Duquesa de Cardona - Barcelona, Spain     

This hotel is located in an excellent location right on the harbour and within a stones throw of the Gothic Quarter and Las Ramblas. The nearby Drassanes metro station, 2min walk, is very handy and the metro is certainly one of the cleanest I have ever been on. The tourist bus is handy however I found it annoying that it only runs in one direction. Personally I like the metro or to use my feet. I would agree with a previous review and advise you to leave out the do not disturb sign as staff can enter the room, and I also found that a bit weird. The hotel is extremely quiet and well sound proofed, no street noise. The roof terrace has a great view of the city, we did not try the pool as it was December and it was very cold there at that time. You get what you pay for with an extremely clean room of a high quality standard and the bathrooms are spotless, they are quiet roomy too, the bath is a nice feature too over a shower as you can have a nice relaxing bath after a day of walking. For breakfast I would recommend skipping the €14 breakfast (€17 for in room), which is nice, at the hotel and grab some freshly baked local food in a store one street behind the hotel and about three blocks towards Las Ramblas. (Apologies for not know the exact address but if you follow your nose you will find it.) A good restaurant for mid day food would have to be Boga restaurant on Carrer Ample, more or less directly behind the hotel, reasonably priced, good service and nice atmosphere. One thing not miss while in Barcelona has to be the Magic Fountain, check the show times to ensure you get to see it with the music on as well as it runs at night time, great fun. I have talked to so many people and they don't know about it, its certainly is worth a visit. Also a visit to the aquarium is excellent too, the info signs in the aquarium are in English too which is really great.

We stayed here prior to a cruise and picked this hotel due to it's proximity to the cruise terminal. We had a lovely view of the harbor and it's an easy walk to Las Ramblas, and a moderate walk to the Chocolate Museum and the Picasso museum (which mid-week mid-school term still had a line of over an hour each time we walked past). The hotel was very friendly to us as language challenged American Tourists. They happily exchanged money orders for us at better than bank rates and pointed out the very convenient nearby stop for city bus tours. While we were not honeymooning, it was a lovely location and we'll remember it more favorably than the significantly more expensive hotels around London that we stayed at prior to our Barcelona arrival. Restaurant hours were not favorable for us but it was a short walk to numerous locations. Internet access was no charge (surprisingly) but there was only 1 terminal for guests to use. Note - it's a bit of a walk to anywhere - if you are not up to that, be prepared to get taxi's to go much of anywhere. The taxi fares were reasonable from the airport and inexpensive for local short trips. It's NOT a resort hotel by my definition, and with the limited access to food, internet, and other exercise facilities in the hotel, I can't give it an 'excellent' mark. But it was an excellent choice for our needs and I'd book there again without hesitation.