Condes De Barcelona Hotel

King square - Plaza del Rey

by spanishguy

The King Square host the most important Romanic buildings in town and today they house the Museum of the City History. The ensemble is made up of the Count of Barcelona's Palace, which became the Royal Palace later, being the residence of the Known of Aragon's Kings. This palace began to be built in the 11th century and its five stored tower (King Martí view point) comes from the 16th century. The other building is the Saint Agatha palace chapel from the 14th century, commanded by James II. In front of the church is the Lloctinent Palace, built as residence for the Viceroys. Finally the Padellàs House, a Gothic palace, was moved to the Plaça del Rei at the beginning of the twentieth century, completing the monumental ensemble.

La Plaza del Rey acoje los edificios románicos más importantes de la ciudad y, hoy en día, el Museo de Historia de la Ciudad. El conjunto lo conforman el Palacio de los Condes de Barcelona, que pasó a ser Palacio Real más tarde, siendo la residencia de los Reyes de la Corona de Aragón. Este palacio comenzó su construcción en el siglo XI y su torre de cinco plantas (Mirador del Rey Martí) procede del XVI. El otro edificio es la Capilla Palaciega de Santa Ágata, del siglo XIV, encargada por Jaime II. Frente a la iglesia está el Palacio Lloctinent, construido como residencia de los Virreyes. Fianlmente la casa Padellàs, un palacio gótico, fue trasladado a la Plaza del Rey al comienzo del siglo XX completando el conjunto monumental.

Visiting hours / Horario de visita

Tuesdays to Saturdays / Martes a sábados: 10:00 - 14:00, 16:00 - 20:00
Sundays / Domingos: 10:00 - 14:00

Suit City

by A TripAdvisor Member

I stayed at the Condes de Barcelona with my girlfriend last May. Unfortunately so did around two hundred businessmen on conferences.
They took over the bar, the restaurant, and we were regularly asked to leave the communal roof terrace to make way for yet another mid-morning coffee break. I complained to the manager - who was fantastic - and he sympathised. He had spoken to a colleague and both felt that the owners' policy to encourage more and more business functions would lead to many more similar complaints. He arranged for a transfer to the five star Claris Hotel round the corner - absolutely no contest! There's nothing actually wrong with the Condes - I would just check to see how many corporate functions will be happening before you go.

Loved it, location, breakfast in bed!

by TripAdvisor Member bairnpunter

Just back from Condes de Barcelona. Myself and girlfriend were there for Valentines. We had a fanstatic time. Hotel location makes it so easy to see all the sights, metro system extremely efficient and easy to use. Went to Park Guell and Nou Camp by metro. Weather lovely during the day, chilly at night. Take a jacket!

Hotel wise, we were in extension, no view of Passaig De Gracia, but very nice and clean. Towels/sheets changed on request. Just what we were looking for. Had breakfast in room on Valentines morning, and the food was fantastic! 16 euros per person, and we had everything, fruit, cereal, sausages, eggs, etc. The scrambled eggs were great. We looked at the restaurant menu for night time, but not a great choice of meat dishes.

Overall loved Barca and will be back. We got a great deal for Expedia for hotel, 3 nights for price of 2.

