We had a fabulous holiday here. The apartment itself was lovely – spacious, light, clean and comfortable. We didn’t meet Flor, but Raul was there to meet us when we arrived and was very friendly, helpful and patient – despite us getting lost and arriving at the apartment much later than planned! The hosts communicated with us through Airbnb at first, which was a problem as I hadn’t uploaded the ap to my phone so couldn’t access the site properly. This was easily resolved though, by using WhatsApp instead.
As we were on a budget, we decided to get public transport from the airport, and metro seemed the sensible option as there is a station just outside the apartment. But it took a while to figure out how to get there from our terminal and which ticket to buy, and then we got off at Paral-lel instead of Poble Sec (totally my fault, as I got mixed up at the last minute, didn’t have the Airbnb ap on my phone and typed in the address to Google Maps, which took us to somewhere much further down the street at the Paral-lel end!). So a suggestion for Flor and Raul is that it would be really helpful to provide idiot-proof instructions on how to get from the airport to the apartment by metro, as it is so easy once you know how! The metro stops at both airport terminals, 1 and 2. We landed at Terminal 2C and the metro goes from Terminal 2A. It is a walk of 600m between the two, but there is a bus every 5 minutes which goes in a loop around the terminals. For journeys to and from the airport a special ticket called a 'bitllet aeroport' must be purchased, which costs €4.60 (this enables you to travel to/from the airport to/from anywhere on the metro system). Then just get the L9 (orange line) to Zona Universitaria and change to the L3 (green line) towards Trinitat Nova, getting off at Poble Sec, and the apartment is only a few steps from the metro entrance.
The apartment is very central - great for the metro and great for getting around on foot. It is only a ten-minute walk to Montjuïc (go left down Avinguda del Paral·lel after leaving the apartment) and around 20 minutes walk in the opposite direction to the port and Las Ramblas. A trip up to Montjuïc Castle in the cable car (as recommended by Raul) is a must, as the views over the city are spectacular! There are lots of places to eat very close to the apartment, which are open until late. For groceries, there are small supermarkets nearby and a larger organic supermarket inside the Arenas de Barcelona, a former bullring which stands in Plaça d'Espanya (after leaving the apartment turn left and follow Avinguda del Paral·lel to the end).
The apartment was not too noisy, despite being on such a busy road, and the beds were all very comfortable. The only problem we had was on the Friday night when my Mum (who slept in the room next to the bathroom), was kept awake by a TV on very loud in the next door apartment. All in all, we had a peaceful and relaxing stay and would definitely stay in this apartment again.