2nd visit to this hotel and once again an enjoyable stay. No its not a "palace" but its not a dive either. It is.....a busy, clean, extremely well located city centre hotel (which means the views are of other city buildings ! duh!) with friendly and helpful staff. This is an excellent base for anyone contemplating sightseeing in Barcelona...just off the Passeig de Gracia, about two blocks up from Plaza Catalunya. You can take the bus from the airport and walk up from the square or take the train and walk down a couple of blocks to the hotel. The train station on Passaig de Gracia links you to the main train station at Sants and is so convenient for visits to Girona, Madrid or even Parc Adventura (1hr 20mins). Be warned though if you want to go anywhere via the AVE fast train you must book in advance as they are extremely busy. Plenty of restaurants and tapas bars around the hotel and the shopping of passaig de Gracia 2 minutes away! Our air conditioning worked perfectly well...often too well and we had to turn it down! Room was cleaned dailly with a change of towels and bedlinen. Staff at reception were helpful as were those we had contact with at the bar. Can't comment on the food as we did not eat in the hotel...to many choices outwith! 5 mins walk to Ramblas, Gothic quarter and Bus Turistica Tour main stop in Plaza Catalunya. Basically this is a very well run tourist class hotel which could not be better situated if it tried. Why do people want 5 stars facilities etc for a 3 star price???

Just returned from 6 nights/5 day stay. Excellent location, close to everything, but on a quiet street in an uspcale district. The rooms are very small and extremely hot-had to sleep with open windows in March and heard many complaints about heat from other guests in the hotel as well. The beds are very firm, however the size of room and the hard beds are not unusual for hotels in Europe. The hotel was very clean, bathroom in our room 605 was modern and spotless, the towels were changed daily. The front door staff was not too friendly, but professional and helpful with tour and show reservations. Complementary use of computers is a benefit, make sure to request to print the boarding passes if you wish to do so, since there is no printer generally, but exceptions are made for boarding passes. We did not eat at the hotel, but the bar was pleasant enough after day of sightseeing. Overall, hotel is functional and clean, but at best 3 star. Would recommend for travelers who plan on sightseeing and spending littel time inside if you can get a good deal. Once again, location is amazing.

September 26-30, 2007 This was my second organized tour since my college days some twenty years ago. I was on a tour organized by AHI International and we were to stay at the Cristal Palace for five nights. While our brochure listed the hotel as four star, first-class, I'd say that was a generous description. The hotel was ideally located a mere five minute walk from Las Ramblas and one of Gaudi's buildings was right around the corner. Breakfast and dinner were included in our package and served in the hotel's dining room. The food was fairly good, but by day four it would have been better to explore the local restaurants for dinner on our own. Our hotel room, a double, as I was traveling with my senior citizen mother, was adequate, and looked out to the court yard. My gripe with the room was in the bathroom. The first night I thought I heard water dripping and went to check the bathroom faucet. The dripping water was coming from the ceiling from the room above us! We immediately notified the front desk and they said they would fix the problem. The next day a maintenance person had come into the room and dabbed some fresh paint on the leak. (Ya, that's how I fix leaks at my house. NOT!) No suprise that the water continued to leak through the ceiling every night of our five day stay. Trying to sleep at night was like participating in a water tourture test, a mild test, I'll admit. We could hear the constant drips and eventual streaming of the water breaking through the paint repair. A friend of mine is heading to Barcelona in April and asked about my hotel stay at the Cristal Palace. I told her to look elsewhere.

My wife and I just returned two days ago from a 4 night stay. We chose Barcelona for a short break because of very cheap Ryanair flights from Bournemouth, near where we live, and not having been to Barcelona before, we thought we should give it a try. Hotel first: Functional, clean, comfortable. Our room 204 on 2nd floor, overlooking street, bit noisy but what do you expect from a city hotel. Staff were always there and seemed to be doing their job well enough, I don't always expect bright, smiley faces, simple courtesy is good enough. Did not use the bar, never seemed that busy. Did not eat at the hotel either so, as you can gather, our requirements were for a hotel in a good location with a clean & comfortable room in which everything worked. We got that, although we do have a couple of gripes about the hotel. The walls are very thin. The couple next door were clearly (and in the lady's case very audibly) enjoying a romantic getaway (good for them) I just wish I hadn't heard it all. Also, on Thursday afternoon we heard a street protest and looked out of the window to find there were about 40 or 50 protesters with banners and leaflets, loudspeakers etc, protesting against the hotel! No idea why, so we went out and when we came back it was all over, my wife asked at reception if it was likely to happen the next day, and reception said in matter of fact fashion "Oh no, it only happens on Thursdays" - what's that all about? The real advantage of the hotel is the location - just north of the gothic quarter in the upmarket shopping and commercial district. A brisk 20 minute walk to the port, 5 minutes to the Placa Cataluyna, 10 minutes into the gothic area, and 15 minutes in pretty well any direction, safe streets, nice shops and some decent eateries, with close walkable access to some of Gaudi's finest to the north and north east. If you're still with me, our views of Barcelona: Big, noisy, with too much traffic (even La Ramblas has two way traffic with a pedestrianised main thoroughfare right down the middle, frankly a little tacky, don't really get what all the fuss is about), generally more expensive than we expected, overall not hugely impressed with Barcelona. Simple tapas lunch for two near the Picasso museum in guide recommended eatery, with two tiny glasses of house wine each, with coffee, 40 euros, not great either. Good steak dinner for two with bottle wine & coffee, 90 euros (try Viento del Plato, imported Argentinian aged steaks). Gothic quarter is quaint enough with its alleys and squares, but no more so than many southern European historic centres. North of the gothic quarter is laid out in a block pattern, USA style, with wide avenues and streets, designer shops, a few bars, restauarnts, business etc, where the hotel is. Sagreda La Familia is basically just a construction site inside, don't pay to go in, see it for free from the outside. Tip for tour bus users, don't go for the big orange route (as we did), instead go for the red & blue bus routes which are more flexible and you are more likely therefore to use. Both are about 25 Euros for two days, hop on and hop off. We won't rush back to Barcelona, anywhere in Italy is better, but if we do find oursleves there again, Cristal Palace would be a reasonable base.