30 min
30 min
20 min
L1 · L2 · L3 · L5
8.1 / km²
17
19
1,447
−8% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Mixed after dark
Paral-lel and the blocks immediately behind Sants station get quiet and poorly lit late; Poble Sec itself is fine.
Staying in Sants-Montjuïc
Two things make Sants-Montjuïc worth considering. Sants Estació is Barcelona's main rail terminus, so if you are arriving by train from Madrid or leaving for the airport early, staying within ten minutes of it removes a real headache. And Poble Sec, the strip between Paral·lel and the hill, has become one of the better places to eat in the city, Carrer de Blai is a full street of pintxos bars at prices the old town gave up on years ago.
Everything else here is ordinary. The area around the station itself is a transport interchange with hotels attached: safe, functional, and completely without character. Montjuïc is a hill of museums and gardens, lovely to spend a day on and a genuine climb to come home to.
Book Poble Sec if you book here at all, and check how many steps are between you and the metro. The contour lines on this one are not decorative.
What works
- Poble Sec and Carrer de Blai are excellent and still cheap
- Ten minutes from Sants Estació, which matters if you arrive by train
- Montjuïc's museums and gardens are on your doorstep
What does not
- The area right around the station has no character at all
- Montjuïc is a real hill, check the steps between your door and the metro
- Paral·lel is a wide, loud road and the flats on it hear all of it
Many of its attractions focus on the Parc de Montjuïc, which has museums, a castle, Olympic facilities and some great views overlooking the city.