Good choice

by A TripAdvisor Member

Stayed at the Condes from the 10-14th Sep 2004.
Apart from one or two minor points I was very happy with the choice we made to stay here. The location is excellent if you are a fan of Mordernista Architecture, Gaudi's La Pedrera is 3 mins walk up the road and Casa Batllo 5 mins the other way. The area is mainly upmarket shops and pleasant cafes. A walk to the top of the Ramblas was about 20 mins. The reception and piano bar is nicely done in cool marble and dark leather funiture, but the hotel's best feature is the rooftop bar where you can enjoy outstanding views if you nab the best table. There is also a pool on the roof which is about the size of a hot tub, but then who comes to Barcelona to sit in a pool? The hotel's sea themed restaurant is quite swish although the prices were a bit too much for us so we only used it for breakfast. As mentioned in a previous post there is noisy building work going on across the road from the hotel on Casa Mallorca. Our room was on the 3rd floor and we didn't find it too bad as the room was double glazed but from 0800 onwards in the week it is hard to ignore it. I would also recommend asking for a room on a high floor as the building work is being carried out on the ground floor across the road. Our room was tastefully decorated with desk, table and chairs and wooden flooring. The marble bathroom was large with a good shower and bath. The room was situated next to the service lift so there was a bit of noise in the morning but as we up pretty early anyway it wasn't a problem. The reception staff were OK, a bit offhand. The 2 guys who ran the rooftup and piano bar were very friendly and happy to have a chat. If you are looking for a good restaurant try 'Citrus' on the Passeig de Gracia opposite Casa Batllo, great food at very reasonble prices. All in all I was pretty impressed with the hotel and if I could award 4 and a half stars I would!

low-tech, high-priced, good location

by TripAdvisor Member bizwoman

This hotel claims to be business-friendly but the laptop hook-up thru the tv in the room is a rip-off. It is impossible to hook up through the phone line. It's also impossible to get electricity to your laptop while hooked up. Duh. They have wifi which they don't advertise for a good reason - they charge for it - except in the bar where you can use it for one hour a day free -but it's so weak you can't get anywhere. The location of the hotel is great. Watch out for the dark interior rooms where they seem to like to stick unsuspecting female travelers.

Great

by A TripAdvisor Member

Stayed here in October 04 for 3 nights on our honeymoon. Great rooms, great location (about 10 minutes to la ramblas) in a very clean, safe, upscale neighbourhood. Only complaint was the staff - a rather unfriendly bunch.

Good experience

by TripAdvisor Member gbosch

Spent 8 days recently in Barcelona. Chose this hotel after reading numerous reviews and tips from others on Trip Advisor. Was not disappointed at all in my choice. The hotel is split into 2 parts, right across the street from each other. They are renovating both parts (construction not obvious). First we were put in the newer part on the 4th floor. Great view of the Pg. de Gracia (main street) but the fans were not working and it was not necessary to have heat on at night. Nights were very stuffy because if we opened the window, the noise from the street was too loud to sleep. Asked to move after 2nd night's stay. They offered us another room in the older part across the street but it was on the 1st floor (one up from the ground level) and facing the courtyard so VERY quiet at night. It was a smoking room (we requested non-smoking) but they showed it to me and the room was not smokey at all. We stayed there for the next 5 nights. Very quiet and pleasant. Rooms were not large but we were so busy touring that we were only in the room to change and sleep. Safes located in each room. Nice bar in older building. Did not have a chance to eat at their restaurant although it looked very nice and mostly seafood entrees. The walk to the closest Metro(subway) station is either 2 blocks up to the Diagonal station or 4 blocks down to the Pg. de Gracia station. Both are convenient. Shopping in the hotel area is mostly very upscale, high-fashion, designer stuff. Very expensive but the ultimate in high fashion if that is what you are looking for. Did not learn about a great shopping area until the last day there...right down the street! It is called Bulevard Rosa and has as many shops that an huge megamall has but is all hidden from the street. The shops take up an entire city block and is definitely worth browsing through. Went all the way to L'Lilla mall and it wasn't worth the trip. Corte Ingles is a huge (5-story) shopping center at the corner of the Plaza Catalunya which has just about everything. Basement level is the grocery store and also has a nice Gourmet shop for getting gifts to bring back. Along the main La Ramblas street, there are zillions of eateries and shops. The Bouqueria is the huige farmer's market which is worth walking through. Great wine ship in there with knowledgeable English-speaking male clerk. Along La Ramblas we found a great little Itralian place called Caruso's which actually served dinners earlier than most places. We ate there at 8pm which is highly unusual for Barcelona but iut was our last night and we had to get up early for an early flight so we couldn't wait until 10-11pm to eat like most places. Another great eating experience was at Citrus which is only 3 blocks from the hotel. You need reservations and it was lovely. Also, beware that the Starbucks there are much like in the US but much more pricey. Most coffee shops do NOT have decaff at all. Starbucks was the only place we found and we know theirs is not really decaffeinated, just 50% less that regular. If you want to find a cheaper Internet source than the $10 per day at the hotel, you can find these tiny little places on most side streets neat Plaza Catalunya for 1.2 Euro/hr. I was surprised how few people use the Internet there. Calling the US was not that expensive at all from the hotel room but difficult from the phone cards because of all the fees and extra minutes they charge at pay phones. I recommend purchasing the 10-trip Metro passes which you will definitely use up and are cheaper than one ticket at a time. The Metro passes also work for the bus lines so they are very handy. If you plan to visit allot of museums, be aware that each museum charges at least 7-10 Euros for admission. Visiting Montserrat was worth the trip. We took the train there and spent most of the day. Great views and beautiful monastery and village. If you like to hike, get there early and hike the trails at the grounds. The best tip of all for Barcelona is WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES! I think I was the ONLY woman in all of Barcelona with tennis shoes on. They all wear spike heels and dress shoes but the streets are all tile and bumpy and uneven. I would have been miserable if I had not taken my tennis shoes! I also recommend a purse with a very long shoulder strap that you can drape across your chest rather than carry it along one shoulder. We did not have a problem but purse-snatching and pick-pocketing is VERY common there. People brush up against you all day long and many tourists get their wallets and purses stolen easily. Feel free to email me if you have specific questions.

