I just booked the flights for an October 2017 trip to Madrid and Barcelona. This will be our first trip to Spain. I have been looking at hotels and have a few finalists:
Madrid - Hotel Preciados, Hotel Atlantico, Artrip Hotel
Barcelona - Gran Hotel Torre Catalunya, Hotel Ambit, Hotel Jazz, Hotel Granvia
I would appreciate your feedback on these hotels, or suggestions for other places, preferably under 200 Euros per night. We are in our 60's and love to walk.
Thanks
Madrid
I would go with Artrip.
It's a walk from Atocha Station, paseo del Prado and Retiro Park.
It's got great reviews.
It's in a funky neighbourhood with restaurants etc.
it's close to Lavapies metro stop.
Barcelona
I would go with Jazz.
It has a slightly less busy street than Gran Via.
It's very close to Universitat, an area I am quite fond of.
It has a great roof terrace with pool.
It has a terrific reputation.
We stayed at Hotel Jazz three nights and loved it. The location is excellent. If you are coming from the airport on the airport bus, get off at the stop before Plaça Catalunya---( Universität)---it is very close. The hotel faces a little pedestrian area between two streets, so you don't get a lot of traffic noise. And it is right on the edge of Eixemple, where we liked to go for dinner.
We walked everywhere from There except to the park with Gaudi stuff ( we walked to the cathedral and then followed the path described in Rick's book to the bus stop for the bus to the park). We did walk down Las Ramblas and to the beach, to the Gehri sculpture, and another day up Montjuic.
We did not pay for breakfast at the hotel---my husband liked the ee at Cafe Bra nearby. and we loved the rooftop pool area for a bit of relaxation before heading out to dinner.
I've stayed at both the Preciados & the Artrip, two years ago.
The Preciados is more of a modern business hotel. Staff was ok. The bath was modern, room small. I had a cheap room & the window looked to an interior space. I kept the drapes closed because the window faced a stairway. The location was more business than residential, but close to most of the tourist attractions.
The Artrip staff were very welcoming. I had a premium room with windows looking over the street. The rooms were fine, but not to the level of the Preciados. I had the breakfast there. The neighborhood seems more residential, but lower income. There is/was a laundromat nearby. I thought the neighborhood was reasonably safe, but the 'Rick Steves Spain' guidebook is less kind, see the section on "Electric Minibus Joyride (#M1) and the Lavapies District".
P.S. here's a 'sweet little bistro bar' you may want to try if you stay at the Artrip.
Stayed at Hotel Atlantico & Jazz. Both have great terraces with bar, convenient, loved both. Also stayed at Gran Torre on a 2nd visit to Barcelona, beautiful vista at breakfast. Very convenient to train station. Cab to Placa Catalunya area about €7, beats the subway which was warm & stuffy Oct'15.
I have stayed at the Hotel Granvia twice on visits to Barcelona. It is always, clean, comfortable and has an excellent buffet breakfast. It is also very well located for seeing the city's main sites.
Hi, we stayed at the Hotel Ganivet in Madrid in November and enjoyed it so much we are staying there again in March. It is in more of a residential area not far from the historic center with easy access to the Puerta de Toledo metro stop (about a block and a half away). The staff was very friendly and helpful and they had a great breakfast in the mornings. Lots of little cafes and local places to eat in the neighborhood. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
Thank you for your responses. I decided to go with Artrip in Madrid and Granvia in Barcelona. The Granvia has already made a great impression on me. I mistakenly booked a room at their non-refundable rate. I called the hotel directly to explain my mistake and asked if they could undo the non-refundable reservation. They were willing to cancel the non-refundable reservation as soon as I made a reservation for a room at the free cancellation rate. The "non-refundable" reservation was cancelled within minutes of my making the second and "refundable" reservation.
They didn't have to do it but they did and I thank them!
So let me guess--- the non-refundable reservation was through booking.com or other online agent. You saw a great price and jumped on it not realizing it was non-refundable. The the hotel was willing to let you cancel provided you re-booked directly with them? That would make sense. Glad it worked out.
But for others reading here, I would still recommend Hotel Jazz!
Sasha - Actually it was the hotel's website. But the discounted non-refundable rate was the first option on the dropdown menu and I didn't catch that until it was too late. I'm no fan of booking websites - the only time I ever used one the hotel had no record of my reservation, and gave us a better room at a lower rate.
I wanted to book the Hotel Jazz, but it was a bit more than I wanted to pay.
We've been to the Preciados on two or three trips, and like it. It's true that it's a modern wood/glass gut-renovation business hotel, but we never took the lowest-priced room, as perhaps the other poster did. We like the strength of the air conditioning, the new bathroom fixtures, and the breakfast room. It's well located for a transit station (and I saw a municipal garage, although I would never drive in Madrid.) One of our rooms had a tiny balcony, with the sloping roof behind our heads, which was charming but not big enough even to have a drink on! Another room was a virtual junior suite ,with windows on two sides and a luxury setup.
Referring to the "interior view", the double-glass windows make taking an interior room unnecessary. It's within walking distance of all of the "Rick" recommendation places that are walkable to Sol Square. We'll stay there again.
Our Barcelona medium-level business hotel report is out of date, but we stayed at the Hotel Catalonia Albinoni, which was large and comfortable. We had a quiet, rear, huge balcony facing a park or an empty lot, I forget. It was a very un-chain experience, even though that's basically what it is. Business style huge breakfast room, good location for all sights on foot, including the bus to the airport.
As someone who has worked extensively in the hotel industry, I always think a certain amount of flexibility with regards to booking conditions can reap rewards in terms of creating a favourable impression, as has been the case for you with Granvia. Nice to see. Well done.
