Hubs and I spent a week of our honeymoon in Barcelona (& the other in Madrid). We happened to be there for the last weekend of the Fiesta de la Merced in October, which was great fun & we got to see the human castle building as part of that. That said, *do not* stay here: Acropolis Guest House, C/Verdi 254 (in Gracia near Lesseps metro station)...unless you are an uber-ecowarrior, do not mind a filthy shared kitchen, do not want to have more toilet paper (any at all) replenished in your room -- or your room cleaned/sheets & towels changed/etc (ok and I'm fine with using the same stuff for more than one day...but for more than one WEEK?"
). The owner has signs up here & there about that he'd really rather you didn't use much water & he doesn't want you to bring meat into the house...which we forgot one day after a picnic (and giggled as we locked the room to our door, worrying if we were gonna be caught red-handed with meat & ate the remains of our jamon serrano). On the other hand, it was one of the most
interesting places I ever stayed -- the building itself is beautiful!
There are sooooo many hotels in Barcelona - my recommendation: if you must pre-book, only do so for the first night or two. Really, I think it's better to just go & work with a Tourist Info kinda place...GO to the hotel that you think you might want & ask to see the room you'll have BEFORE you take it. And keep it open so if you don't like one place, you can keep looking until you find another you like -- and I'm talking within all accommodation standards & budgets.
We didn't have any problems with crime, but I can see where there would be a potential -- just as in many other big international cities.
C
