Roc De Caldes - Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra 

We stayed for 2 nights in the Roc De Caldes, after having extensively searched for a 5* hotel in Andorra for a long week end of relaxation in the mountain. We purposedly avoided Pas de La Case, as it's always full of construction sites everywhere, and apart from good slopes and a decent ski resort, there are buildings everywhere, appartments etc...charmless! Well, pretty much the same can be said about Andorra. as a whole... for the 30k that separates Pas de La Case to Andorra la Velha ( and Escaldes Engonordany where our hotel was), ALL you see are cranes, buildings sites and constructions...so much for a moutain background! The hotel actually sits in the middle of a construction site too, and has 2 cranes at both ends of it, although I must be fair in saying that we did not see it from our room. Thank god for that. However when you step on the terrace of the room, you are treated to a view of building sites pretty much everywhere. What an eye sore! Now, the hotel itself: yes a 5*, but by Andorran standards: and the Andorran are not known for their hospitality or their smiles! So you will get "hello" and "bye bye" as you walk past reception -if you actually bother to look in their direction, otherwise you might as well just carry on walking. We felt we had to ask for everything, every little info you may need- it doesn't come natural to them to give you some tips or info about the area/hotel and even the hotel facilities, unless you actually ask for it... what a shame. The spa: yes it looks lovely, but it's not that big and I can't see how over 100 guests could share the facilities at the same time. Lovely pool (because we had it to ourselves!), but the Turkish baths were never steamy enough and the sauna was totally tiny. The so called tropical/invigorating showers (4 of them in total) are not working properly, and you end up with a treacle of water pouring on you after you just spend 20minutes in the sauna. What a shame, as there is potential for a nice relaxation area. We did not see/were told about any massages available, but then again, in this 5* hotel, you have to ask for everything. The people at reception just sit there, surfing the net and just say hello and take your payment upon checking out. Not an ounce of customer service... we did not feel special at all. They barely speak English (fair enough) but when I spoke Spanish to them (I'm fluent), they respond in Catalan.... how typical! Another thing to watch out for: the hot water in the room's bathroom is EXTREMELY hot, and although you adjust the temperature to suit your personal preference (in the shower), it suddenly gets EXTREMELY HOT again, WITHOUT warning. It felt like the same water supply was shared by a few people at the same time, so much so that it would for instance get super hot if someone next door was washing their teeth and pumping all the cold water out.... we burnt ourselves a couple of times, but were smart enough to pull away quickly enough. We did not bother telling reception, because I don't feel the problem would have been solved anyway.... especially if it affects all the pipes. Breakfast cost about £7 and is pretty generous, although you would have to pay an extra 2 euros if you want anything fried like eggs etc.. but with what's on offer on the buffet, that should be enough to have a hearty breakfast. The view from the restaurant is very nice and you can actually see some mountains in the background, without the views on the building sites. Now, that IS nice! The satellite TV caters very little for English speaking guests with ONLY CNN to watch, otherwise you have to pay to watch some movies. There are however lots of Spanish and Catalans channels, so very good for the Spaniards I guess! The rooms are huge though and the bathroom is very large and nice too, with separate toilets and mirrors everywhere. All the usual complimentary towels, toiletries and bathrobes etc... but that's expected for a 5* hotel. Not sure I'd rush back to this hotel; it was nice because we were almost the only ones in the hotel at the time of our stay, but if you are looking for a relaxing time in a lovely spa, it would definitely be a bit too crowded when the hotel is full or has half its room occupied.