Hotel Central - Santander, Spain 

Hotel Central, Santander With a small foyer the rooms are accessed by an old rickety lift (elevator). The decorations while ok are nothing to write home about, whereas the breakfast is particularly plain stingy to the extent of charging for additional cups of coffee. The poorest we had in Northern Spain. The building is painted a bizarre dark blue, but you can’t see that when you are inside and is set in a narrow one-way street, so narrow you can hardly stop to unload your luggage. The reception staff are not particularly friendly and really want you to clear your car from the entrance as quickly as possible, which you want to do so that it does not get hit. Parking in front of the hotel is made more difficult by the bollards strategically placed either side of the entrance, making it almost impossible for two cars to off load at the same time. I suppose I’m a little biased because when I booked the hotel I didn’t expect to have a car, but later hired one. When I rang the hotel two days before I was due to arrive to cancel my reservation they said I couldn’t because they had already charged my credit card. I found this annoying that they charged the card before my stay. Also the same day I discovered a price via an Internet booking engine 30% cheaper than they had charged me. In conclusion if you have nowhere else to stay this hotel is ok for cleanliness and basic facilities. I cannot recommend it because of their attitude and behaviour.

We arrived late at night but received a warm welcome (once we'd negotiated the one way system!). We had room 602 which is a standard room but has a huge terrace with superb views across the bay and city. No hotel parking but public parking very close. We actually left the car there for 36 hours which cost us 25 euros. Location was great. Very central but some distance from beach (easy bus trip, though) not that that was a problem at the end of September. No noise probems. Breakfast very basic (a pastry, roll, juice and coffee) but only about 3 euros so can't really complain. Overall, I would stay here again but only if they promised us room 602