www.villasbarcelona.com: Villa rentals in Barcelona and Costa Brava

Please allow us to introduce ourselves

Who are we?

Ours is a small cottage industry (sorry!) - just my wife Maria and me, and a little help from our webmaster friends in Oslo. Back in the early 90īs we discovered "turismo rural" or rural tourism - the renting of rural farmhouse properties for weekend and holiday gettaways. Back then there werenīt many places to choose from, but we fell in love with a few houses, and more importantly, we got to know what parts of Catalonia we liked and didnīt like. We were very much taken with the Costa Brava and the Pyrenees. On the other hand, we didn't like the Costa Dorada to the south and inland from Barcelona. Too hot and dry in summer, beaches too built up Miam beachi-style, and the train tracks run parallel to the coast, an unsightly barrier with smelly underpasses to the beaches.

In 1997, Charlie (a US ex-pat, 38 years overseas, 20 years in Barcelona as of 2008) and María (from Galicia, northwest Spain, but raised in Germany) decided to try presenting a handful of houses in what was then a new medium called internet. We reckoned that local owners needed English-speaking representatives to present the houses, and you, the househunter, needed someone you could trust locally to tell you which properties are worthy of your interest, and then how to go about securing the booking. Slowly, by the year 2000 or so, the bookings started coming in quite regularly and María and I both quit our jobs to dedicate ourselves to this.

What we do for you?

First of all we choose the best houses. Since 1997, I (Charlie) have visited well over 300 properties. We usually choose around 50 of these to be included in our listings. More then that is too many to really offer good service. We have stayed overnight at least once in every house we offer. You don´t really know a house until you have stayed there. Many of the houses we have been to regularly over the years. We know the houses we offer very well, and we are very choosy about the properties we work with. We donīt want to be disturbed at all hours with complaints, so working with problem houses or problem owners would be suicidal.

The properties chosen are usually the best we can find in their category/pricerange. Many properties we have been working with for years now, an additional guarantee. They are time test and true, but often new houses are offered at below-normal rates in order to get started and get in some of those all important (and genuine!) testimonials from past guests - a unique feature of our website since 1998!

The website is designed to give you maximum information on each property, both pros and cons, and we feel our reputation is on the line with every rental. We will not rent out problem houses, and there are a lot of problem houses out there! Common problems in this sort of accommodation include the following: bad smells from nearby farm animals, lack of adecuate living space, noisy location, ownerīs living on site without telling guests this beforehand, or even a long and beat up dirt track leading up to the house.... - any of these factors can ruin a holiday. I know of one very beautiful house that is right next to a very active saw mill, but there is no mention of this in their website and no photos to give it away! Iīve seen another place offered as a luxury property but it has no dining room! When you book with us, you can be sure there will be no unpleasant surprises. I also think our properties present good value, consistently lower priced than comparable villas in other listings. Some of these properties were being offered at double or triple our rates before they started working with us. How can this be? Well, I don´t mind telling you that some US and UK rental agencies take fees in excess of 100% of the owner´s rates!

What else do we do for you?

There are two additional services we offer for which I am especially proud, services than can be considered important "added value": 1) Throughout the years, I (Charlie) have been collecting travel info on the where-to-gos and what-to-dos in each region. As a result I have compiled a couple of guidebooks providing insider information on the areas where we rent out properties. The guidebook I have been working on since 1997 for Girona and the Costa Brava is already over 85 pages long (of A-4 size paper and no illustrations - all text! This is without a doubt the most substantial guidebook to the Costa Brava anywhere and a loan-copy of this guidebook is provided at each rental property, or I can email this to you.. 2) Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, while you and your family are in Catalonia, we feel responsable for your well-being and are available 24-hours-a-day by telephone in case of you need help. We hope you donīt need to call - the owners are there for you for your most immediate needs - but my wife and I will be there if you need us.

How to proceed?

After looking at our internet catalog, email or call to let us know which property or properties are of interest to you. If you canīt decide, letīs talk it over and letīs whittle down the choices according to your needs and wants. Once we have found the right place, weīll put the house on hold, and send you all the booking info so that you can pay the 25% deposit most properties require to hold the booking. All deposits are sent to the owners directly, except VISA or Mastercard charges which I take care of for the owners. In all cases, the balance due is either payable well ahead of your arrival date, or in cash upon arrival, when the owners hand over the keys. Yes, all properties are in hands of private owners or caretakers - not rental agencies. This is an important distinction. Agencies couldn't care less about their guests or the houses they offer. House owners usually care about both, and part of my job as far as the owners are concerned is finding the right sort of guests for their particular properties.

