Altzibar Berri Landetxea — Hotel in Urnieta

This place is a member of the "Casa Rurales" of Spain. It is listed as being about 12 km outside of San Sebastian near the village of Urnieta. It is a very difficult 12 km to negotiate and once in the area very difficult to find.Maps and diagrams are provided but the complexity of the roads plus the poor highway signage in the area make finding it really hard.||||Once there one finds a white hotel type building shown on the website. The lobby is dark with old upholstered furniture and a little nook off to one side for the breakfast room. The rooms are adequately large but very sparsly furnished. There was a table for one piece of luggage but nothing else in the way of a luggage rack ( not an uncommon occurence in Spain). There was an amoire or free standing closet for clothes and a couple of straight back chairs. Of course there was a bed and two night stands. The bathroom had a walk-in shower of the type you buy intact and install. The manager provided a round bar of soap about the size of a quarter for 3 days use.OTW, there were 4 packets of shower gel for the two of us. ||||There was a somewhat meager breakfast that supposedly included in the price of the room (55 euro) which I did not discover until I got home. ( One reason is that the email received was written in broken English and the print was about 9 px, i.e. abut 1/16th inch high.||Breakfast consisted of the usual assorment of breads, some yougurt and unappealing fruit. Most outstanding was the coffee which was absolutely horrible. I don't see how anyone could screw up coffe like that.||||None the less the location, although very isolated, was in the country, somewhat, and the surroundings were attractive. Right below the hotel property was a barnyard with sheep, goats,chickens,ducks and turkeys.At times I heard a donkey braying.||||Now in spite of its isolation, it is only abut 5 km to the Urnieta trainstop and it was possible to get into San Sebastian in about 13 minutes(Buy your ticket at the little tobbacco shop right there at the train stop.) The problem is that the last train returns about 10 PM so if you go into town for dinner it is difficult to get home. There is taxi service in Urnieta but I did not have to use it.||As one would expect eating out in this area is difficult. Restuarants are sparse. There is a restuarant at the bottom of the hill the Casa is on(not walkable) and we had a delicious meal of lamb chops(local), a salad with green, not iceburg, two steamed piementos and French fries. It was surprisingly good.||||All in all this is an isolated place, hard to get to and does not offer much in the way of amenities except there was WiFi. The lady who runs the place is very sincere, speaks broken English(she is still learning) but has a lot to learn, imo, about the hotel business and what would bring travellers back or get good reviews. ||||I am sorry I stayed there ( why is another story) and cannot recommend this...

We stayed at Altzibar Berri for two nights to visit Donostia/San Sebastián and its surroundings. The house and our room were very clean. The decoration is simple and functional, do not expect any fancy furniture and items. The house is located in a hill near the town of Urnieta. Getting there can be complicated if you don't use a GPS. To move around you need a car since there is nothing in walking distance. There is a kitchen that can be used by guests if they need.||||Eli, the woman that runs the house, was very friendly and welcoming. She suggested us to take the train in Urnieta to go to San Sebastián. It was a great advice. The train departs every 20-30 minutes, takes about 13 minutes to get there, and costs around 1.50€ per journey. That way you don't have to deal with the traffic and parking in San Sebastián. However, the last train from San Sebastián to Urnieta departs before 11pm, so keep that in mind if you stay for dinner in the city.||||The breakfast was not included. The price was 6€ and consisted in orange juice, coffee, pastries, fruits, and "embutido" (chorizo, cured ham, cheese). Really worth it in our opinion to start the day with energy. ||||There is a restaurant continuing the road uphill called Besabi Jatetxea. We recommend it if you want to have dinner like a local for a very reasonable price. ||||We recommend the place if you want to stay away from the buzz of the city but be quite close at the same time. We really enjoyed our stay and would...

Estuvimos alojados una semana. Buscabamos algun sitio que fuera tranquilo, pero bien comunicado para poder hacer las excursiones que queriamos hacer, y esta casa es perfecta. Esta en la misma carretera de acceso, pero el poco trafico que tiene no lo oimos en ningun momento. Es un lugar muy tranquilo, en el mismo monte, pero que en 4 minutos de reloj te plantas en la A15 con la que tienes toda Euskadi y media Navarra a menos de 1 hora.||Los desayunos son abundantes con zumo de naranja natural, con bolleria casera (las torrijas son de las mejores que he comido), embutido, queso, etc. No habia tomate (los catalanes no concebimos el pan sin el tomate), pero al dia siguiente ya habia sin haberselo pedido. La habitacion muy amplia (eramos 4), siempre limpias y con el baño con ducha sin macula. El Wifi era excelente en nuestra habitacion, lo cual para la juventud es media vida. Las camas comodisimas,incluso las supletorias, mucho mejores que muchos hoteles en los que he estado. No comimos ningun dia en la casa, La cocina para los huespedes es pequeña pero suficiente. Tiene placa de induccion, microondas y tostadora. No tiene horno convencional ni grill, pero quien lo necesita en vacaciones!!||Si tuviera que poner un pero seria en la negativa de alojar animales domesticos, pero esto no es exclusiva de esta casa. Es realmente dificil encontrar en España establecimientos que acepten animales domesticos, incluso aunque sean pequeños y esten siempre en jaula.||Ya por ultimo, quiero dejar testimonio de lo mejor de la casa y es su propietaria, Eli, que en todo momento estaba pendiente de que no nos faltara de nada y nos sugeria lugares para visitar que no salen en las guias. Muchas gracias Eli un abrazo de parte de todos y ten por seguro que...