thinking of renting apartment for a week in Barcelona & one week in Madrid

oh yea, meant to say: we just need a two bedroom apartment. I got to thinking about our last two week trip with my husband and daughter and it got to be too much all three of us in the hotel room at the same time. So if the two of us have our own bedrooms, even better! We can get a break from each other ;)

thanks!

For Barcelona:

There are no high or low seasons... visitors flock in all year round in large numbers. On any month of the year the average universe of tourists from all over the world visiting Barcelonan is equivalent to the whole population of Minneapolis :)) Yet it's true that Jun-Sept can be particularly problematic.

I personally would book as soon as you can in order to ensure not only you get a reasonable place but also a good location. On this matter I wouldn't fret with the notion of "being the centre" for several reasons: (1) Barcelona doesn't really have "one" centre despite Plaça Catalunya being the traditional one. The city grew absorbing neighbouring towns thus you have several centres, each with its own squares, restaurants, shops, parks, museums and monuments. No matter where you base yourself, you're going to be moving out and about to different parts of the city anyway. (2) This city was an excellent public transportation network (bus, metro, tramway, train and taxis) which are convenient, inexpensive, clean, safe and efficient.

The city has 10 districts and 73 neighbourhoods, there are many excellent locations... I suggested a few in this post: http://bit.ly/BCNwhicharea

Thanks Enric! Last year we stayed at Villa Emilia and it was very nice, both in price and location. So I'm a little familiar with locations and I peruse reviews before I book anything. I'll take a look at your link and save it for future reference. Appreciate it!!

Is there anyone that can recommend particular apartments in both Barcelona and Madrid? I've always booked hotels but I'm thinking that having our own bedrooms (for my trip with just me and my daughter) is sounding really nice.

thanks!

I booked all of our apts on booking.com. I think it is doable to be under $200, especially if you don't need a big apt (we are 5 people) and can flex on location.

I would look at one bed apartments with a sofa bed in the lounge if I need to keep within my price range rather than compromise my location.

Take a look at Habit Apartments. We just rented on Rambla de Catalunya. They had quite a few to choose from and all different price ranges.

Thanks all for all the suggestions!

Does anyone have a particular apartment in either Barcelona or Madrid that they particularly liked?

Thanks again. I appreciate the help!!

We rented 3 apartments on our last trip to Spain and the one in Madrid was by far our favorite. We used Spain select and this apartment:
http://www.spain-select.com/en_US/rent-apartments-madrid/cava-alta-ii
We loved the location, the little balcony with great rooftop view for breakfast etc. The company does a nice job managing their apartments and it was spotless and they were very professional and no issues with return of deposit etc. We would definitely book with them again.

The location was great -- the street is parallel to an excellent tapas/bar street and there were cafes, groceries etc nearby. Good access to metro transport and not a bad walk either to the palace area or the museum area.

For money you need to think in Euros. I recall this place being very reasonable but it may have become pricier in the last couple of years. Our experience was that apartments in Spain were significantly cheaper than Italy or France.

Thanks Janet!! I will definitely check it out.

I also checked out habitat apartments and I think i may have found an apartment in Barcelona that will work. So, thanks for that recommendation too!!

We are also looking at the Habitat collection, and have had success in Italy using VRBO.

I am going to check out Spain Select.

I don't have experience of Habitat but VRBO is just a listing service; it is not an agency and hence a good experience with A doesn't have anything to do with B -- it depends on the landlord. It is like using Craig's list or the classifieds. We have used VRBO and are very careful about checking out the individual landlord but when we can we like to use an agency with a good reputation that will stand behind their properties.

We have successfully rented through VRBO many times in Europe and US. We also have booked an apartment in Barcelona through Habitat.

Our Barcelona apartment is in Eixample area. Recommended as nice area.

As far as timing, I don't think it is too early at all.

We stayed at here in Barcelona.

Barcelona rental