraces!!! (April....is it likely??)

The roof terraces do indeed look stunning. April is transitional, sometimes a sunny day will give way to a cool evening.
Don't forget to get down to street level and people watch from a sunny spot in a cafe.
The wonderful Joan Miro Park is close to the apartment you are leaning towards.

Oh, yes, djp_syd, we do sit at sidewalk cafes and people watch....a daily part of our travels, always worked into our plans! But we also like a quiet glass of wine.....on our terrace, patio, lanai, courtyard, balcony...depending on what country we are in!! Thanks for your help with the location and the suggestion of visiting the park.

... April and Sep are rainy months in the Western Med, meaning drizzle and showers are not infrequent, but these are not tropical storms and tend to be short. Other than that, April is a great month because of very mild temps (around 20-22ºC during the day).

I just found another rental apartment that looks quite nice, and in a possibly good location. Could I get a comparison between the locations of VRBO/331194 and VRBO/407519? Both have the terraces and the 2 bathrooms/2 BDRM that we want....just not sure with the locations. Thanks!! Next I will be researching apartments in San Sebastian.....hope you will chime in on that as well!!!!
And, Enric, we will keep our fingers crossed for good weather while in Barcelona!!!!!

Both are fine location-wise... not "right in the centre" but central nonetheless and in nice streets. 407519 seems to be located in Passeig de Sant Joan (http://bit.ly/1bizKKG) a wide boulevard which leads to the Arc de Triomf (http://bit.ly/1biA5x1) while 331194 seems to be in Viladomat with Sepúlveda in the Sant Antoni neighbourhood (http://bit.ly/1IsrTYm). If you ask me, I like better the first location although the second is, as I said, also good.

As per "how far from the centre", assuming Plaça Catalunya (plaça pronounced pla-sah in Catalan and meaning 'square') as the central point of Barcelona, it's a nice 20' walk to each of the apartments, one west of the square, the other east.

Regarding weather, it seems we're going to have a 'heat wave' this next week and temps are supposed to be up to 8ºC higher than normal, going up to late 20s (centigrade).

The Eixample is a nice neighborhood to stay in; near the action but not quite as hectic as El Born.

I concur with @Enric.
The latest apartment is in a generally quiet and nice part of Eixample, near Girona metro stop and many good restaurants. The attic apartment with those beams may be a problem if you are 6'6" however.
Conincidentally I recommended this area to a close friend when she visited Barcelona in January.
From the photos she stayed in an apartment in the very same (corner) building. She loved it!!

Thank you for the input. I was leaning toward the #407519 based on your answers, then I realized that there is no HUTB number connected with that one. I emailed the manager, who said that particular apartment doesn't have one, and he has several other apartments (none quite what we wanted, however) that do have the number. He noted that even with the HUTB number, the government is trying to shut down the apartment rental business, and having the number is no guarantee that any apartment will be available for rent next year. He sounded quite frustrated, but is all this true? Would we just be safer renting a hotel room? Do not want to arrive in Barcelona to find that we have no accommodations. It seems that people are renting apartments all over Barcelona....can't imagine that the government would just shut them down and leave thousands of people stranded!!! Are you familiar with any of this? He is the owner of Negre apartments......Fernando. Apparently he has apartments in several locations in Europe.

Gee I was not aware of a potential problem with government regulation.
I would expect an accredited agent offering residential apartments would make sure everything was in order.
I would also expect any changes to government policy would make allowance for existing bookings.
However, what one "expects" is not necessarily the case.
Anything done by private arrangement would most probably not be protected.
It's an interesting prospective, not just here, but in many cities,
Buyer always beware I guess.

Long story short: For several years the tourist apartment business has been exponentially growing in Barcelona. Legally speaking, if you're getting any income from doing business with your apartment(s) you need to declare it in your equivalent to US's 1042 (in our case is the 100 form). Many, too many, didn't. No declaring = no tax revenue for the government.

