Welcome Apartments

Gracias per todo! Merci pour tout!

Gracias per todo! Merci pour tout! Et Vive la oficina libra.

We’ll be sure to tell our friends about this great place.

-Dan & Etienne (New York + Quebec)

Welcome Apartments, Triumf Apartment

Welcome to our Barcelona Accommodations Site

Welcome. This is an exciting time for Welcome Apartments.  We are pleased to introduce you to www.welcomeapartments.com.  Our organization has spent the past 6 months working closely with The Blog Studio, a Toronto based web Design Company, to build a site which captures the beauty and charm of our accommodations along with the caring level of service which we extend to all of our guests.

Welcome Apartments is a Travel Company that began in the summer of 2003 with only one accommodation located in the centre of Barcelona.  With simply one accommodation to manage, Welcome Apartments was able to offer travelers sincere and personable attention.  From comments by guests showing their gratitude for our personable, friendly, approachable and knowledgeable attention, Welcome Apartments learned what is of utmost importance to travelers.  Our goal is to accurately capture (via images, descriptions, maps and testimonials) each of our carefully selected Barcelona accommodations.  Even as we’ve grown to include three types of accommodations from which travelers can choose from- Apartments, Apart-Hotels, and Guestrooms, we’ve equally developed our commitment to the dedication and sincere care of all our guests.

In addition, our new website will offer guests customized Travel Information and Services.  It is here that guests will enjoy a great range of reliable and trustworthy recommendations.  Topics such as authentic restaurants, bicycle/ scooters/ car/ boat rentals, Barcelona Tour Packages, ‘hidden treasures’ that previous guests have informed us about, customized Barcelona Travel Itineraries, Safety in Barcelona, Barça Football information, and so many more interesting information pieces to be shared.

We are particularly excited about our featured ‘Albums’ section.  These albums will have photos of the many guests we’ve enjoyed hosting in our accommodations.  As well, we will include photos that capture the beauty of Barcelona- its culture, festivals and celebrations in addition to presenting photos which have been contributed by our guests.  Our featured album will provide traditional recipes of Catalunya and the Mediterranean for guests to enjoy when dining out at restaurants or easily prepare in the kitchens of our accommodations.

A monthly newsletter will provide guests with detailed information on upcoming events, festivals and interesting things to see and do. All travelers who would like to know what is happening in the exciting and captivating city of Barcelona during your travel dates are encouraged to read the featured monthly newsletter. Each month these albums and newsletters will be changing to highlight any new and interesting Barcelona travel and accommodations content.

As this site is in Beta testing, we would like to thank you in advance for your patience as we take the next few weeks to make the necessary adjustments.  In the meantime, visitors will be able to navigate through the Barcelona Apartments, Barcelona Apart-Hotels, and Barcelona Guestrooms that we are currently offering.  Please feel free to contact us directly via email at info@welcomeapartments.com, send us a Blog, or phone our office at 0034 93 443 6673 with any questions that you may have.

On behalf of the Welcome Apartments team, a big Thank You to all our partners, supporters, family and friends for believing in our business and supporting our goals.  In particular we would like to thank all those great travelers that we have had the pleasure of meeting, hosting, and learning from- this site it for you!

Sincerely,

Luca Mancuso
Welcome Apartments

Safety Tips When Traveling in Barcelona

Offering accommodations and travel services means that we spend a good part of our day talking with guests, making suggestions, and assisting wherever possible. One of the main topics that we make sure to cover is Safety in Barcelona. Most of the team at Welcome Apartments has lived in Barcelona for a fair amount of time, and we all agree that Barcelona is a relatively safe city to live in and visit. However, petty crime such as pick pocketing does occur repeatedly and it can happen to the most sensible of travelers and locals. That being said, we suggest you review the suggestions and things to consider which we have outlined so at the very least, it may lessen the risk that it might happen to you. As we become aware of new info as to what’s happening out on the streets, we will continue to refresh our safety tips, doing our part to ensure your travel is safe, and trouble free.

Take a few minutes to read the following suggestions and of course, your feedback will add to the success of this safety tool.

Some tips to follow:

1. Be aware of your surroundings at all times by making eye contact with people so that they see that you are paying attention.
2. Have a good hold on your belongings at all times, especially when sitting at cafes, restaurants, in bars or on street benches.
3. Something to consider is to not carry valuable items with you and if you do need to, don’t have them all in one place. You are better off carrying money in secure front pockets. (Do not carry your passport with you: instead, carry a photocopy of the significant pages stamped by your accommodation, which will be acknowledged as a valid id for most practical purposes.)
4. Pay particular attention to your belongings in busy areas. Here are some locations identified as high risk: Las Ramblas, the Gothic Quarter, the Metro or Train Station, the Airport, Internet Cafés, in and around Plaza Catalunya (particularly when you are getting off the Aerobus), in and around most tourist attractions.
5. Your appearance plays a large part as to whether you are a likely target for theft. It’s important to be subtle in your appearance as a visitor to the city. Keep your camera in a bag, or pocket, and don’t carry travel books or maps so that they are obvious. The less you look like you are a foreigner, the better.
6. Carry your backpack over your front chest as opposed to your back and try to avoid fanny packs as they generate attention.
7. Do not pay attention to people attempting to distract you. Keep moving and maintain your personal space. (Some common distractions are untied shoelaces, something sprayed on you that soils your clothing, street performances that are interactive, beggars selling items.)
8. Determine your route in advance so that there is less chance of getting lost. It’s also better to look
   like you know where you are going and that if you need to refer to your map, you do so in a café or store (and not in the streets where it draws attention).
9. At night, always walk on well-lit streets where there is a constant flow of traffic. You are also less of a target if you are not walking around alone in the late evening, as statistics show, thieves work in groups.

Remember: These tips are important to follow almost everywhere as a traveler.

Enjoy Barcelona; just practicing common sense is normally protection enough.

Accommodations in Barcelona

I hope you’re all looking forward to all the additional features we will be adding to this site. We will be adding links to maps from each accommodation page so that you can view where the apartments, apart-hotels, and guest house/rooms are located.

We are also adding a photo album section to the photo gallery, where we will be constantly updating pictures of our guests and great events and images in Barcelona. Our accommodations are all in Barcelona, we will be adding information to this blog giving you pointers and tips to ensure that your stay in our accommodations provides you with a safe and enjoyable stay.

If you have any questions or concerns, we are always here for you.