Stayed at the Icaria during the F1 of Barcelona. I would say that the hotel was just about ok. I checked in on Friday afternoon, stayed at the pool for about 2 hours (you have to pay extra for pool towels) not on for a 4 star hotel, especially when you see all other guests with room towels. Anyway the cost of the room was ?290 a night (corporate rate) in the three nights we stayed the sheets were never changed, no soap was put into the rooms, had to call housekeeping. Worse the rooms were done utill 17.00pm in the faternoon so if you do want to go back to the room for a while impossible. Having said this breakfast was ok even if we did have to pay ?16 extra ahead.... Not close to the city ctr need Taxi, but very close to Barcelonetta, which, for who knows the area is good for going out in the evening.

It was fine for a one night stay before our cruise, but I can't bring myself to say it was above average. A quick rundown: Check in went smoothly and we were able to get our room around 1:00. The front desk staff somewhat answered our questions, but weren't overly helpful. It was a brisk 15-20 minute walk to the Metro, but the bus stop is fairly close. There were 4 of us, so we got the metro multi pass and shared it for our one day which worked out great. Breakfast was fine, but not $25 worth. Could not sleep because the room was so warm. The a/c was making a noise, but nothing cool was coming out. Unfortunately, it was raining, so we were not able to open the window for fresh air either. We asked the hotel to hold our luggage after we checked out. They have a locked room, but because they were busy, we were told to set it aside in the lobby and they would get to it when they had a chance. When we returned several hours later, I was disappointed to see it still sitting in the lobby were we left it. We saw notes that this was an up and coming neighborhood, not sure about that, it was quiet though and a good location for our port departure the next day. On that note, definitly watch out for the cab drivers. We were told by the hotel that the ride would be 20-25 euro, the cab meter said 18 when we arrived at the terminal, then he did some magic and suddenly it was 30 euro. We questioned him and he said it was because of our luggage. Not in the mood to argue, we paid it, but I wish we had been more firm. Heck, we were already where we wanted to be so what could he really do if we had refused to pay that amount.

This is a very modern hotel with clean minimalistic rooms. Good firm beds, laminate floors, clean dark green marble bathrooms and the best power shower I have experienced! On arrival we were offered a suite at the front of the building but after one night found it too noisy from the traffic on Avinguda d'Icaria and so asked for a quieter room. We were given a room, albeit smaller at the back of the hotel overlooking the swimming pool. 6th flloor and great view of Montjuic in the distance and a building site in the foreground but the room was lovely and quiet and so a small sacrifice to pay. If you are going to stay in April then note there is no air conditioning until May. We found it slightly stuffy as a result. I read on the Venere web site that this hotel is two minutes from the metro. Beware, it is not! The nearest stop is Ciutadella Vila Olimpica and it takes a good 15 minutes to walk to. However there is a bus stop outside the hotel and No 14 goes up La Rambla while No 41 goes a more direct route to Placa de Catalunya. Get the 10 trip card, valid on the bus and the Metro - good value as it will save you money on individual tickets and so much more convenient. Hope this helps with your hotel selection in Barcelona. Enjoy your trip.

I booked to go to Barcelona for my hen weekend with 12 of my friends. We arrived at the hotel at mid day after being up since 3 am. We were told our rooms were not ready and to come back in 3-4 hours!! Couldn't help but notice they booked the Spanish guests in without a problem. We came back 3.5 hours later to be informed that they didn't have the triple room we had paid for through Last minute.com. The hotel staff spoke good English but their customer service skills were poor to say the least. After argueing with them for almost an hour, I phoned Last minute.com myself as the hotel staff said it isn't their problem and told me I had to sort it out myself! After finding out that Last minute.com had decided to cancel our triple room without informing us, the staff then gave us another double room. One of my friends had to stay on their own, which isn't the end of the world, but it's the principle of the matter. I've never been to 3-4* hotel and been treated like this. The waiter round the pool area would not take orders from the seating dinner area outside as he said it was too much for him to keep walking up and down!! Sorry, thought that was his job!! The rooms were a nice size and we were over looking the pool which was sometimes noisy. There was building work going on next door which woke us up every morning with loud drilling. The rooms are not noise proof and you could hear everything going on down the corridor. Other than that, the hotel is a superb location and would recommend to stay in the Olympic Port area as there is so much to offer food, drink and bar wise. We got the num 14 bus which took you into the Las Rambles. It ony took 10 mins. The nightlife was brilliant and anyone wanting to do some traditional Salsa dancing go to Mohito's, it's fantastic and brilliant for a girls night out..Make sure you know exactly where you want to go as not all the Taxi drivers speak good English. Overall Barcelona is a fantastic city and I can't wait to go back. I would stay in the Olympic Port again, but not Icaria hotel.

We stayed at the Hotel Icaria in June of 2007. It was the second time I had stayed there (the first was a business trip in 2006), but the first time that I had taken my partner there. The staff are very friendly & even though I tried my (admittedly ropey) Spanish upon arrival, they immediately replied in excellent English! The rooms were excellently presented and my partner was very impressed with the overall quality of the hotel. Hotel Icaria is five minutes walk from a "crossover point" for the "Barcelona Bus Turistic" (the red / blue / yellow open topped hop-on / hop-off sight seeing buses), basically you walk out of the reception and go left (towards the car wash at the end of the road) and then turn right (the stop is across the road). You can buy a two day ticket on board the bus for 24 euros and we used this service to get around the whole of Barcelona during our stay. It's excellent value! As for the hotel's other amenities, the bar & restaurent are very good (although not that cheap) and the pool is fine (although being so close to the Olympic Marina & beach we didn't actually use the pool.) I would recommend this hotel unreservedly, it is great value for money, it's close to the beach and marina, has good public transport links and the rooms are excellent. Our flight wasn't until after 22:00, but we were able to leave our cases in a secure room behind reception whilst we went off having a final days exploring before heading back to pick up the cases and get a taxi to the airport with no problems at all. One tip I would give, don't take a taxi from the airport, get the blue bus from outside arrivals which goes to Placa de Catalunya, then pick up the Barcelona Bus Turistic on the Blue Line & then it drops you off minutes walk from the front door of the hotel! I'm looking forward to going back again!