Barcelona — Hotel Barcelo Sants

After our initial visit to Barcelona we attended a week long men’s tantric retreat an hour south of Barcelona. At the conclusion, we came back to Barcelona for one night positioning ourselves at the Sants train station for continuing travel by train to France the following morning. We stayed one night Barcelo Sants Hotel late June 2023 ($186/night deluxe double room with city view). A very nice breakfast buffet was extra and we really enjoyed it. It’s a spirited hotel with a lot of interesting design features and really a lot of fun with a space travel theme. The train station is directly below the hotel.

Barcelona — Room Mate Anna

Room Mate brand of hotels is a new find for us. Their chic Anna hotel in Barcelona was a wonderful first one to discover. More please! It’s ridiculously stylish, expertly managed and in a great location. It’s snug but we never really noticed or cared because of how exceedingly well designed absolutely everything is. We stayed four nights mid-June 2023 for a first-time visit to Barcelona in a junior suite at Room Mate Anna ($398 /night) including breakfast. And the breakfast buffet was practically a spa experience it is so well done. A new well-traveled friend later said when we told him where we’d stayed said, ‘oh that’s one of the best hotels in Barcelona!’ Thought so.

Sitges — Estela Barcelona

We stayed five nights mid-June 2023 in a junior suite with balcony and sea view at Estela Barcelona in Sitges, Spain ($223 /night) including breakfast. Walking distance to a clothing optional beach. We are suckers for art-filled hotels and Estela delivered lots of great art in the public spaces and in the room. Delightful, quiet-enough location. The room could use some additional touches. We didn’t love the tired bathroom and overall the room needed an extra touch to match the art and the price point. When in Sitges again we’ll probably choose a hotel more in the center but would recommend this to fellow travelers. See some pics from around town below including some of the great food we ate.

Madrid — Hotel Maydrit

We stayed four nights in mid-May 2023 at Hotel Maydrit ($150 /night) including breakfast. It’s really close to the airport with a shuttle. It surprised us it was in a great little neighborhood with great conveniences and it was just an easy 30 minute metro to central Madrid. It’s a great option at this price point. Next time, we might choose a central hotel but this was hard to beat. Below the hotel pics check out some of our sighseeing adventures. Madrid is fabulous.