Maybe it was the glorious city of Granada, or time alone with my husband, or the lovely setting of the apartment, or the combination of all three, that culminated in a magical, contented experience, where at the day's end, we felt "at home". All the necessities where present: comfortable bed, clean apartment, well equipped kitchen, central location, & friendly & helpful staff. The spa was under renovation, but looked like it would emerge into an oasis.

We booked four nights in Executive Apartment 11 as an Anniversary treat at the end of November. We arrived in the evening so there was no one on reception, but fortunately, a guest let us in and we found our key and took the lift up to our room.

The décor in the whole building is fantastic and our apartment was well appointed, very clean and we were looking forward to our stay. I was surprised how small the apartment was in reality, compared to the photos on the website which made it look larger. I can’t imagine four people staying there comfortably for any amount of time. As it was quite late, we took ourselves out for well deserved beers and tapas, but unfortunately, two of the tapas bars recommended by Muralla Ziri were closed, but we had a good walk around the town and found several others.

We weren’t late getting back to our apartment and watched some TV before going to bed. Not long afterwards, what my husband described as the sound of a jet engine came roaring passed our bedroom window. We hadn’t experienced any noise earlier, but now, vans, cars, scooters etc started using the cobbled road outside and the sound was absolutely horrendous. This went on most of the night and unfortunately, we had the worst night sleep ever - I remember looking at the clock at 1.30am, 2.30am, 3.00am, 4.00am 5.30am thinking how tired I was going to be the next day. As the streets were narrow and cobbled, every sound carried upwards, so when a car went by, all you could hear was this roaring noise. Even people talking in the street coming back from the bars filled the air with echoing noise.

We had booked to tour the Alhambra the next day and our allotted time was 9.00am and decided whilst we were getting ready that we wouldn’t stay another night in the apartment because of the noise and have the same problem ruining our stay. The signs on Plaza Nueva said restricted vehicles so we assumed there would be minimal traffic but nothing prepared us for the awful racket we experienced the night before.

The next morning, we were looking forward to a refreshing shower using the ‘hydro massage shower column’ to wake us up. My husband turned the handle clockwise as instructed and waited for the steaming hot water to shoot out - and waited and waited and waited and waited. No hot water! After a lot of cursing, he then turned the dial back a bit and the water became hotter, but of course the more he turned the dial back, the more the pressure dropped leaving a very weak dribble, not enough to power the other shower heads down the column. Oh dear - very disappointing. Also, I had to use the towels to mop up the flood of water on the floor as the small hand basin had such a small lip, when you washed, the majority of water ended up all over the surface and on the floor. Oh dear!

My husband called Mrs Mates and explained the situation to her - she sounded very apologetic but kept reminding us about the cancellation policy and that she would not refund ANY monies even if we moved after staying one night out of four. She said to wait and someone would come and see us. Fortunately, whilst walking around the grounds of the Alhambra, we came across Hotel America, which had a very nice room available, not dissimilar to where we were staying, so decided to make a reservation there.

We packed our belongings at Muralla Ziri and waited for someone to come and see us. A very pleasant lady arrived and again apologised for the noise and repeatedly told us that no one had ever complained about the noise at night. She showed us another apartment in a different building further along the street she said we could stay at, for no extra charge, but when we saw it, we knew the problem would be the same as the bedroom looked out onto the cobbled street.

We paid what we owed - 400 Euros for one night (100 Euros per night but we only stayed one night). We were hoping for a reduction in the cost - perhaps 50% - as a public relation goodwill gesture, but alas no. We collected our belongings and took them to Hotel America for the remaining three days of our stay. Peace and quiet all night long within the beautiful grounds of the Alhambra Palace. FANTASTIC!

Up front we were very well informed about the possibilities of Granada and the appartment. The appartment was beautiful , clean luxurious bathroom and a little bit smaller than expected, but well kept. The friendly way we were treated and the bottle of Cava, cookies and tea were a nice welcome. We would have liked to have use of the terrace efore the last night . It has a great view at the Alhambra.
If you want to stay in Granada, stay here.

Albert and Dies ten Cate

We stayed for two nights with our two children at the end of August in the penthouse apartment. The apartment was lovely with gorgeous views and lovely terrace. The split level bedroom was very attractive and the kitchen was well equipped. The beds were very comfortable and bathrooms very clean etc. The apartment was in an excellent location - just off the main plaza with lots of tapas bars about. The Alhambra was also within a 20-30 min walk which we really recommend - don't take a taxi if you are able to walk. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The only weird thing was the lift - as the front lock to the apartment was a key in the lift. We got used to it in the end though! Also we parked in a car park just outside of the main area and walked for about 10 mins to the apartment - wasn't a problem. The children loved the jacuzzi bath and the bidet in one of the toilets - very amusing! Finally the apartment was extremely quiet.