This hotel is a ten minute max taxi ride from the Continental Ferry Port in Santander and is located opposite the El Sardinero Beach , also five minutes walk from La Magdalena Park with its lovely walkways , sea-lions and seals and coves and beaches.

Our room was very extremely comfortable and clean - we wanted a restful holiday and were never disturbed by maids in the morning - they cleaned the room around 2pm in the afternoon. We had wonderful views of the beach . There are plenty of good little restaurants close to the hotel but the hotel cafeteria which is probably the standard of a British restaurant does an Express Menu and a Menu del dia which both compare favourably price and quality wise with what is being sold in restuarants round about. A word to the wise - try to stick to the Menu del dia or Menu Domingo on Sunday if you want to keep the price down to about 18- 25 euros per person inc wine - we had no problems with the hotel but one or two restaurants outside tallied up every item and you can end up with a big food bill for not a lot. These are in the minority - but worth being aware of.

The staff in the hotel were friendly and nice and made us feel welcome- we found them very approachable when we had a small problem understanding our room safe.

You are about a mile from the centre of Santander and can purchase a TACO de Billetes por el autobus at the tabacconist kiosk beaside the tourist office - 10 trips for 6 euros- buses are plentiful and regular- for travel further afield the bus station beside the main railway station has great air conditioned coaches which run regularly to nearby towns and villages - they are cheap and good. For most you have to go down to the basement of the bus station to find them all and it tells you there if you can pay on the bus for your ticket- upstairs there are big queues and I was given incorrect information - go downstairs and see the timetables .

What I liked best probalbly the walk to the lighhouse along cliffs and bays two miles out of town - it is all very clean - they are out cleaning the beaches at night - hardly any litter and you cant eat on the buses . It is a very Spanish town and is not like the costas - a word or two of Spanish goes along way .

I travelled to Santander for a friend's wedding and the location of this hotel was ideal, being a stone throw away from the venue. However, we were disgusted by the rooms and service in this supposedly 4 star hotel. We were allocated to a 'smoking room' despite there being no function to select a non smoking room when booking. The room stank of smoke and had numerous huge stains on the carpet. I immediately went down to reception to ask to change rooms but the woman behind the desk was one of the rudest people I'd ever met, refused to let us change as the hotel was full and was very abrupt. We eventually changed rooms on our third night - this was better but certainly not of a 4 star standard. The staff really need lessons in customer service. There was no apology or offers to compensate our disappointment at all.

Small rooms, OK food, dodgy elevator and poor sound insulation. Why stay at all? It's across the road from the beach. If you're in Santander for any other reason however, I'd recommend to look elsewhere...i.e. a place more suited to the business traveler.

we stayed here for three nights , 5th , 6th & 7th October , & enjoyed our stay very ,very much. Our room was beautifully appointed & comfortable. Definitely one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in anywhere. The reception staff were lovely friendly , & helpfull,especially Jose Luis who had a great sense of humour , but of course for this it helped that I spoke a little spanish ! Hopefully we will return to Santander again soon & to the Silken Rio which I would recommend to anyone who likes "The Best " .