Barcelona - What areas/hotels to stay in?

[Zippee]

Never having been to Barcelona before my wife & I are planning to go for 5 nights at the end of August, but it's a little confusing knowing which area is which! We don't want to end up in a hotel in the middle of a housing estate or the financial district etc. Can someone give us a rough guide as to the good areas for a relaxing stay, close to the beach and touristy bits and at the same time if possible some decent but not overly expensive hotels (been an expensive year so far so we're on a limited budget).

[skip_1]

We stayed at the Sunotel Central booked via Laterooms on the Gran Via. Was by Universitat (iirc) metro station easily reachable by train from the airport. Obviously this was by the uni, but was quiet and was a 3 min walk to Las Ramblas, 15 to the Marina at the bottom and a little more to the beach. Everything was reachable on a cheap 10 trip metro ticket from the Universitat metro station. There were a lot of other hotels down the Gran Via.

[Roger645]

Have a look at Hotel Jazz, great hotel near to the ramblas

[HRG.]

Personally I wouldn't stay in the Ramblas, you can get a lovely hotel in the marina near the beach

Takes ten mins to walk to Las Ramblas/gothic quarter and it's nice and quiet back in the room.

[Colonial]

I stayed about 2 blocks to the north east of De Gracia metro station. Great location.

[XJSJohn]

Last few times we stayed in The Havana

Nice hotel conveniently located to most everything on foot, nice rooms, nice hotel bar for that last drink etc etc.