I have just returned from a two night stay at the Hotel Cataluna. After reading a few reviews I was slightly anxious about what we may be sleeping in, but it was fine.
Location was great. We took the Aerobus from the airport and it stopped in Plaza Catlunya. From there it was a five minute walk to the hotel. My map reading skills aren't great! It should have been two minutes!! The hotel is on Carrer Santa Anna which is a narrow street lined with shops, a couple of restaurants and bars. It leads directly on to La Ramblas at the far end.
Check in was easy. There were two women on the reception -both spoke excellent English - although I do use basic Spanish, I didn't need to. We had paid in advance anyway, were given the keycard and the breakfast procedure was explained. So we went up to our room to unpack. There is a lift - we didn't use it on the first trip up to floor 3, but the stairs were quite steep so we became lazy and used the lift afterwards.
We were on the third floor - room 307, overlooked Carrer Santa Anna, which was at times quite noisy, but hey - we were in the city centre. the room was quite small, but big enough for us. The sheets and towels were spotless. The bathroom was small but fine - a few toiletries were provided, lots of toilet roll. The cleaners came in on the second day and changed the towels and made the bed.
Breakfast was at the bar/restaurant straight across the street. It was a pastry or two, bread roll and cheese/ham/meat, jam, butter etc. A glass of orange juice and coffee. Adequate as a start to the day.
I would happily recommend this to a friend as a good value, centrally located hotel. If you are looking for a luxurious break then maybe think of somewhere more expensive, but if you are prepared to live for a couple of days in a clean, basic hotel then try this hotel.
When I return to Barcelona I will probably consider staying at Hotel Catalunya again as the location is fantastic.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC