Hostal Mare Nostrum

Overlooking Las Ramblas and a couple of mins from Mercat Boqueria . . . the hotel is ideally situated, is the Gothic Quarter literally 'over the road', El Born close too. The port and beach areas are a 20-min stroll. The hotel has a small lift . . . trust me, as a 74-year-old sightseeing all day it was welcome relief. Our visit was father-in-law/son-in-law in a shared room. Our room was spotlessly clean, TV, small balcony, plenty of shelves and suitcase storage and perfect for our four-night stay. We were out-and-about by 9 am every day to enjoy the food, drinks, sights and sounds of Barcelona. I cannot comment on breakfast at Hostal Mare because we'd decided to visit three different markets for our start to the day, I can only imagine it would have been good but, as said, cannot confirm. The front of house staff me met, Ivan and Claudio, were extremely friendly, spoke English, helpful and offered advice. Thank you. One issue we had during our stay was a leaking air-con unit in the bathroom. I reported the problem, two mins later housekeeping arrived to clean the leakage, quickly followed by a maintenance man who solved the problem within five mins. We were impressed with the service. Would we use Hostal Mare again? Absolutely.

The entrance to the Hostal has many steps, maybe 15, before you can get to the reception. Even as someone, relatively young, it was very hard getting suitcases up the stairs. This is not made clear anywhere before booking. The size of the room was tiny. Yes, dimensions are shared on the website but who is going to take a tape measure out to check. I think that they have tried to make the rooms look larger on photographs. You just need to be honest with people about the small rooms. We were two of us in what I would definitely describe as a room for one. Hotel is clean. Breakfast was basic but good. I wouldn’t stay again because the room size is tiny and I felt like I was trapped in a box. The reception staff could have been slightly more helpful too. It is a shame when you arrive and the place is not what you expected from the website and it is disappointing too. Please be clearer in your description so people can make a more balanced decision before choosing to stay. It just made me feel a little deceived and if I had known about the steps and the room size and tiny lift I could had booked somewhere more suitable for our needs. Location is exceptional. No English TV channels at all. We weren’t in the room much but it is nice to have at least one channel to be able to listen to in the background and this has never happened to us before. Bathroom is compact but clean and lovely hot water and a powerful shower. The environmental aspect is nothing exceptional. Most other hotels do this but with plastic plants and a lack of plant based options I don’t think that they can state themselves as an eco hotel yet but it is good to see this as a consideration.

Quaint spot in a great location. My boyfriend and I stayed here for two nights while sightseeing around Barcelona and it was easy to get to as there’s a metro stop immediately in front of it. Note that you must leave your keys at the front desk whenever you leave the hotel, and can pick it up by confirming your room number. There’s an elevator but it’s tight (the two of us with our backpacks and carry on could barely squeeze in). Our room had a small balcony that overlooked La Rambla and we enjoyed a great sunrise. They are eco-friendly and you can determine how clean you’d like the room to be by indicating so on the door. There’s breakfast available for 8 euros per person or you can book the room with it included. The front desk spoke a variety of languages, including Catalan, Spanish, English, and Japanese.

Great location; it's right on La Rambla, but it's still quite quiet at night, so you can sleep well at all times. We stayed here for 5 nights during the Spanish Grand Prix, so our price per night was higher than usual, but our whole experience was still worth it. Great customer service, tasty breakfast selection, and the rooms were always clean. The only bad thing was that we had no mini fridge in our room, but still 4.5/5!

We were booked into a hotel with a check in time of 3pm. We arrived at 12.30am!!! No rooms available for the night. We walked around trying various hotels and Hostals in a strange city without success until we saw the sign for Mare Nostrum Hostal. We walked up the stairs and were greeted by Enric who obviously saw our desperation and offered us a room for the night. He even helped carry our luggage up the stairs. That kind of kindness you don't forget. The room was clean and had everything we needed for a very comfortable night. The next morning, we availed ourselves of a lovely breakfast and having confided in the multi lingual Ivan at reception of my infected tooth and extreme pain, he immediately searched for an emergency dental clinic with English speaking staff, obtained prices and booked my appointment within the hour. He was my hero that day! Thank you to Ivan and Enric for welcoming us to Mare Nostrum Hostal and in turn to Barcelona. Olga and Dave

Firstly the location was excellent located mid La Rambla with Metro right outside the door and buses conveniently close. The bus is the A2 straight from Airport to La Catalanya and then just 10 mins walk. The best way to view more sights is from open top bus. We went to the Dali Museum which is a train from Sants, a few stops along the Metro. So, the Hostal, Room 403 the smallest room ever, no room at bottom or either side of bed - but comfy mattress. I must admit if you like a good nights sleep maybe not book a hotel on the Rambla, it doesn’t sleep and you hear everything going on in the street, and for that matter next door rooms. No kettle for tea making, the tiniest telly on the wall, no wardrobe just 6 hangers in a unit, no drawers, the toilet you could not get one leg round the side while sitting, 1 pillow each and lots of stairs with very small lift. But, the staff were very accommodating, the breakfast was very ample, and there is a fantastic Lebanese Restaurant below called Hummas International.