Top 10 Amalurra Hotels

Stayed here for one night prior to Bilbao - Portsmouth crossing. Hotel looks really good on accommodation websites, has lots of positive reviews. It has a restaurant which is useful when arriving after a long day travelling. On arrival we were told the restaurant was not open though tapas was available in the bar. The hotel is not difficult to find using GPS and is close to the ferry port. It was difficult to get inside as all gates were closed You need to ring a bell for admittance, even at 5.10pm. What is not clear from photos or mentioned in the description is that the hotel is right next to an enormous petrol refinery. The air smells very strongly of fumes meaning you really cant open windows unless you want to fill the room with fumes. The room was airconditioned but the lowest temperature was preset to 25 degrees. Way too hot for a night time temperature for me, though it may be fine for others. Rooms in the main building may be lovely but we had a room in a wooden annex. The room was large and clean with a comfortable bed and decent linen. Toiletries were provided in the bathroom which again was large with a good shower. What was really strange was there was no door separating the bathroom from the bedroom only a flimsy shower curtain! Not great for privacy. We paid extra for breakfast which was plentiful in quantity if a little dull. As we were getting in the car to leave the owner came running after us shouting that we had not paid for breakfast. I went back inside to show the booking to explain we had infact paid. I found this really embarrassing and annoying especially as the owner did not apologise for his error instead just stomped off. Admittedly there is not an abundance of accommodation near to the ferry port but I found this place overpriced and would not stay again.

Stayed one night to explore Castro urdialies en route to ferry home. About 15 min walk along the sea front to downtown where the action is. Room fine with tea and coffee facilities (rare for Spain) and was ‘standard decent chain’ quality. Staff all friendly. We were able to park directly outside the hotel (€9) but this was low season. Didn’t pay for breakfast as it seemed expensive and there were several cafés offering breakfast less than 2 min walk away in the little local centre. A good base to enjoy the tapas delights of Castro Urdialies