Arago 565

The price was good and the place is close to Sagrada Familia. It was generally quiet, though the soundproofing wasn’t great. One morning, scraping chairs from the tenants above woke me up. There wasn’t really any service or anything provided, aside from a very diluted bottle of hand soap by the bathroom sink. Reception staff were hard to reach, weren’t especially helpful, and made it difficult to leave and collect our bags on the last day. We were told to leave at 10 a.m., which felt early for Spain, and there was no option for a late checkout.

Check-in was straightforward. We followed the directions at the touchscreen machine, which gave us our room key card. The windows also did a good job of keeping out street noise, even though the apartment faces a street. There’s a small kitchen with an oven, microwave, fridge, and washing machine, and the apartment has what you need for a comfortable stay. The downside was cleanliness: the floor and sofas were dirty, so we cleaned them ourselves. We also found a cockroach in the room two days in a row, though maybe we were just unlucky.

We loved staying here and would happily return. The location worked really well: Lidl is five minutes away, Westfield Gloria and its big shops are about ten minutes away, Sagrada Familia is a 15-minute walk, the beach 25 minutes, and las ramblas 35 minutes. The apartment was great for me, my husband, and our two teenagers. There’s a huge bed in the main bedroom, two full-sized single beds in the other, a nice-sized kitchen, a good shower, towels, blackout shutters, and really good air-conditioning. WiFi worked for us in the living room, the balcony at the back is large, and the service button man was lovely and friendly. A few things were missing or disappointing: there was only a sheet on the bed, and the apartment wasn’t cleaned during our seven-day stay. The holiday company listing said there’d be a washing machine, but there wasn’t one. We also could’ve used oven gloves and a chopping board.

There are markets, bakeries, shops, and pretty much everything you need nearby, and the metro is a five-minute walk away. Sagrada Familia takes about 15 minutes on foot. Check-in was simple, just follow the screen instructions. The apartment is spacious, with two separate bedrooms, one with a single bed and one with a double. The kitchen had what we needed, and the heating worked fine. We stayed for three nights and I’d definitely recommend the place.