Barcelona,one of the most beautiful Spanish cities

by spanishguy

" Una de las ciudades españolas más bonitas"

I had visited Barcelona in 1995 so it was time visit it again one more time. This year I toke a week for holidays and we went to Barcelona to visit a friend there. The experience was amazing and I found the city more fascinating than I remembered it. It's a cosmopilitan city with a lot of wonderful places to visit and enjoy. Its inhabitants are very friendly and helpful and they're very pleased to help you giving some information.

Había visitado Barcelona en 1995 así que ya iba siendo hora de hacerle otra visita. Este año tomé una semana de vacaciones y fui a Barcelona a visitar una amiga. La experiencia ha sido maravillosa y encontré la ciudad más interesante que como la recordaba. Es una población cosmopolita con muchísimos lugares interesantes para visitar y disfrutar. Sus habitantes son muy amables y están encantados de ayudarte dando la información que necesites.

Barcelona is city with 1.500.000 inhabitants but with a metropolitan area of more than 4 million people. It's the second city of Spain and the capital of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. There are people from all over Spain and a lot of foreigners too with a big population of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and Latin American people.

The Barcelona coat of arms is composed of the arms of the Counts of Barcelona and the Cross of Saint George.

Barcelona es una ciudad con 1.500.000 habitantes, pero con un área metropolitana de más de 4 millones. Es la segunda ciudad de España y la capital de la Comunidad Autónoma de Cataluña. Aquí viven personas de toda España y también muchos extranjeros, con una importante población de chinos, indios, paquistaníes y latino americanos.

Es escudo está compuesto de las armas de los Condes de Barcelona y la Cruz de San Jorge.

Barcelona is located in the North East part of Spain, pretty near from the French border. It's very easy to arrive here thanks to its international airport with a lot of connections. The high speed train (AVE) is being building also and it will link Barcelona with Madrid in just two hours. The city is 621 kilometres far from Madrid, 349 from Valencia and 1046 from Seville.
When you're in town you can visit some pretty nearly locations, as I did, like Montserrat.

Barcelona se encuentra en el noreste de España, muy cerca de la frontera francesa. Es muy facil llegar aquí gracias a su aeroopuerto internacional con muchas conexiones. Se está construyendo también el tren de alta velocidad (AVE) y unirá Barcelona con Madrid en tan sólo dos horas. La ciudad está a 621 kilómetros de Madrid, a 349 de Valencia y a 1046 de Sevilla.
Cuando estés en la ciudad puedes visitar algunas bonitas localidades cercanas, como hice yo, llendo a Montserrat.