We had being to Peniscola once before and thought if we ever came back that way, we'd stay, - mainly because of Castle that was used as back ground in ' El Cid '.

We arrived on bitterly cold and wet day and cruised the Beach front looking at the offerings. We liked look of Del Mar so parked. Up the Steps, long Reception and a nice Gent showed us an upstairs room facing onto beach . We liked and took. We got a rate of Eur176.76 for 2 nights which included parking and breakfast each morning.

The Hotel itself is very neat and tidy, small pool (closed) and plenty of secure parking at side. It has a 19..something feel about decor and style whcih gave it a very relaxed feel.Not over the top nor frilly but like in a rich Uncles home!

Our bedroom had a small balcony and you could see Castle down the beach to our right.Matrimonial bed ( always ask for this or you will get 2 x single beds!!) was a Queen and very comfortable.A big bathroom ,comp. toileteries, bathtub ,nice shower pressure and all very clean.21" TV had english news channels so happy with that. Room had a slightly dated feel to it ,more so than Hotel interior but far from being shabby or old I might add. Heating was Air-conditioning and it took a while to figure out , but once on we defrosted quickly.

Breakfast each morning wasn't great.A buffet and limited hot choices.

We spent an enjoyable afternoon and following day walking the beach and visiting the Castle, ( I might add its really a walled town with circular walks .Still residential with touristy shops it wasn't as interesting as we hoped). It was bitterly cold and some rain but we enjoyed the walk none the less.

As it was February ,most of restaurants were closed .There was a menu for Eur37.00 for a 3 course meal in hotel with a carafe of wine , but limited choice so we opted to go out each night. The ones open at bottom of Castle were all grossly over priced -so avoid.Even the Mexican was crazily priced.We ate in the Chinese between Castle and Hotel and all we can say is AVOID!! It was a running joke.You have to go up a flight of stairs to enter, but there is a small Cafe just underneath the Chinese that was ok for our second night.


In general our side of Peniscola was a ghost town with hardly any souls to be seen at all. Its a huge town but getting badly over developed. At rear of Town there must have being about 5-600 new apartments being built but no swimming pool or leisure areas to be seen. There is one small supermarket that side of Town and a Greengrocers, but to get a few others shop choices and to get to older original Peniscola Town, you must walk about 1 1/2 km away from Castle , along beach front to get to. We did it and a nice town centre.At least there were plenty of people there!

We enjoyed our 2 night in Del Mar and would return. However ask for rooms at front ,as most of other bedrooms do not face Beach and were smaller than our bedroom!