Hi everyone,
We will be on the Sept 5 Best of Spain tour next year. Looking at flying in a little early and was wondering if anyone could recommend a hotel. We thought about staying at the one that starts our trip but wouldn't mind experiencing another neighborhood for a few days.
What is your trip hotel? When we did the Barcelona and Madrid RS tour two years ago, the tour stayed at the Portal de L'Angel. The rate then was 140 euro per night for a double room. The hotel was very nice, the staff was fantastic, and the breakfast was unbelievably good. A vast buffet of tasty delights. The hotel is not far from the Cathedral Square, on one of the main drags. If that's not where your group is headquartered, I can recommend it heartily.
Thank you for the recommendation. Looks like your hotel is pretty close to our tour hotel, Hotel Nouvel. I have looked at hotels near the beach as well as near La Sagrada Familia.
vic,
You could also have a look at NH Barcelona Centro which is just one street off La Rambla and close to Plaça de Catalunya which is where the airport bus drops passengers (a very convenient location). They offered a fantastic breakfast, inlcuding eggs cooked to order.
We did the Best of Spain trip in 2014 and flew into Barcelona 4 days early. It was wonderful to have the extra time as there is so much to see and do in the city. Our tour hotel was NH Barcelona Centro. We booked the extra 4 nights there. It was a great location, central to everything and close to public transportation. I would recommend staying there, especially if that is the tour hotel. Remember that if you are staying in an alternate hotel, you will have to pack up all of your things, need to make sure that laundry is dry, and transport to the new hotel, and maybe not be able to check in right away. That can take up valuable touring time on the first day of your RS tour. You can save a little money if you book the room without the breakfast buffet. We don't eat large breakfasts, so just bought yogurt and fruit at a nearby store on our mornings before the tour started. The breakfasts there are pricey, but very good--lot's to choose from.
I would also recommend at the end of your tour to go to Cordoba to see the Mezquita, either as a day trip from Sevilla, or as a stopover if you are taking the train to Madrid for your flight home. Well worth the extra day.
Thank you Karen!
We have our arrival 3 day before the tour now in Barcelona. It will be nice to settle in and explore a little before meeting up with the tour. At the end we do fly out of Sevilla by noon on the last day. However we have a 20 hour layover in Munich and are taking advantage of this little time as well. A nice treat before heading stateside and work!
I'll give another good recommendation for the NH Barcelona Centro. We stayed there in 2015 before the Barcelona-Madrid city tour. The location is excellent, and the morning coffee was outstanding - they have machines that grind the beans for each serving.
