Barcelon - Hotel Continental Palacete

[AltaJoe]

Just returned from 3 nights at the Hotel Continental Palacete. Here is a mini review.

 

First of all, we hired Armando Penedes (highly recomended on this board) to meet us at the airport, give us a tour of the city, and drop us off at the Hotel. We were flying in from spending a few days in Marbella, so we were not exhausted from a transatlantic flight.

 

The Hotel is well located about 3 blocks from the Placa Catalunya and by defenition, 4 blocks from the top of the Rambla. It is also one short block from the Pasaig de Gracia. Unfortunately it is also close to El Corte Inglais, Spain's famous department store (only kidding, you can buy a bottle of Vega Sicilia for 158Euro compared to 220 at the Duty Free scam shops).

 

There has been a lot of talk about the entrance. There are about 7 steps up to a landing where there is an elevator. This elevator is only good for bringing your luggage in and then out. You do not want to use it to go up to the Hotel level. There are about 20 steps up an elegent staircase. If stairs are a problem for you I'd steer you away.

 

I'll now get the 3 "problems" out of the way. First, I went way out of my way to book room 137, one of two Sol Tribune rooms. These rooms have a bump out with huge windows overlooking the streets. 137 overlooks the Ramblas and 122 overlooks the side street. I was very dissapointed when they botched the booking and had given 137 to someone else. This was magnified by the fact that 122 abuts the two room suite. While you'd think the expensive suite would attract a more mature clientel, but on two of the nights it appears that the price works for a small group of 20 somethings. So this brings us to problem number two.

 

Number two is that the walls are not particlarly soundproof. Even though we are good little honorary Spainards and go out to dinner at 11:00 and stay out late, we managed to get back into bed and asleep before our neighbors got back and started to party. I'm not sure any walls could have helped, so we'll call it a draw.

 

Number 3 is the odd contraption they use to keep the two twin bed frames for the king size bed together. They attach a metal guide to the wall and then attach metal bumpers on the frames themselves. In theory this keeps the frames from separating, but what it does is makes the beds the loudest battering ram in history (see above). I swear, the first night I was practically launched off the bed at 4:00am.

 

OK, now that the negatives are out of the way, lets get to the positives, and there are a lot of them:

 

Location - again perfect

Charm - the room was lovely, the entrance stairway is beautiful, the lounge (pictured on the website) is stunning.

Staff - fluent in English and very helpful

Web access - there are two high speed terminals for use by guests. They are free, with a 10 minute limit (never a problem)

Food - As other posters have noted there is a kitchen which is open to guests 24/7. There is a coffee/Espresso/Cappucino/tea maker, a juice/milk dispenser and a large assortment of fruits. There is also bread for toast, cereals and some uninspiring pastrys. There is dark chocolate and bon-bons as well as cheese/olives. You get the picture. In the morning they make omelets. Here's a surprise, it is also stocked with coke, water, orange soda, and BEER!!! I can't imagine how much money this saved us.

 

All in all, we loved the place. We wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.