Hotel San Remo - Alicante

8.6

During our 3 weeks trip in France & Spain, Hotel Residencia San Remo in Alicante was our home for 2 great nights (July 31 – Aug 2, 2010). We had a double room for 51€/night on the 2nd floor and have chosen this hotel for its value and a few good reviews from other travelers. GOOD: The reception service was very good with most of the staff speaking English sufficiently enough to discuss what to see and more importantly, which beach to go to. Somehow, our double room actually had 3 twin beds (2 of which we ended up using simply to lay our clothes on ;) The room was very quiet, somewhat small but clean, the water was hot and the AC was powerful enough to keep us comfortable during the night. Most importantly, the room rate turned out to be one of the cheapest during our entire trip so we felt we got great value in Alicante which probably has the best beaches in Spain in my opinion. The location was also very central and allowed easy access to all the main sights. However, in order to reach the best beach, Playa de San Juan, we had to drive about 15 mins north of Alicante. The free Wi-Fi available in the room was very convenient. BAD: Well…our bed left much to desire. The mattress was borderline comfortable while the bed was squeaking at every slight movement. The AC was good, but it was located very close to my side of the bed which bothered me somewhat during the night. Then again, now that I think about it, why didn’t we change the beds?!?....we had 2 other ones to choose from which might have provided a better experience… :) Our room had a small window into an open, but narrow ventilation shaft, but we didn’t mind as we weren’t in Alicante to admire our hotel room view. In order to use the safe, we had to pay an extra 3€/day to get the actual safe locking mechanism and its key, but it was worth it since we didn’t want to take our valuables with us while going out to the beach. Interestingly, this was the only hotel during our trip w

10

We spent a night in Alicante on our way from Valencia to Granada and picked San Remo for the price. Little did we know that just how wonderful a city Alicante was or what a deal we were getting at San Remo. Once we managed to navigate our tiny rental car into the parking garage down the street, the man at reception informed us we could park right in front of the building for free! Not only that, he even came out and helped us re-park the car! For how small the building is it was shocking just how spacious the rooms were-with lots of windows too (not to mention an elevator)! The next morning, as we checked out, we asked the other man at the desk for the best route out of the city. When we told him we were going to Granada, he sat down with our map and showed us the best highways to take-making our 4 hour drive a lot more pleasant. I only spent one night in Alicante but I can't wait to go back and I'll be sure to stay at San Remo when I do.