We stayed at the Hotel Doña Blanca for five nights at the end of October at the start of our trip round Andalucia. It proved to be a good choice, a great base for exploring Jerez de la Frontera, easy to access by road and with a good parking facility.
Our room (104) proved to be spacious with a full-length mirror and a good-sized, well-lit mirror in the bathroom. The bed was comfortable with good pillows. Downsides were that the hot water for the shower was at times intermittent, though not so much as to inconvenience us, and the lack of a seal at the foot of the shower door flooded the bathroom floor a little.
Our two windows both opened over the street and the Bar Doña Blanca one floor below. This is a proper locals' place and 'full of life' (=noisy); which for us wasn't a problem as it was what we were hoping for on a tour of Andalucia.
As well as a good base for run-outs to other places (we visited Cadiz, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Ronda, Arcos de la Frontera, Vejer de la Frontera, Bolonia beach and Tarifa all when based here), the hotel is well-placed for forays into the town and has some superb spots nearby:
- Tip: get into CHURROS and buy them on the move from one of the stalls outside the food market, 30 seconds from the front door of the hotel; or sit down to indulge in a late breakfast with coffee and chocolate at Julio Alacant which is just as close.
- Bar La Perla is just down the road and, alongside the eponymous bar of the hotel, draws locals to its rough-and-ready, messy, noisy interior and the street tables outside. Go if you're into hair lacquer and bullfighting posters ;-)
- La Rosa de Oro is a superb pasteleria (pastry shop) nearby for sweet treats, opposite a shrine full of old plaster casts and false limbs(!) and next door to a tempting ice-cream bar.
- Bar La Vega was full almost constantly, seeming to attract well-dressed locals and worried-looking tourists in equal large numbers. Tip: avoid the tables, sit at the bar and confuse the barman with your bad spanish. The coffee's great, they make Churros in-house and the atmosphere is appropriately rowdy and... well, just perfect.
Service at the hotel was friendly and efficient; the car-park attendant was always happy to see us.
With the wealth of options available locally, we didn't try the breakfast.
All-in-all the hotel was very much worth the money we paid, particularly with the position and parking taken into account. Highly recommended.
