Hotel España Ocean Drive in Barcelona

I rarely leave reviews, but I feel it’s important to warn other travelers about my experience. While the hotel décor is stylish and modern, the surrounding area feels unsafe — especially at night. We were shocked to learn that taxis often refuse to come directly to this part of the city because of the ongoing construction and poor road access. Several drivers turned us away or dropped us off 15–20 minutes away, forcing us to walk through dark, narrow streets that did not feel secure.

We even considered renting a car to avoid the issue, only to find out there’s no parking available. The hotel itself is also under construction — something we weren’t informed about before booking — which added to the overall inconvenience. It’s located off the main streets, and I genuinely did not feel comfortable walking back after sightseeing. The fact that the doors are locked at night says a lot about the safety of the area.

Inside the room, the experience didn’t improve much. The TV only offers local channels (no streaming or smart features), and the water pressure fluctuates from extremely hot to freezing cold.

To their credit, the staff was kind and offered complimentary champagne for my birthday, which I appreciated. However, the unsafe location and lack of transparency about construction made our stay stressful. I wouldn’t recommend this hotel for anyone unfamiliar with Barcelona or traveling with family — it’s simply not worth the risk or hassle.

The building itself is nice and clean, but the staff are quite careless.
We stayed in a double room with a balcony, which sounded great in theory. Unfortunately, the balcony faced directly onto a high-rise block of flats, meaning everyone could look straight onto it. It made sitting outside uncomfortable, and to make matters worse, it didn’t get even ten minutes of sunlight during the day, so it felt pointless.

The rooms are spacious but very dark. I struggled to do my makeup, and the light above the sink mirror was broken. Maintenance came to “fix” it, but after fiddling with it, they just shrugged and left without resolving anything. There were four ceiling spotlights that worked, but the room still felt dim.

The food is okay.
Staff in the restaurant are lovely, but the bar staff seem miserable. I don’t think I got more than a grunt from any of them during the entire holiday, never mind a smile.

On our last morning, people walked into our room four separate times while we were still in there. The fourth time, a man walked in carrying a paint bucket while I was standing in just my underwear.

We paid for all-inclusive, but on the last day we were told that once we checked out at 12, we could no longer use the facilities. We questioned this with the manager because we’d paid for four days, didn’t use the first day due to a late arrival, and were effectively being denied the last day as well. To be fair, the manager rectified this and allowed us access until 4 pm.

The final straw was the luggage room. We left our bags there, and when I returned to grab my charger, my bag was gone. Although they issued tickets and tags to prevent this exact problem, they still allowed people to help themselves. My passport was inside that bag. Ovidio at reception didn’t apologise and was extremely unhelpful—just shrugging and saying it wasn’t him. We didn’t care who it was; it simply should never have happened. Thankfully, the person who had mistakenly taken it was still in the hotel, and another receptionist used the passport to contact him. If I hadn’t gone back early for my charger, we wouldn’t have known the bag was missing until it was time to leave for the airport.

The only real positive is the rooftop bar. The staff there are still miserable, but it’s a nice place to sit in the sun. I can’t imagine it being very enjoyable in summer though—there are only about ten sunbeds, and the rest is just tables and chairs.

Beautiful building but dangerous location. Doesn't feel safe and they even lock the hotel entrance doors at night. The outside of the hotel is dirty, covered in graffiti and homeless people openly doing drugs and urinating in the street. The hotel is located in an alley and many taxi drivers refused to go into it which ment we had to walk quite a bit. The rooms are nice but falling apart. As many reviews state the shower design is terrible. Water just pours into the bathroom and I almost slipped several times getting out of the shower even with a towel on the ground. The rooms are all designed with a window directly into the hallway that you can see through and can't close which feels invasive and also allows light in at night which doesn't allow you to sleep. From afar the Hotel looks stunning but as you look closer you can see the flaws. Paint chipping, stained walls, damaged furniture. The walls are very thin as well. You can hear everything inside and out. Lots of police sirens and screaming people in the middle of the night. However the hotel staff were wonderful and responsive. They do offer luggage storage as well.

The room and toilet was extremely basic and tiny. Everything was old and not properly working. Foul smell in the toilet and worst still there was 2 girls who came into our room around 10.30pm somehow able to access our room with their card. We taught we were getting robbed!! They do not deserved to be a 4 star hotel. Location is convenient near La Ramblas but lots of sketchy characters around and definitely not safe for families or kids. Price was reasonable for September.