We stayed here on two separate occasions within the same trip. 1 night prior to our cruise out of Barcelona (booked on their website) and 2 nights after our cruise (booked on airbnb). Before I get into the difference of the apartments let me first say that everything about our visit (other than the noise, see below) was GREAT. If not for the noise I would have given it an overall 5 Stars.
The clarity and the communication prior to our arrival was spot on. The check in process was easy and good (although be prepaid to pay a city tax per person/per night as I was not prepared for that, it’s not much though, I think 3 Eu pp/pn). The description of the apartment was exactly as described and it is very clean. They even have electric adapters to use if you forget yours or didn’t bring the right kind. Again, everything was GREAT, 5 stars if not for the noise I describe below. The location is great as well, very centrally located. We walked everywhere from there. At first glance the street seems creepy, sleazy and unsafe, but once you been in Barcelona and understand the culture and area it is completely safe and fine. Now, with that said, we weren’t out past 10PM on the street.
So, now on to the apartments. The 1st night we stayed in apt #2, which is on the back side of the building and has an outdoor seating area. This experience was great. 5 Stars. No street noise and slept great. The other 2 nights were in apt #3 and it faced the street. This was a completely different experience. The street DOES NOT sleep. There was constant noise (I’m not just talking a little) all night long from the street goers, party animals, cars and garbage trucks (both nights). It was so bad that we ended up getting a white noise app on our phone and using that all night long at its highest volume. And even with that, because it is so loud and you’re not used to it we slept terribly. To be a truly great experience, they need to figure this out as half of the building can have a 5 star experience and the other half of the building can have 2-3 star experience.
To be honest, I wouldn’t stay here again unless we could be guaranteed a room on the back side of the building. If so, then I would stay there in a heartbeat.