Seville, Spain -- Bringing kids abroad can be tough -- especially when you have more than a few. As we've been wandering through Spain, though, we've come upon several hotels that are perfect for the whole clan.
The Family Gets High-Tech
The new High-Tech Hotels chain in Madrid (www.hthoteles.com) runs comfortable, center-city properties at reasonable prices, and they're a good choice for anyone looking for a place to stay for under €100 -- especially because all rooms have high-speed Internet access. We've seen frequent specials advertised on their Web site for €70/night or so.
But the hidden value of the High-Tech chain for families is in the "family rooms" -- standard doubles with fold-down bunk beds built into the wall. Essentially, you flip a big switch, and you have a room that sleeps four without crowding or cuddling. Be warned, when the beds are down they take up almost all the floor space in the smaller rooms -- still, it's a great idea.
Of their hotels, our pick is the High Tech Gran Avenida. Just steps from most of Madrid's major attractions, the Gran Avenida has 14 family rooms for €130-170 ($156-195.50) each; ideally, try to get a room in the renovated third-floor annex, as they're larger than the others. The hotel's flagship room is # 316, a "high-tech room" that costs more, but is big enough to sleep an army and has a vast array of windows onto the Gran Via, Madrid's main street. It's noisy, but that's what you get for a panoramic view of one of Europe's most exciting avenues.
There's one down side to the High-Tech hotels for kids, though: these rooms come with showers, not bathtubs. That said, these are the most amazing showers we've ever seen. Most have eight nozzles at levels from knee to above-head height, shooting water at you from every level (you can turn that feature off.) Some have 20 or so nozzles that exude steam and turn the shower into a tiny sauna. They're a fascinating look at showers of the future. Heck, the kids might even like 'em.
Staying At Your Friend Cristina's Place
Knocking around one of the apartments provided by Sleep Home Barcelona (www.sleephome.com), we felt pretty darn lonely.
Sleep Home rents out apartments, not hotel rooms. The one we were provided on Bac de Roda, in a depressing if safe modern neighborhood a 15-minute subway ride from the center of Barcelona, was vast: the three-bedroom, two-bath apartment could sleep six easily, and could sleep eight if you dropped people on every bed-like piece of furniture.
Staying with Sleep Home is more like staying at your friend Cristina's place than anything else. The aforementioned Cristina met us with our keys; we were welcome to use her quirky collection of coffee mugs, her mountain bikes out on the balcony, her rack of spices and her washing machine. Bed linens were what you'd buy for yourself, not corporate plush, and maid service only comes if you pay extra. The apartment has a big satellite TV and VCR in the living room; there's a video store and a supermarket a block away, and a subway stop two blocks away, but you'll have to get on the train to head to restaurants or attractions.
For a big family or a bunch of friends, the price is unbeatable. Six people staying three days or more pay a total of €160-219 ($192-262.80, depending on season) per night, plus a flat fee of €40 ($48) for tidying up after you leave. You might get three rooms in a bargain-basement hostel for that rate, but you wouldn't get the full kitchen, the washing machine, the mountain bikes, or the ability to keep a leash on your kids because you're all sharing the same apartment.
Sleep Home's Achilles heel is location, location, location. To provide large apartments at great prices, many of their apartments are in Barcelona's least charming neighborhoods. Their best bet is the "Mallorca" apartment, in the Eixample district, a wealthy residential area studded with houses by Gaudi and other Modernist architects. The Mallorca offers three double beds, sleeping up to six, for €150-215 ($175-258).
What do you do for beds when traveling with a large family? Tell us on our Message Boards.