Hotel Palacio Santa Ines
 

We are planning to stay at the Palacio Santa Ines in the Albaycin district. Is Albaicin the same as Albaycin? Which one is near the gypsy caves of Sacromonte? If the hotel is anywhere near the caves, I'll cancel our reservation as I don't think I will feel comfortable staying near the caves, just my opinion. What do you think Pedro, Maribel, Paul (where are you?), anyone?

Sorry, but the hotel is in Granada for anybody who is not familiar with it. Thanks.

Celeste, <BR> <BR>The Albaycin/Albaicin are one and the same. That said, Palacio Santa Ines is only 200 meters from the Plaza Nueva, so, if it can really be considered as being in the Albaicin, it is at the far end, away from the caves of Sacramonte. We walked by it two years ago, and it's in a great location, on a quiet street near the River Darro. I'd hoped to stay there, but it was booked.

Hi Celeste, <BR>In June we opted for a one night stay in the Albaicin at the sister hotel next to the Palacio, the Carmen de Santa Ines. The little America on the Alhambra grounds was full for our first night, and we didn't care to splurge on the Parador (had stayed there before). From the description and picture in the "Charming..." Sawday book, which has served me well in the past, and its red symbol for charm in the Michelin 2000, I expected the Casa to be delightful. And I received a nice response from the owner to my fax and went with high hopes. However, the Casa and the Palacio are located in what is now a quite scruffy section of the Albaicin, where you may not feel secure (our friends didn't),on the "narrowest street in all of Spain" (joked our taxi driver), and it's just vexing to reach by car and has no parking on site (but we accepted this). We decided to save time and frustration, leave our car overnight in the Alhambra lot and taxi down. If you call the front desk from the Plaza Nueva (also a bit down at the heels and difficult to reach by car), the hotels will send a lad to guide you there, but we arrived at 8 after the boy had left for the day. Although the entrance was non descript (but in the Arab quarter that's of course the norm) the lobby wasn't inviting or well cared for(flies swarming about), and the reception rather indifferent (polite but of the "take it or leave it" variety), I kept saying "please don't judge a book by its cover",hoping that our suite with Alhambra view would lift our spirits. But when we arrived at our room at the end of a long climb up a narrow but charming staircase, the picture just didn't improve. I would describe the decor as "grandmother's attic", and while shabbily genteel is actually fine with me at 8-10,000 pts. per night, I do balk at 22,000. The tub needed a good scrubbing, the h. dryer didn't work and that famous Alhambra view was nowhere to be found from our suite sans sitting area. Because it was only 1 night, we didn't ask for another rm. We did pass by the neighboring Palacio de Santa Inés but didn't go in, assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that the sister property would be much the same (the Casa actually has gotten more praise than the Palacio). A recent review in El País indicated that the rms in the Palacio are quite small and not a good value. Our final night at the very well run, service-oriented, immaculate and truly attractive 4 star Alhambra Palace cost only 2,000 pts more, and even though the decor of our rm was dated (the ones with city views have been redone), the overall experience was wonderful as the hotel has nice amenities. Sorry, Celeste, that this is such a lengthy answer, but I really do feel strongly about our experience and can't personally recommend either Santa Ines to you. I hope another Fodorite can report a much nicer stay, but I have a strong sense that ours was not an anomaly. We much prefer staying on the Alhambra hill, as downtown Granada appeared this time to need a strong economic boost and and some real sprucing up. Other than for our visit to the Royal Chapel and Cathedral and a stroll down the Darro and up to the Mirador de San Nicolás for the sunset view, we happily remained on the Alhambra grounds, which we found so much more pleasant. My very long 2 cents! :) <BR>

Thanks Marty and to you Maribel, your feedback is priceless! Palacio just confirmed my reservation and guess what, it is a suite, 40,000 ptas. for 3 people! I will definitely stay somewhere else. I got a very reasonable rate from Hotel Marcia (got favorable reviews here) but I am still looking for something better. Hotel America has not responded to my fax yet.

Yes, Maribel, thank you for the great, first-hand information on the two Santa Ines properties! if that's indeed the case, in hind sight, I'm glad that they were fully booked 2 years ago!