Furthermore, greediness made some owners not too care much who they rented to and too often uncivilized tourists made life hell for the neighbours -especially in certain districts. While indeed these are a tiny minority of the visitors to the city, when you have someone next door partying 24hrs, leaving trash and filth everywhere, vomiting and peeing in your building's portal, etc and this happening day after day... you end up exploding. So in 2014 street demonstrations by neighbours of La Barceloneta district were staged demanding and end to this situation.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/naked-italians-protests-drunken-tourists-barcelona (**)
http://www.euronews.com/2014/08/22/barcelona-residents-protest-against-anti-social-behaviour/
http://news.yahoo.com/barcelona-locals-rebel-drunken-naked-tourist-high-jinks-141639796.html

The Catalan Government took action by instating a Registry to which all tourist apartments and villas must be registered and defined a "grace period" (I believe ends in 2017) for current owners to do that voluntarily. After that, no HUTB will mean "illegal" and they'll be able to close them down if necessary. It'll also mean no new tourist apartments unless a license is granted first so it'll be possible to control and distribute the flats across the city.
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1525088/0/barcelona/apartaments/turistics/

I do agree with djp_syd that one shouldn't expect trouble with a serious agent -even if the flat is not yet registered- and I wouldn't worry too much (just yet). I can't either imagine the government creating a problem by closing down hundreds of apartments at once, I guess it'll be rather a matter of fining owners instead. But it's all guess of course.

By the way, the Registry for all tourist establishments legally registered in Barcelona and the whole of Catalonia can be checked here: http://bit.ly/1FBy5wk

But again, LET'S NOT BLOW THINGS OUT of proportion... there is no problem whatsoever with the vast majority of visitors nor there are complains from the vast majority of Barcelonians either, in fact, we very proud to be able to show and share our city with whomever visits (and respect is all it's asked in return!)

PS: (**)... this British paper got it wrong, nudity is not a problem, drunkenness and anti-social behaviour is. We Catalans are very open on sexual matters: topless is very common in Catalan beaches, in Barcelona itself there even are a couple of beaches in which nudity is practiced and until recently City Regulations allowed nudity in the city (now it's limited to the nudist beaches)

Thanks Enric. I feel as though enlightened by a Gaudi designed lamp !! :-)

Sorry that I haven't read all your responses, but a few years ago I stayed at a two bedroom apartment that was in a decent location, near Sagrada Familia, and was very reasonably priced.

http://www.vrbo.com/74574

So, Enric, I think you are telling me that it is not a major concern, at this time, to reserve a rental apartment without a HUTB number? I can well understand the upset and distress that uncivilized behavior could cause to residents and I do see the need for registering rental property. And it sounds, from what you said, that it is not likely that the government will just shut down unregistered apartments...at least not in 2016! So we will put VRBO/407519 back to the top of the list, with VRBO/331194 as a 2nd choice....thanks to you and djp_syd and your help with location!!

We have reservations at the Apthotel Napols, in the Eixample for later this month.

Have never been there before, but it has good reviews :)

Have never been to Barcelona before, in fact.

Yes Donna, I wouldn't be too concerned right now in the case of these two particular apartments not having HUTB... but again, let me make clear that being registered is just a legal requirement for the owners but does not provide any 'added' guarantee should you run into a dispute with the owner.

We used the site www.envilleapartments.com to find an apt in Sept. for two couples to share. Found one very close to old Gothic area. Sounds like perfect location.

Try www.bcngotic.com. Perfect location in the old city at Argenteria, 6. Less than a block to Jaumi I metro stop. Easy walking distance to many sites, including the Cathedral, Mercat Sta. Caterina, St. Maria del Mar and the water. Three minutes from the Picasso museum. Elevator. Quiet building for the middle of a tourist area. Pedestrian street for the most part. Much more interesting area (IMHO) than the Eixample to stay in. English speaking manager. On site office . Very helpful if you need to ask questions, print out tickets, whatever. They have a website with accurate pictures and descriptions of the several apartments available to choose from. We stayed there once for a month, and just returned from a two week stay. They offer a long stay discount. We'd stay there again in a minute. There is an excellent review on www.slowtrav.com.