Hotel Alda Bonaval

Lovely place to stay. The receptionists were very friendly and helpful with my getting around. They were very accommodating and allowed me to check in early at 11:30am, as I had just finish walking the Camino Frances. They offered breakfast and the only reason I didn’t give it a 5 was for the free Wi-Fi they mentioned. It worked on and off which required me to turn on my data plan from the US at a price. Nonetheless it was a nice place to stay 5 mins walk from the center of everything.

We have just had our first family stay in Santiago de Compostela. at Hotel Alda Bonaval. It has been an good experience with absolutely amazing and breath-taking architecture. Pro's: - The hotel staff are so friendly and really helpful! They made us feel welcome at all times and were super attentive to all of our needs and efforts of communication. - We had the included breakfast whilst we were staying and their morning spread was awesome, with a multitude of choice. All the produce was fresh, locally sourced, crisp and tasted amazing. It really set us up for our adventurous days ahead. - The staff understand and speak quite good English so when you are lost for Spanish context or have language barrier, it is very helpful that they were able to communicate with us. They are super patient and really understanding. They even let us borrow their stroller for our toddler for the day so we could get round Santiago better with a worn out tot with weary legs. - The location of the Hotel is super handy. From the moment you step out the building you have ample choices of where you want to go, what you want to see and how to get there. - The Hotel room was lovely and clean. They came in and made our beds everyday when we left the room, which was rather lovely of them. The rooms were reset and cleaned on a regular basis (we also had a choice of door hanger to request the room to be left alone too. In case anyone may want full privacy during their stay). - The interior of the building was really cool too, especially the stairs and down the stairs in the breakfast room that adorned a huge fire place with a decorative cauldron in it, an old fashioned aga and marble staircase leading to the downstairs toilets. The breakfast room also had an awesome sun room to eat breakfast in, with views of the garden and orange trees (with fresh pick-able fruit on them!). Cons: - The first downside to the hotel was the noise!! The floor boards are wooden, worn, and make ALOT of noise! Every time the room above us made any movement, we were wide awake and following each foot step and creak wondering whether they were about to come through the ceiling! Additionally, in the room next to us were two women who decided to practise their guitar and vocal skills during the hours of 1700-0130 in the morning!! We genuinely thought they would give up soon but they did not. We ended up having to go and knock the door ourselves as there is no staff on site after 3pm. The walls are very thin and you can hear EVERYTHING!! - The beds in our room were not very comfortable. The springs were very noisy and they would dig into us here and there. This didn't make for a very nice or restful sleeping experience. We were there for 3 nights and the entire stay, I think I got 9 and a half hours sleep in total! - This one is more so for those with children and/or safety concerns. In our Hotel room they had traditional Spanish shutter windows (which look super cute) but there is not any form of safety on them. If the windows were open it was just a large open sheer drop down to the concrete. This isn't so much a 'con' but more something to be actively aware of as they are very easy to open with just a little twist and push. There is no securing mechanism for the little ones. However it gave us a great view to the tree which was super close to the window and full of sleeping pigeons (which our toddler loved!) Despite the little issues we ran into, we still had a lovely stay and we would still highly recommend it to anyone wishing to travel to Santiago de Compostela. It is super local to absolutely everything you need or want, and you're continuously surrounded by amazing buildings, structure, history, culture, you name it!