After a few days in Madrid, we took the high speed train to Barcelona.  We were able to catch a cab outside of the Barcelona train station to the Gothic Quarter, where Hotel Neri is located.  The cabs are typically not allowed in the pedestrian-only streets in the Gothic Quarter, so we rolled our bags for about a 5 minute walk into the center of the quarter to get to Hotel Neri.  It was HOT, but when we arrived, the folks at the front desk were extremely welcoming and brought us drinks to cool off.  They did offer to meet us and take our bags, and they also offer transfers which do take you to the door of the hotel, but we opted to move our stuff ourselves. 

Hotel Neri is a Relais & Chateaux hotel, and I really wish that R&C would develop a loyalty program of some kind, because we love staying at their resorts and hotels, but nevertheless, Hotel Neri came recommended by many sources, and the R&C association certainly helped as well.  We stayed here from June 14-18, 2022.  To be completely accurate, we actually stayed at Casa Neri which was across the street from the main hotel because we wanted more space for us and our two kiddos, aged 10 and 12 at the time.  Casa Neri is a completely rehabbed building containing 6 apartments which are appointed with small kitchens, a living room, a primary bedroom and one bathroom. Casa Neri also sports its own rooftop pool.  The main building across the street is where you check in. There is also a restaurant there and they have a rooftop pool as well, although it seemed much smaller than the one at Casa Neri. 

Check-in at Hotel Neri was seamless, and the folks at the front desk showed us different things to do around Barcelona on a map, which they provided for us. I love it when hotels do this, because sometimes they point out a sight that you might not have thought about seeing, or a restaurant that is only known by locals.  They did recommend several restaurants and encouraged us to make reservations as the City was packed full of people while we were there.  The hotel called several restaurants to get us some reservations at some excellent restaurants.  All of their recommendations were top-notch.  When they made a reservation, they filled out a card with the name and location of the restaurant, and confirming the time of the reservation, which was helpful.  

After check-in, we were escorted across the street to Casa Neri and our bags were taken for us.  We took the tiny elevator up to the third floor (or if we were in the USA, the fourth floor – in Europe the ground floor is zero), and were let into our room.  The couch was already folded out into a queen sized bed for the kids and made up for them.  The main area was an open space, with a large kitchen table and lots of cabinets in the kitchen containing plates, glasses, a mini fridge, dishwasher and laundry!  There was also a sink and a two-burner electric stove.  If we stayed longer, we definitely would have taken advantage of the kitchen space more!  

Following the main area was the door to the main bedroom of small-ish size, containing a king sized bed and a very large, open, shelving/closet space.  The bathroom was en suite and had a large double sink, a toilet, and a walk in shower with a rain-shower head and a hand held baton.  My only complaint about the whole space probably is the fact that they opted for the double sink, which significantly reduced the amount of counter space.  The bathroom is truly not big enough for two full-sized people to be doing stuff at both faucets, and I think the space would be better utilized with one sink and more countertop space.  This is an extremely minor complaint, of course.  

The space was easily big enough for the four of us to relax, but the main highlight was having the rooftop pool almost all to ourselves while we were there.  Just one floor up from our third floor apartment, it was easy to get to, and perfect after a day of touring around.  The water was warm, but not too warm, and the pool was about 3ish feet deep.  It was long and narrow, probably around 4-5 feet wide but easily 20 feet long, so there was plenty of room to splash around.  There were cushions around the pool, as well as some chairs for lounging, and a sun sail shade so that if you weren’t in the pool, you also weren’t baking.  The kids absolutely loved having some pool time every day, and when it is hot in Europe and you are busy touring most of the day, a pool is an extremely welcome respite.  

Some of the nice touches that Hotel Neri provided was a fresh bowl of cherries upon arrival.  Housekeeping service was provided every day and turn down service including a piece of chocolate for each of us was provided every evening.  Yes, they closed all the drapes every night and tied them back every day (one of my pet peeves if this doesn’t happen)!  The folks at the front desk were always available to provide answers to any questions, and satisfied all of our needs like extra towels, extremely quickly.  

There were lots of windows and the space was very sunny.   The windows did not keep out all of the noise from the streets, but they did a pretty good job for the most part.  On Friday night when there was music playing outside our room, it ended by 11pm so it wasn’t too bad.  

The location of Hotel Neri is absolutely primo, and I really wish we had more time in Barcelona to explore more of the surrounding winding streets, shops and cafes.  Situated in the gothic quarter, the area is extremely charming and I would really love to go back to just get lost in the streets eating and shopping.  For point of reference, it was about a 2 minute walk to Plaza St. Jaume, 5-ish minutes to La Rambla and La Bocqueria, about 8 minutes to the Picasso Museum, and about 20 minutes to the beach.  We opted to take cabs to Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell because the walks would have been upwards of 40 minutes, which in the hot, hot, heat with kids is just not doable.  

Check out was sad because we were leaving, but efficient.  They called a cab for us to take us to the airport, which was able to come right up to the door, so we didn’t have to schlep our luggage to an area where we could hail a cab, which was nice.  While I was not able to check out the regular rooms at Hotel Neri, I would still very highly recommend this hotel, especially Casa Neri if you need more space, in the Gothic Quarter as a home base for all of your Barcelona escapades.