“Motorbike touring holiday ”

We were very pleased and impressed by this hotel. The rooms are spacious and clean with generous balconies offering beautiful mountain views. The main dining room is typically Spanish and baronial in style with huge vaulted double height ceiling where we enjoyed a simple dinner from an extensive me… more

We were very pleased and impressed by this hotel. The rooms are spacious and clean with generous balconies offering beautiful mountain views. The main dining room is typically Spanish and baronial in style with huge vaulted double height ceiling where we enjoyed a simple dinner from an extensive menu. Catering predominantly for Spanish guests the staff were welcoming and helpful but spoke little English. I thought we were the only guests but became aware of a headboard banging against a nearby wall accompanied by soft feminine moans at some point in the night so sound proofing might be an issue for some. Other than that there was no other entertainment as TV channels were all Spanish.

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“Worth Considering If Staying In El Bosque But Service Needs Improving”

My wife and I booked a room in Truchas whilst driving around the Pueblos Blancos. It was the end of a baking hot summer's day in which we had done a lot of driving and sight seeing. I's located just on the edge of El Bosque, with ample free parking and is a couple of minutes walk to the center. T… more

My wife and I booked a room in Truchas whilst driving around the Pueblos Blancos. It was the end of a baking hot summer's day in which we had done a lot of driving and sight seeing. I's located just on the edge of El Bosque, with ample free parking and is a couple of minutes walk to the center. The hotel is attractive. The building itself was rescued and restored by the Junta de Analucia because of the potential of this attractive quality. The rooms and the bathroom are a decent size and pleasant enough and well priced. There is a small pool which is most welcome during the hot summer months. We had a decent breakfast but on our first night we wanted to stroll around town and eat out and cannot comment on the quality of the restaurant. The service was efficient but extremely petty. My wife is Spanish and we travel a great deal in Spain so this is not new to us. We had reserved a room earlier in the day and were travelling light when we checked in. We had money to pay and a small amount of luggage but that meant we had no ID which was unfortunate because rules are rules. No ID means we might be ETA terrorists (I'm serious). After a ten minute fiasco they decided to risk housing the terrorists and we were allowed to go to our room. Fifteen minutes later, whilst I was taking a shower, a call came though from reception telling us we had to leave. The Guardia Civil (husband of the hotel manager) who had been informed of the terrorist penetration had decreed the risk was too great and the perfidious plot had to be stopped before we commit an outrage in El Bosque. In the end I found a copy of the car rental agreement with my driving licence details in the car and this was accepted - I was not a terrorist. The receptionist took a photocopy but didn't do anything with it. When I reclaimed it in the morning it was in the same place. He was hideously embarrassed by the whole affair. The boss had gone home and left him holding the can. I'm used to this sort of thing in Spain but for some people it can be extremely distressing. It is time, in this day and age, for the Spanish state to loosen up. The first reaction of a manager of a pleasant but, in the scheme of things, nothing hotel and town is to screen you and consider you a threat instead of thinking of you as a friendly and paying guest. Well, that is very wrong. I'm afraid there are still a great many places in Spain that consider it a special privilege to be dispensed for you to spend your money in their establishments. The dictatorship is a long time gone but its after effects can still be found in episodes such as I have described. I have even been asked, more than once, to produce ID when buying groceries. The Junta de Andalucia is trying to address this problem and make people that work in the tourist industry a damned sight more friendly and not before time! The moral of this tale is don't forget your ID, especially if you harbour terrorist intentions.

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