Hotel Portal de La Rioja

Fantastic hotel in a slightly elevated position nestled in the heart of the Rioja region. Hotel easy to find and had plenty of free parking. The hotel had a quirky rustic feel so if you’re into the faceless corporate hotels that are all mirrors and marble, this is not the place for you. Rooms are spacious with private balconies which overlook vineyards and countryside, and are set around the Large circular wooden atrium. Hotel itself was very clean. Room comfort was good, and the showers had excellent water pressure (sorry but this is a personal “ism” of mine as love power showers and am frequently disappointed when some hotels provide a shower which just dribbles out!). Toiletries were provided and the towels were nice, not just a flimsy bit of fabric! All staff I encountered were polite and spoke English which was great for me as my Spanish is virtually non existent. The hotel has a great restaurant which offers a fixed price 3 course meal (priced at €12 pp). This included a bottle of wine and 1.5L bottle of water. The portions were large and I probably should have stopped after my spaghetti starter, but it was all so nice, I just kept going! I originally chose this hotel for an overnight stay as was driving from Portugal and was heading for Bilbao for a ferry back to the UK so this hotel is well placed for that. Will definitely stay here again, even if I am not travelling via Bilbao or Santander just for the relaxing setting alone. I think the hotel had WiFi, but didn’t use it as have plenty of data allowance myself.