catmandu

we will be in Spain next March and i was thinking about going home via Barcelona and spending a few days there prior to returning to the US. I am looking for hotels in a certain area (Ciutat Vella) and am having no luck at all either finding hotels with rooms or finding hotel rooms for under $500 per night. is this a highly desirable area or is the latter part of March high season for Barcelona?

Thanks.

Cathy Berg

LapLap

Ciutat Vella literally means 'old city'.

Any hotels in areas famous for their historic buildings need to be situated in historic buildings. In Spain this usually means pensiones of varying degrees of price range and quality (this sort of accommodation is best able to adapt to an exisiting builiding layout with all its quirks) or expensive hotels - refurbishing, and maintaining, a building whilst retaining its character is generally more expensive than using a new one.

Ciutat Vellas, Cascos Antiguos, Medinas, etc are not generally known for high quality rooms at reasonable prices. This is true of almost every city in Europe with a historic quarter.

Taxis are quite cheap in Barcelona, public transport is efficient and it's a lovely city to walk around in. It will probably be more worthwhile (and economical) to find a hotel in an adjacent district and hail the occasional cab should it be necessary.

Or you could be adventurous and try a pension, perhaps rent an apartment.

I just realised you want to book next year.

The main reason you won't find anything is that many places don't book that far in advance and those that do allow booking a year ahead may just show their rack rates. You can contact the hotel of your choice directly, or wait until later this year, it is very unlikely that all the hotels in this region will be booked already, certainly outside of Easter. (The advice I've just given still stands though)

catmandu

thanks for your comments. I thought it strange that the hotels i checked were not available but thought maybe the cruise traffic was high in March and especially on weekends with people either coming into Barcelona or leaving Barcelona connected to a cruise.

Cathy Berg

GK

if you want to stay in the old city.. i can recommend a few apartments which you can rent on a self catering basis.. www.bcnbound.com