Only 5 safe streets to Hop on/off bus. Very clean room and updated bathroom. I took a taxi from seaport to hotel - meter said 14E, but I was told 28E since I had to pay for taxi # 1985 to go back to seaport. Taxi to airport was 38E. For just 6E, there is a bus service to the airport.

Four of us visited Barcelona and stayed here. It was a lovely hotel and very close to all the important places. Staff were very helpful in advising best places to visit/see. Including a flamenco night which the reception staff booked for us including the taxi. Nothing was too much trouble and this included drinks to our rooms on our return in an evening. There was a slight mix up with our room booking but they offered to remedy this as soon as we checked in and also gave us a bottle of bubbly in compensation, which we enjoyed on our last night. Lovely first break to Barcelona for us all with the hotel making our stay !

Located on a corner of L'Eiaxmple neighborhood, this small but very comfortable four star hotel is a good option for its location, a few blocks from Paseo de Gracia street and Plaza Cataluna, and reasonable price (119 euros including breakfast internet rate ). I choose a midsize room to be more comfortable after walking all day. The breakfast, as usual in Spain, is plenty and hearty, you can indulge you with all sorts of fruits, hams, cheeses, breads and pastries to get the energy necessary to tourist the rest of the day. The hotel's restaurant serves a tasty quinua and zucchini soup, which we tried it the first night. The front desk was selling tickets for the classic Barca - Real Madrid game at Euros 550 the cheapest place. We refuse to pay this exorbitant price and luckily, the day before the game, we found tickets in the internet at normal price Euro 165.

Before starting the hotel comments, let me say from our experience at least, all the internet hysteria about crime in Barcelona seems to be well overdone. No doubt there is theft and larcency in Barcelona as in any big city but we felt totally safe in the area around the Hotel Dante as well as in other areas of the city. As return visitors we did not spend a lot of time on the Ramblas or at the most visited sites, but we were out and about in taxis, metro, trains, walking, eating in sidewalk restaurants and local bars and did not feel any different "vibe" than you do in any European city. Maybe it is the unique nature of the oft reported fake policeman and mustard stain street scams that generates a high fear response, but under no circumstances allow this to stop your visit. Just use the same common sense that you do anywhere including your home town or country.

That said, we had a fine stay at the Hotel Dante. Price was (very) high compared to other places in Spain but not out of line with those in world class cities. Excellent and well served breakfast, front desk staff competent and helpful, although the night clerk was on his own and overworked. Did not seem to be any server or diners in the hotel restaurant the one time we looked in, but with a good selection of bars and cafes in the area you really shouldn't be dining at the hotel. When looking for places to eat, turn LEFT as you go out of the hotel, walk a couple of blocks, turn right and you will find many small places serving tapas or full meals.

Good WIFI and there is a terminal and printer just inside the restaurant that we used for boarding passes. The hotel will get you an airport cab, if you are just going somewhere in town there are lots of cabs passing the door all the time. The metro station is about a five minute walk. Passeig de Gracia train station is a 5 Euro cab fare. If you are looking for some comfort and are interesed in staying in a real neighbourhood rather than right on the Ramblas then this is a good choice.