A luxurious hotel on a hillside just outside Bilbao, externally very attractive and cunningly built into the side of the hill. Convenient for the port and the historical transporter bridge (15 minute walk). It’s 5-10 minutes walk to the train or metro stations, so very easy to get into the city without the driving and parking hassle. RENFE was €4 round-trip to the city center. To get to the Guggenheim Museum, you either get off at Moyua station and it’s then a 5 – 10 minutes walk or take it to Abando and walk along the river bank.

Once we found it, our room was great. The floor numbering system is bizarre, compounded by the fact that there are multiple lifts to get confused by. Signage to the parking was diabolical. Overall, it is a very strange layout indeed. Our bed was huge – at least king-size – and very comfortable. Shower and bathroom were exemplary. The room was quite close to the local train line bit this did not really disturb us.

If you want to go out in the evening for food or drink, walk east towards Portugalete rather than Santurce. We struck very lucky with tapas and wine in one of the side streets. We also found great coffee and bread in the same direction the next morning (next to the DIA supermarket).

One more tip, if you have a few minutes to spare in Bilbao, visit the Siete Calles in the old town for an interesting walk around.