Hostal Esmeralda

What a lovely hotel to spend the night in Comillas. The house was built in 1874, only 5 years younger than the university. Spacious rooms with high ceilings and polished wooden floors. Many historical features and furniture, some of it painted in modern colours. Very comfortable beds, and a French balcony (room 301) with a see through to the sea and old harbour. Just 10 mins. walk to the beach with cafés and a wide beach. No elevator but handson staff member Laura was happy to help us carrying the bagage upstairs. The breakfast is simple and was included in our rate. The in house restaurant has a lovely porch on the street side. I will definitely recommend Hostal Esmeralda to my friends.

Comillas is a common stop on the Camino de Santiago del Norte and I stayed one night at the Esmeralda while walking this route. The hostal is right on the Camino as you come into town making it very convenient, and within easy walking distance of the main square. It is quite old fashioned but in a good way. The proprietors were handwriting a list of guests as part of their covid protocol and the husband insisted on carrying my heavy bag up the stairs to my first floor room which was much appreciated. The wife checked how early I wanted breakfast and explained that as it would be before the standard time, food and drink would be left out to self-serve when it worked for me. It felt like very personalized attention. My room was a reasonable size. It was in the front of the building with a balcony over the street. There was a big bed, armchair, standalone closet and a desk with chair. Tall doors opened onto the balcony giving lots of light. The bathroom was pretty standard but again it was old fashioned in a good way. Everything was in very good condition as though the rooms had been recently redecorated with the bedroom walls painted a jaunty yellow with white accents on the doors. The bathroom had decorative tiles that were carefully matched in colour to each other and the shower curtain. Someone with good taste had gone to a lot of trouble with the decoration. The wifi was a bit temperamental, occasionally dropping out, but mostly it worked. There was a bar and restaurant on the ground floor that I didn’t visit but it seemed popular. I liked the Esmeralda for its nice proprietors and understated charm. Recommended.