Safestay Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona

Not great, not terrible, but pretty overpriced

Booked this hostel because of the great location, it was sort of expensive but so is everything in Barcelona so I didn't think much of it at first. There were hordes of people there (the hostel is very large), and although there were enough rooms to house everyone, it did not seem like they had the staff and facilities to handle it. The rooms and especially bathrooms were not very clean, staff was totally absent after checkin. Additionally the elevators were too small for more than 2 people and extremely slow for a hostel with 7 floors. Common areas were fine if a little untidy, but the wifi only worked in the common rooms and was nonexistent elsewhere despite what the staff said. Overall it was pretty expensive and you could certainly do better for a lower price, but the location was worthwhile.

Nice hostel and location -- check-in staff clueless

Stayed at the end of April once for one night and second time for two nights. The beds were clean and comfortable. The shared toilets and showers were fairly clean, on fourth floor one male toilet has no lock. Some guests are dirty making the shared facilities for other guests unpleasant to use. Check-in staff say that Wifi is available everywhere in hostel -- only worked for me in the bar area on second floor. A small kitchen for guests available on 2nd floor also. The two lifts are very slow. Left luggage is charged at 3 euros for 8 hours. As a solo traveler, would have liked to meet and talk to other guests. On both occasions of staying in a shared dorm room there was a different elderly woman. So not sure that this hostel is preferred by elderly women? Check-in staff happily share guests personal details (from check-in) with other guests. One night the elderly woman in the adjacent bed was asking my age. Then she told me my age and was asking I confirm this? Other staff members were nice. On asking to change beds and room, check-in staff say "hostel is full." Check-in staff, if they don't like the question, simply say they don't understand. Check-in staff are clueless getting it wrong both times in which shared dorm I should be placed. Maybe they did it on purpose so that I would not be able to speak with anyone unless it was an old woman?

Large clean modern hostel -- staff a little racist

In my place a friend from UK stayed at EPC. For him it is a large clean, modern hostel well suited to a young and lively party crowd with a bar and daily club night events. It was the best priced hostel in Barcelona at the time of booking. He would recommend though with so many guests staying the staff played on racial differences between nationalities by deliberately clashing them and placing them in the same dorm rooms. Even then a small minority within the hostel tried to spoil his holiday. Helped along by the english services, local spanish authorities, and some hostel staff tried getting him into trouble during his stay in Barcelona. Best time there was @ Shoko club really cool place.

Be careful about booking here

Don't be fooled by the pretty pictures of this hostel. Me and my girlfriend recently booked a private room here for two nights at 90 Euros per night! When we arrived we were excited cos it looked promising. Nice building from the outside, nice lobby, excellent location. When we got to the room however it was a dingy windowless (well there was a small window that looked across three feet to a dirty concrete wall) hellhole. The room hadn't been cleaned at all when we had arrived, but we were told that it would be. The only thing that was done that day was that the sheets had been changed but the new ones had hairs all over them. There were hairs all over the floor of the room and in the shower drain. The room that we'd been put in was directly across from the exit from the common room and bar of the hostel so we barely slept the first night for people coming and going an being generally loud. The drainage pipes must have run just behind the wall of this room cos there was a constant sound of running water all night just to add to the misery. The lockers here require you to bring your own padlock (not required in most good hostels) or buy one from the desk. The guy on the desk gave us no alternative and fobbed us off with the fully booked excuse. It might sound like I'm being unrealistic about what I expected but after recently touring Thailand together and staying in many hostels that offer far more for much less then you resent being ripped off Barcelona. My advice is not to stay here, or at least not on the second floor. It is centrally located but you can get much better hostels a bit further out where you'll get more comfort and less hassle for your money.

Fun, Clean, Great Location!

This hostel was really clean and nice, the rooms are pretty spacious even when they have twelve beds in there. The bar is lots of fun and they have a nice continental breakfast. You might have to stand in line for the computers, but they are free! This hostel is right in the middle of some of Barcelona's best shopping and restaurants. The security was great, they check your ID when you come in, and they have big lockers in every room. The staff was so helpful -- I'd recommend taking advantage of their daily excursions and other offers. I took the Tapas Tour and we went to a restaurant, flamenco bar, and out for drinks for 18. The only bad part is they don't give you a top sheet, just a bottom sheet to put on your mattress. If you want another sheet or a towel, it is 2. It was really cold in our room and I didn't have a top sheet or a blanket so I had to roll up in my bottom sheet like a burrito.

Mediocre Hostel at best

The location is alright, though I would have preferred a location closer to the Gothic Quarter. There is a frat-boy mentality to this hostel whereas it's populated mostly by spoiled Americans. If your looking for an authentic Catalonia experience, don't come here. The beaches at Barcelona are nothing special.

Great facilities, great location, very clean, fun atmosphere

Stayed August 2007. This hostel was fantastic. It's in an excellent location, which is really easy to find. They are really mindful of security and you can't get into the building without showing your security pass, even in the daytime. There's also security cards for the doors and good sized lockers. They also make a big (and successful) effort to keep all the partying noise in the bar and common room areas. This means if you want to sleep you actually can, which is great. However at 8 a.m. they have their own music blaring from the common room for breakfast. The rooms are really modern and very clean (although I am not sure our shower was cleaned too thoroughly given we had five girls in our room and the hair in the drain seemed to build up so we were standing in about an inch of water when showering). This was only a minor issue as the place was so nice that one issue seemed worth all the other good things. Free breakfast (stale bread, fruit, cereal, juice) was edible and good as it was free. Free internet is fantastic and you never have to wait long. When i was there i didn't find too many solo travelers but hung out with a few people, which is good. People are considerate, fun but not too crazy. Lots of people from all over the world were there. All in all i would definitely stay there again.

Great location, great atmosphere, great hostel!

This was my first ever experience of staying in a hostel and it is fair to say that I was not really looking forward to it. However, on arriving at Centric Point I was massively surprised. The hostel has a great location and is really easy to find. It was exceptionally clean and the rooms were a good size, ours had an en-suite bathroom. Breakfast was included in the price and was actually really good. It consisted of cereal, toast, muffins, fruit, yogurt, tea/coffee and you could eat as much as you wanted. The bar in the hostel was great and by far the cheapest place to drink that we found in Barcelona. If you are looking for a budget place to stay in Barcelona I would definitely recommend Centric Point.