This was a great location! We were able to walk to so many places from here; La Sagrada Familia, Arc de Triumf and Parc ciutadella are very close. When we were going somewhere farther (or wanted to arrive faster), the metro was exceptionally convenient with the entrance to the station steps away. Even the elevator entrance was steps away from the building entrance – great for us with a stroller. There are plenty of restaurants, a grocery store, and convenient stores nearby. The only downside to the location is that it can be noisy at night. The large windows in the master room face a busy street with restaurants and outside seating. Even with both window shutters closed, Saturday night was loud with inebriated people having a good time until 3am in the morning. There is traffic noise, but the people are the loudest. My children in the other bedrooms did not seem to hear anything.
The apartment is quite spacious. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and kitchen were more than enough space for us. There was also enough space in the entry to leave our stroller parked without taking up any living space. The living room, and one of the secondary bedrooms did feel a bit smaller in person than in the pictures, but it is overall accurate. The beds were firm and comfortable. They are all single beds, so the master room just has 2 single beds pushed together. We were grateful they provided us with a pack n play crib for our child, which just fit in the bedroom between the 2 single beds. They even provided a high chair which as nice. We did not use the kitchen a lot, but it had all the utensils and dinnerware we needed. The washing machine is in the large bathroom and was very convenient for us to use before leaving! AB apartments leaves a bag with a single detergent load for the washing machine - which we greatly appreciated! The smaller bathroom shower stall is tiny, and I questioned if I would be able to lift my arms without banging my elbows. Since it was just our family, none of use showered here. It was still nice to have a second toilet & sink. We did have a broken shower and sink when we arrived, and the company sent someone out the 2nd day we were there. It was fixed and we did not encounter any other issues at all. Also, there is an elevator in the building which was essential!
The place was generally clean. If you have kids someone is inevitably going underneath the beds, and my kids came out covered in dust-bunnies (which seem to be a product of the synthetic comforters). And there are dust/mopping globs around the floors if you look closely enough. Again, I have young kids, so they find anything on the floor.
For this rental I felt like I was dealing with the AB company, and not any person. Beyond messaging Eva&Jacques through Airbnb there was no communication. The check-in was the biggest negative to this. They do not check you in. You have to go to the AB Apartments office, which is in a different area of town. This is very taxing after traveling overseas with luggage and children. The last thing you want is another stop you have to wait at! There are multiple people in the office checking in, they asked for applications we had never heard of… it’s just a process. Thank fully they paid for our taxi to the apartment. Also when we messaged Eva & Jacques on the broken shower we originally got a message saying it might be some time since they had over 500 apartments throughout the city – thankfully they came the 2nd day. Just not very personal if that matters to you.
This was a family vacation for us with our children ages 4 and 1, and we stayed here 5 days. Overall, we enjoyed our stay and slept well! I would consider staying here again.