Arc de Triomf

The apartment’s location made it easy to walk to parks, landmarks and attractions. We barely needed the metro, and Barcelona is brilliant for walking, especially with little kids like ours. The building has an elevator, central heating, and everything needed to cook and eat at home. We also got a good price for the location. The host was very welcoming and patiently answered our questions. The cleaning, though, really lowered the value of the place and didn’t do it justice. The apartment should have been much cleaner. The toilet sink wouldn’t drain, so it looked dirty even when we washed our hands. We wanted to use the washer/dryer, but it wasn’t clean, with hair and other remains from the previous users. I’d stay again if it were cleaner.

The location worked really well for our family of four, two adults and two 3-year olds. Three supermarkets, a pharmacy, a coffee shop and a small café selling drinks were all a minute away. The subway was 5 minutes off, attractions were close, and the building had an elevator. I knew we’d booked a budget option, but expected better. The apartment was small, Ikea style and full of old furniture that was coming apart. Door handles came off in your hand, the towel hanger was crooked and broken, and the microwave’s plastic frame actually fell on my head. The bathroom walls looked very old and dirty, and the artificial flowers there looked dirty and at least 10 years old. The floors were dirty too. Our kids are little and crawl under beds while playing, so they got up dusty and dirty. The big bed was two separate twins that wouldn’t stay together, so we couldn’t sleep together. The second bedroom was small, and with both beds in use you couldn’t close its door. My husband spent the first couple of days trying to fix things, then gave up. We mentioned some problems to the check-in guy; they thanked us, and that was the end of it. There was a safe box, a basic kit with shower gel and shampoo, 1 dishwasher pod, 1 laundry pod, a small bottle of dishwasher liquid, an iron, an old hair dryer and towels. They advertised a washer dryer, but there was only a washer, so we used a hanger rack to dry clothes. We stayed for 10 days and got used to the imperfections, but they really need to put money into maintenance. I prefer clean over fancy, and this place wasn’t that.

HIGH THEFT & SAFETY RISK: We returned to the unit to find all our passports stolen. Several units had been broken into that same night in what looked like a coordinated incident. Staff told us afterward that it’s easy to get in by popping the lock, but they hadn’t shared this information with us in time. On top of that, staff had explicitly told us not to use the safe. My wife is now terrified. Thanks for the stay!

Great spot, and a really nice apartment with everything well equipped.