Dobleve

We have friends ask all the time where to stay when they come to Granada. If the answer isn’t “with us!” then these are the places we like and our friends have liked too.

Casa Migueletes – We think this is the finest hotel in Granada. Its perfectly located in the Albayzin on a quiet side street. Its close to the Alhambra and the neighborhoods you are most likely to want to see while in Granada; the Albayzin, Realejo and Centro. Everything is within a 10 minute walk; much of it is only a few minutes away.

The rooms are excellent but can be expensive; if you don’t have a budget get the honeymoon suite, it is quite possibly the nicest hotel room you can get in Granada and nearly as big as our entire house. Otherwise expect to spend 100€/night or so. The rooms are nice but normal sized, which means large by spanish standards and normal by american standards, with their own full bathrooms and showers. The hotel has a large center courtyard that is wonderful to relax in and very typical of the local style of architecture here.

The staff is friendly, speaks English, Spanish and German, possibly more. The breakfast is not to be missed, it includes a great selection of traditional spanish food and comfort foods like cereal and toast if you want. In the afternoon they have a wine and sherry tasting that is also nice if you happen to be back at the hotel in the afternoon.

We have stayed here several times and loved it every time.

Hotel Zaguan – This hotel is also well located in the Albayzin only a few blocks from Casa Migueletes, and while it is on a busy street the hotel is on the upper floors and seems to be quiet.

The rooms are nice here too, some have jacuzzi tubs if you want a nice soak. This hotel also has a large center courtyard that doubles as the lobby; enter from Carrera del Darro, go up the staircase and you’ll enter a tranquil and beautiful lobby.

We have not stayed here but have been inside and have had several friends stay here; they loved it.

There are a few others we like I didn’t list here, if people are interested (write a comment if you are or just send email to brian at this site) I can add more to the list; I chose to omit them because although we think they are great they also require you to be able to speak some spanish to arrange for them and they are more like apartments that are great if you will be in town for more than a couple days.

Finally, a word on where I wouldn’t stay. There are several hotels on or near the Alhambra grounds; with the exception of the Parador, I wouldn’t choose one of these places if I came to visit. I’m sure they are nice – they appear to be from the outside and charge rates that make one assume they must be! They are rather far from the heart of Granada, the hill that the Alhambra is on is high and as a result its a long walk into town and worse a long uphill walk back at the end of the day. Granada is a wonderful city to wander and explore and has much more to offer beyond just seeing the Alhambra, my feeling is that the hotels on the top of the hill can inhibit that because they are too sheltered from the city. Coming to Granada I hope involves going out for walks, tapas and many wonderful evenings out, I think that is easier to do with a hotel more centrally located.