When to book?

As always, the early bird gets the worm, and some of our most popular villas are fully booked for top dates as early as 18 months before the rental. If you put a pre-reservation on a villa during the year prior to arrival, you neednīt send the deposit until Christmas time. Christmas time is when the majority of our booking requests come in, and it is best not to wait till then if you seek to reserve for Easter, the summer high-season, or some important bank holidays in May and October.

What is included in rental rates?

All prices quoted in the website property listings are 100% all-inclusive, including all taxes and all utilities, including cleaning before and after your stay (and a free cleaning & linen change after the first week of a two week rental), clean bed linen and bath towels and kitchen towels, a full range of kitchen utensils, and there are no hidden or extra charges of any kind whatsoever. All houses are fully prepared for immediate occupancy, and there shouldnīt be anything (within reason) that is lacking to diminish your comfort. Washing machines, for example, are an absolute must at all properties, and the great majority have dishwashers too, but I donīt consider a billiard table or satelite TV or internet connection an absolute necessity, but will make it clear in the descriptive text all the nice extras a property has on offer.

What do we look for in a property?

In two words we are looking for charm and comfort. In almost all cases, the properties we offer are traditional Catalan farmhouses, called masias, some well over a thousand years old, which have been lovingly restored and offer amenities ranging from fairly basic to luxurious, but always of a relatively high level of comfort. If there is something slightly quirky or odd about a property, I will mention it in my description.

The masias usually have thick stone walls (keeping the house cool in summer and warm in winter), elegant wooden ceiling beams, stone arches, terra cotta floors, antique furnishings, fireplaces, fairly modern kitchens, and in all but a few well-identified cases, are situated on large private properties with private pool and gardens.

(Some of these properties are huge. I can send you Google Earth links where you can see for yourself!)

Aside from the property itself, there are mimimum requirements that all our properties must fulfill. For example, I insist on quality 100% cotton sheets on new mattresses, and no sagging old beds! Each bedside must have a reading lamp: one lamp for a single bed, two lamps for a double. In the write-ups I will give you bed sizes. Continental bed sizes are traditionally quite small (135x180cm the double) but I am having owners replace these with a much larger 150x190cm size. All houses must have large common and sitting rooms with fireplaces, television, CD/radio/cassette players, and the kitchens must be fully equipped, including washing machines, dishwasher, oven and hob and microwave and smoke extractor... All houses must have outdoor BBQs and seating and dining areas, with electric lighting for nighttime meals. All houses are especially well suited for children.

In short, we want to take the guesswork out of villas rentals for Catalonia. We are very pleased with the way things are going, especially with the rate of return of repeat guests, sometimes renting different houses in different areas, year after year. We are also very satisfied with our current catalogue of rental properties. Some properties have come and gone (let´s face it, there is an attrition rate in this business, and some owner´s "burn-out" quite quickly, not being willing or able to keep up with guest (and our) requirements). But the future looks bright, and like I said María and I have pretty much given up all other professional activities and I am quite sure we will be doing this villa rental business until our kids are grown and we retire. If that´s the case we'd better make sure it works!

Be sure to read the Comment´s Page for each property. Some guests send in some very thoughtful and helpful emails, and most of the feedback is positive.
Your holidays are our job, but receiving a nice letter at the end of a rental is very rewarding. I hope you will be writing in one day to acknowledge a job well done!

All the best,
Charlie (November 2008)

...a shot of one of the independent luxury villas, this one with two large pools, 8,000m2 of garden tended year-round by a gardener, 8 air-conditioned rooms, poolside kitchen, etc...

Why farmhouse and villa rental?

not only is it simply nicer to stay in restored old farmhouse, but also ...

  • eco-tourism helps preserve traditional ways of life
  • agro-tourism revitalizes depopulated villages
  • sustainable tourism controls the environmental impact (of tourism)
  • package tour operators leave little to nothing in local economy
  • mass tourism is an abomination - just look our coasts!

Why inland farmhouse rental?

Not only is it simply nicer to stay in an old restored farmhouse, but also …

  • eco-tourism helps preserve traditional ways of life
  • agro-tourism revitalizes depopulated villages
  • sustainable tourism controls the environmental impact (of tourism)
  • package tour operators leave little to nothing in local economy
  • mass tourism is an abomination - just look at so much of our coasts!
Catalan Tourism Authorities

This sign indicates that the Catalan Tourism Authorities regularly inspect and license the property. We have also visited and recommend all the properties we have selected for our listings.