Caldes de Malavella Vacations from $975

Our 4 day stay was overall a good one. It was a great location, with plenty to see, shop, and eat nearby. Our room faced the inside courtyard, fortunately, and was therefore pretty quiet. I was a bit concerned for the street noise, but we lucked out. The beds were comfortable and the bathroom was modern. There were some quirks that would've made our stay a bit nicer. 1. The shower door leaked very badly, making the floor by the sink constantly wet and with a very wet bath mat. At one point, the hotel said they had run out of replacement towels for the floor, which I assumed was due to similar issues in other rooms. Our friends in another room said they didn't have the issue though, but struggled a bit to open the shower door when it was closed too tightly. 2. Very limited usable outlets for someone not from the EU that needs to use a travel plug adapter. If you need one, it was hard to find an outlet that would allow the bulky size. I was able to get two outlets in an okay location to work though. 3. The window covering is a large, thick wooden panel that expands to completely darken the room. It was a little cumbersome to move things around sometimes to open/close. Regular curtains would've been far simpler. Otherwise, it was a nice stay and I'd consider it again. The staff were very friendly and spoke English very well.

The location of the hotel is ideal. Close to Sagrada Familia and easy walking up and down Pg. de Gracia, a main road that connects to La Rambla. The staff were very helpful and attentive to any requests. The rooms were a little on the small side but acceptable considering it is an older building. The room fridge had included refreshments which was a nice touch. The downside to the stay was the noise. We were in a first floor suite over the restaurant. You could hear the music from the restaurant late into the evening. The hallway had almost no sound insulation. Every door that closed sounded like your door opening and closing. You could participate in other travelers conversations if they were talking while walking past your room. When the toilets flushed in adjacent rooms, you heard it clearly. Maybe this is expected in an older hotel but at this price point, I expected not to hear every coming and going of other travelers on my floor. Finally, we booked a Jr. Suite Patio. The room description indicates "in most cases, offer two access points to a balcony overlooking a quiet interior courtyard in the typical style of Barcelona’s Eixample district." Our room had two large windows that opened to a glass floor looking down into the restaurant below. I was expecting a balcony to be something you could step onto within the courtyard. This was not the case.