A sweet apartment, true to the pictures advertised, in a surprisingly nice and authentic business and residential neighborhood in Barcelona, which you can discover walking around. A sure bet is to head towards the Rambla del Poblenou, where you'll also find a good number of places to eat frequented by the locals.

The apartment itself is spacious, well-equipped and well-divided into distinct areas (living, dining, bedroom, bathroom). The owners, who rent out other apartments in the building, have an office next door and are quick to respond (with a smile) to requests (they fixed an electrical problem while we were away the same day). It is a welcoming place with a homey feel that feels good to come back to after a long day touring the city.

With the street very quiet at night, the mattress hard to a perfect degree (to our liking at least), and the bedroom AC, you should be able to enjoy sound sleep at night.

The shower is spacious; legroom sitting on the toilet bowl less so, but reasonable.

There's a grocery store that's open until very late right next door, as well as a bakery and a big supermarket a few blocks away, walking north on Carrer de Pallars.

The place is well connected by metro or bus (a number of lines) to the city center, the Diagonal, etc. The ride to Placa Catalunya, including wait times, is about 30 minutes. If you take the metro, a better idea in our experience is to get off at Urquinaona station on the same metro line and walk the short distance to Catalunya overground, instead of changing trains, which takes longer in terms of both distance and time. If you want to head directly to the old town, get off at Jaume I on the same line.

The host has an automatic key retrieval system for those arriving late at night, which is handy if you are coming in on a late flight. They also kindly left a bottle of water, white wine and chocolates to greet us.

And here's an eating tip, if you want a break from tapas. We found this joint that serves amazing hamburgers just five minutes from the apartment. It's called Timesburg, on Carrer de Pujades 168. I suggest trying their special meats (Wagyu, Kobe).

All in all, we had a great stay there.

On the downside, the staircase is somewhat unwelcoming (narrow, steep, and stale). It's not too much of a problem once you're in the apartment and once you realize the advantages of the place, but be careful going up and down the stairs, especially with suitcases.