We had a great stay in Barcelona at Sergio and Mei's apartment. It is away from the major tourist crowds but easy to get to all major attractions either by walking or the metro (there was a stop less than a 5 minute walk from the apartment). It was a 10 minute walk to Sagrada Familia and about 20 minutes to Passag de Gracia. On the metro it was typically between 20-30 minutes to anywhere we wanted to go (La Rambla, Gothic Quarter, waterfront, etc.). We took a cab to Park Guell which took less than 10 minutes and cost around 8 euros. If you are looking for hotel level amenities this may not be the place for you but all the basics are covered (sheets, pillows, towels, hair dryer, basic kitchen appliances, internet). There is a fair amount of information on local attractions in the dining room. We didn't use the info that much but seemed like there was at least some useful stuff there. You can definitely hear the traffic on the street from the apartment but it was mostly quiet on the street after midnight except for Saturday night. Check in/check out was flexible. We were able to check in early, though we did have to wait outside the apartment for around 20 minutes before being let in by the cleaning woman who did not speak any english (Mei arrived to check us in about 5 minutes later). We were also allowed to leave out luggage in the apartment for a few hours after checkout while we went out for lunch so that we did not have to get to the airport way earlier than we actually needed to. One minor issue was that we had to choose which bedroom we wanted to use when we first got there but as it turned out the heat did not work in the room we chose (room directly behind the television). If it had been colder we may have asked to switch but since the weather was nice while we were there we didn't bother. Either way it would have been nice to know this prior to choosing our room. Overall we had a great time and were definitely satisified with our stay.