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I’ll be honest, when I am searching for hotels I am always looking for that insta-worthy place. In offer of transparency, I find staying somewhere aesthetically pleasing as one of the biggest thing that tops the list when choosing somewhere to stay on holiday. So sue me. Whilst trawling the internet for our long weekend away over the May bank holiday it became very apparent, very quickly that Barcelona is not somewhere you can stay on a budget (unless you are happy to stay in your typical hostels and to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever gone through that phase.) So when I fell upon the place we stayed at I knew we were on to a winner! Here’s a chic yet budget savvy stay at the Moods Catedral, Barcelona review.
Usually when you arrive at a hotel, the first thing you see is the building. At a glance The Moods Catedral looks like the whole building could be the complete hotel, but it’s not, it’s set on the first floor of a Modernist-style building so I think in total there’s 14 rooms (so be quick to book in as I’m sure they fill up fast!) With balconies surrounding the outer façade I was internally wishing that we were able to stay in a room that looked over the Cathedral. Spoiler alert: WE DID!
To get to the lobby of the Moods Catedral you enter a marble clad entrance and take the old-fashioned rickety lift up a few flights and arrive at a nautical styled door. The lobby is so elegantly calm, walls bestowed with Kinfolk Magazines, green plants hanging from the expertly hung shelves and brown and neutral tones in the furniture and wood. I had well and truly arrive somewhere that spoke to my simplistic soul.
The check-in was a smooth process and we were given the option to pay there and then or at the end of our trip, so it was nice to have that flexibility but we decided to just get it out the way using our ever-trusty FairFX travel card and know what we had left to spend during our 4 nights in the city.
Our receptionist alerted us to the fact that there was even a free coffee machine in the little common area and a water tower, that was a massive bonus for me as I drink like a fish through the night so that was going to save me plenty of pennies buying water all the time, plus they start you off with a bottle of water each in the room!
Based in the Gothic Quarter, we had easy access to pretty much most of the main sights, such as the harbour, the Cathedral, Las Ramblas, El Born and Plaza Catalunya! In fact, not only was the décor of this place a big plus, but it’s central location really pipped it for us.
About a minutes walk in to the next square you will also find the Metro stop that you can use to get to areas further out of the city centre such as Park Guell and if you prefer to use the Sightseeing Bus, this is available to catch about a 5-10 minute walk away at the Plaza Catalunya as a main stop but along the way you will find bus stops you can hop on and off it too.
We always use our Marco Polo Guides for the useful maps it includes and handy hints and tips that are broken down in to each area, which saved us a lot of time and money navigating the city!
I think the beauty of the location of this hotel is how close it is to everything, there’s a little cocktail bar downstairs, a shop that sold umbrellas for the day it was raining. It was a hop,skip and jump to the entrance of the Cathedral too. And, if you can start to navigate the winding streets you can find yourself on Las Ramblas within a couple of minutes too.
Our room was pretty much the first, external room from the lobby (room 2 if I remember correctly!) and we had a view to die for. Looking over the square with our little balcony (yes, we even had an ample balcony to sit on and watch the days go by!) we could hear the chimes of the Cathedrals clock tower. We were warned by numerous tripadvisor reviews that you would need ear plugs but the bell chimes were irregular and few and far between, plus the double glazed doors on to the balcony blocked out a lot of noise from the outside world. We weren’t bothered by it one bit!
The hotel had also kindly left us a small bottle of wine to celebrate Mr C’s impending birthday which was a really nice touch. Sadly, we didn’t drink it (really not sure why as we are avid red wine drinkers!)
The jute carpet was a great, hard wearing option for the flooring, the crisp white walls and the minimalistic wall art made the space a real haven of peace and calm. It was hard to leave the room some days as it just had a vibe.
One thing that struck me was that the beds were super comfy, that one day we didn’t even get out of them! My only criticism is with the pillow covers. I wouldn’t say there were “dirty” in the slightest because everything was super clean in the room, but you could say they were on their way out and could have been replaced sooner – and I think it’s more noticeable because the room is crisp white.
A shower and sink were cleverly hidden in the corner and could be closed off by the sliding, rattan style door with full length mirror – they have really used the space well in the rooms. Of course there’s a separate toilet too. They even had their own toiletries so if you are struggling with your luggage you can leave the body wash and hairdryer at home.
Whilst there was no desk and chair (I mean who really needs one unless you are working on your travels) the room was complete with a hanging rail so you could unpack if you wanted to.
Of course no holiday is complete without watching back to back BBC World News on a rainy day – thank god there was a TV in the room for a drizzly day.
And finally, the rooms were cleaned thoroughly and often which is something of a nice little luxury on holiday that someone tidies up after you every now and then.
I’d be clutching at straws to find anything that I didn’t like about this place except for the fact that I would like them to get new pillow cases and the fact that if the lift was occupied you had quite a few flights of stairs to get to the entrance of the hotel.
It is without a doubt one of the chicest, coolest places I’ve stayed – the minimalism is something I crave for my own home. The balcony was also a favourite spot to just watch the world go by and drink a takeaway mojito from the bar downstairs.
For 4 nights we paid just over 700 euros, which is roughly £625 – £630 depending on the exchange rate. Whilst £150 a night seems pretty extortionate, it’s hard to find a decent hotel that doesn’t cost the earth in Barcelona. There were lots of other hotels that had pools and rooftop bars etc with a few more amenities but to be honest, we didn’t need them so there was no point paying the extra few hundred pounds to stay at them!
We booked directly with the hotel as it seemed the cheapest option to lock the price in, in euros for our arrival.
I absolutely loved our stay at the Moods Catedral from start to finish. In fact, if I was to go back to Barcelona I would most definitely stay here again in one of the external rooms. I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for a great base that’s pretty easy on the eye too. Once again, I was happy that I’d been able to find luxury for less on my travels.
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