A Beach on the Doorstep: Amistat Beach Hostel, Barcelona

Barcelona has plenty of places to sleep and very few that put you within walking distance of the sand without a luxury price. For one night of a two-night stay I wanted exactly that, and it was harder to find than I expected.

One night, one condition

Before the trip I spent hours reading about things to do, water sports, tours and places to stay. After TBEX I had only two nights in the city. The Hotel Silken Diagonal covered one of them, thanks to TBEX. The second had a single requirement: be close to the beach, something I had wanted to do for a long time.

Finding it

Reading reviews and booking sites, I kept finding that the hotels nearest the beach were mostly the expensive ones. Affordable options were harder to come by. Then I tried HostelsClub, which let me filter by the kind of place, the area and the type of room, so I entered everything I cared about: breakfast, wifi and a location near the beach.

The result was Amistat Beach Hostel, 400 metres from Playa de la Mar Bella (Mar Bella Beach), close to a metro station, with internet access, breakfast and beach activities. Rooms were available for 4 to 12 people, and there were a few private rooms too, bookable on request.

What pushed it from sensible to exciting was the programme: free morning beach activities from Thursday to Saturday, including beach volleyball and beach football, plus partnerships that covered free walking tours and cooking classes. I booked and counted the days.

Arrival, and a bad afternoon

About a month later I was in Spain: TBEX at Lloret de Mar, a scuba dive I will write about separately, then Barcelona. In the city I was pickpocketed on the metro. I spent hours on the phone and at the police station filing complaints, all while dragging my luggage around.

By evening I called Amistat to explain the delay. I was nervous about arriving late, since a place I had stayed at in Florence had made it clear that check-in after 10 pm was impossible. The answer was a relief: reception is open 24 hours.

It was very late when I finally walked in, and someone was there. Pali knew what had happened, was friendly and talked me through the room, breakfast and common area. He also waived the deposit because of my afternoon. The colours and the odd, playful design of the common space lifted my mood immediately, and then came the best news: I would be the first guest in a brand-new room, the Coral Suite.

The Coral Suite

Up the stairs, the decor was not what I expected from a hostel. Nothing had said the private rooms would look like this. There was a flat-screen TV on the wall, comfortable beds, a lot of colour, and disco lights controlled by a remote.

I would like to report that I made the most of it. I treated myself to a hot shower and went straight to sleep.

Breakfast and the common room

In the morning the kitchen had cereal, toast, croissants, coffee and tea, and it was easy to fall into conversation with other guests. The seating area, which had impressed me the night before, filled up quickly.

The location makes a morning walk or run on the beach the obvious thing to do, and by the time I finished breakfast people were coming back from the beach sports. The free walking tour connection is equally easy: New Sandeman's Europe tours start at 11 am daily in the city, and guests at Amistat can take the hostel shuttle at 10:15 am to the meeting point.

Practical details

• Distance to Playa de la Mar Bella: 400 metres.
• Dorms: 4 to 12 beds, roughly 20 euros per person.
• Private rooms: on request, about 90-100 euros in total for two.
• Reception: open 24 hours.
• Extras: luggage storage after checkout, airport shuttles at an additional cost.
• Free activities: beach volleyball and beach football, Thursday to Saturday mornings.

Prices move with demand, so check online for your dates.

Verdict

I enjoyed my stay. The hostel sits close to a metro station, the beach and restaurants, and it offers more than I expected: a DJ corner, a Wii and video game corner, laundry services, and a television and computers in the common room. I would recommend it to friends travelling together, or to two people looking for a reasonable base near the beach.

Thanks to HostelsClub and Amistat Beach Hostel for their cooperation and for hosting me for a night. All opinions are mine.