Los Arcos — Hotel in Dosbarrios

We decided to break our journey from Bilbao to Andalucia, and looked for a dog friendly hotel roughly half way between the two. Although Los Arcos was situated adjacent to the motorway, reviews stated that it was quiet, so we took a chance. When we arrived, the Hotel/Restaurant was larger than expected, with a huge car park at the front. We went through the bar to register and met by helpful English speaking staff who directed us to reception. We booked in and asked how we could access the hotel without bringing our dog through the bar. We were told that if we parked in the separate secure car park, we would have direct access to our room. The gates opened and we drove in to another carpark,in front of an attractive terraced ground floor apartments. We were amazed by the standard of the rooms. A large family bathroom on the left as we entered, beautifully tiled with all the usual facilities and a spa bath. The double bedroom was large, and up 3 steps was a living room with a 3 piece suite, coffee table, TV and mini bar. Everywhere was spotless and fresh, white towels and complimentary soaps, shampoos, razors, etc. After a long bath we decided to eat. The staff found somewhere we could eat without leaving our nervous dog in a strange room, and the menu was so good that we over-ordered. We were politely advised that we would not be able to finish the food we had ordered, and accepted the waitresses advice regarding a smaller meal. We were so pleased that we did, as the servings were larger than most Spanish restaurants we had visited. We always try the regional dishes when traveling in Spain, and were not disappointed. Each course was attractive to look at, and better than expected. We would rate it as the second best Spanish meal we have eaten in our eleven years in Spain. There was so much we would have liked to try on the menu that we will be staying each time we travel past to continue our journey through the extensive menu. As for the location, we did not notice the motorway whilst in our rooms, or whilst eating. I cannot compliment the staff enough, all were courteous, most were English speaking and all were most helpful and made our brief visit a pleasure. Well done Las Arcos, and we will see...

My partner and I booked this hotel 3 weeks before driving from Yorkshire to Marbella. We drove 11 hours from Poitiers (our first scheduled stop) and arrived here in the evening looking forward to a meal shower etc. Reception was in chaos as a coach trip of Chinese, ourselves and somebody who had just booked a room on the web were told that no rooms were available! We asked to speak to the manager as the poor receptionist was clearly finding it hard to deal with us all complaining .He was hiding in the nearby office pretending to find us alternative accommodation as when my partner looked round the corner he was not on the phone at all. We have a dog so have to book in advance as not all hotels accept dogs. When he finally came out I stressed to him that he was obliged to find us a suitable alternative as he had accepted our booking and now could not honour this and that we at 9pm at night not knowing the area could be expected to start looking for dog friendly hotels. His reply was that we have problem not him and we had to do this ourselves. I was furious knowing that this would be nigh on impossible we tried to reason with him but he was just not interested and proceeded to serve drinks to customers in the bar. I have never been so dumbfounded in all my life. As we left another family with a child turned up so they would have been stranded as well. We tried a couple of hotels but all full so had to spend the night outside a Repsol garage where we felt slightly safer as we tried to sleep. To make matters worse when we contacted Booking.com once we arrived in Marbella the agents spoke to the manager and he said he had offered us an alternative!!!! Of course he did I mean I am 52 my partner 62 plus the dog so we would much rather sleep in a car frightened than in a nice bed. So not only did he re-sell our room was rude to us and refused to help us he has lied as well....

We drove from Santander Ferry Port to Costa del Sol (Near Nerja) in March, and had pre-booked this stopover before travelling. ||Hotel Los Arcos ticks all the right boxes - it is about 330 miles (say 5 and a half hours steady driving) from Santander. As the ferry arrives at lunchtime, you can be at Dosbarrios before 6pm. ||This independent 3 star hotel is just south of Madrid, and on the slip road off the main E5 / A4 road. Access to secure parking is through a controlled gate into the hotel grounds. We were happy enough to leave our packed car overnight here. ||Check-on was simple as one of the (female) staff speaks English - although our 'Spanglish' would probably have been sufficient.||The large first floor room had classical Spanish decor with dark wood parquet flooring, and was well equipped to a high standard. The step-up bathroom was clean and spacious. A hairdryer is provided.||Electric roller blinds covered the windows at night, and the bed was very comfortable.||Rather than drive further that day, we opted to eat in the hotel, and chose the more formal restaurant instead of the large public bar area. Both looked appealing, but the restaurant was more secluded. My wife chose (guiltily) the suckling lamb chops, while I had the Chateaubriand (for one!!) - washed down with a bottle of Rosado. The meal was excellent...||In the morning we asked for sandwiches (bocadillos) for the journey, and completed the remaining 280 miles or so in about four and a half hours.||Santander to southern Spain is a very popular route and yes - some do prefer to thrash down the motorway in one hop, arriving at 10 to 11pm.||However, a stopover is more relaxing and less stressful.||Hotel Los Arcos is ideally situated, and highly recommended, for...