Hotel Pura Vida - Hotel con Encanto en Valgañón — Hotel in Valgañón

I couldn't believe it it would be as good as the reviews, but it was even better! I did loads of research for our 1st visit to the Rioja region. 6 of us wanted to do some winetasting with good food for 3 days. Original plan was to stay somewhere like Logrono or Haro, down in the vineyard area, travelling by train from san sebastian. Then I found Pura Vida on tripadvisor and was so intrigued by the almost 100% 5 star reviews. I kept dismissing it because of wanting to stay in the vineyards. But I kept coming back to it as it looked so amazing. In the end, I couldn't resist, so I booked and told my companions we were staying up in the mountains near a ski resort instead of in the vineyards. We didn't have any regrets at all, not for a moment. It is only 45 minutes easy drive to the vineyards, but a world away. The hotel is absolutely stunning, and yet so comfortable and welcoming. As everyone has said already, Javier and Ascension are simply wonderful, you couldn't find anyone so hospitable and warm. The breakfasts are fantastic, everything is the highest quality, many homemade items and everything delicious. The rooms and bathrooms are perfect. There is a lovely patio with tables and chairs at the back. Then, most surprisingly, a delightful walled garden with a lawn and a dart board. Every evening we had a darts match with our aperitifs. Then we walked (by choice!) 40 minutes into Ezcaray, the next town, with loads of excellent restaurants and bars. Javier pre-ordered us a taxi to bring us back each night. Valganon has 2 places to eat, but they somehow didn't really work out. We tried one of them and had an entertaining lunch of enormous portions, but didn't go again. Ezcaray has a huge choice and we really liked the town - especially as we coincided with an Andalusian festival there, which was fun. We also had a fantastic lunch at Casa Rural Zaldierna (see google maps) which is in a tiny hamlet outside Ezcaray. We walked there and back (by choice), which was the usual 40 mins into Ezcaray then a really lovely walk on a good flat track through the woods which took about 1.5 hours. For the wine tasting, Javier booked us on a visit to RODA vineyard. It was excellent, just 8 of us, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience- interesting, well executed, professional, generous - couldn't fault it. This stay at Pura Vida combines well with a visit to san sebastian or bilbao on the coast, they are a good contrast. We stayed a few days in San sebastian first, then hired our car in San sebastian and returned it to Bilbao airport, which worked out very well. By public transport, you can get a train to logrono (or haro?) and then a bus to ezcaray and then a taxi...

I couldn't believe it it would be as good as the reviews, but it was even better! I did loads of research for our 1st visit to the Rioja region. 6 of us wanted to do some winetasting with good food for 3 days. Original plan was to stay somewhere like Logrono or Haro, down in the vineyard area, travelling by train from san sebastian. Then I found Pura Vida on tripadvisor and was so intrigued by the almost 100% 5 star reviews. I kept dismissing it because of wanting to stay in the vineyards. But I kept coming back to it as it looked so amazing. In the end, I couldn't resist, so I booked and told my companions we were staying up in the mountains near a ski resort instead of in the vineyards. We didn't have any regrets at all, not for a moment. It is only 45 minutes easy drive to the vineyards, but a world away. The hotel is absolutely stunning, and yet so comfortable and welcoming. As everyone has said already, Javier and Ascension are simply wonderful, you couldn't find anyone so hospitable and warm. The breakfasts are fantastic, everything is the highest quality, many homemade items and everything delicious. The rooms and bathrooms are perfect. There is a lovely patio with tables and chairs at the back. Then, most surprisingly, a delightful walled garden with a lawn and a dart board. Every evening we had a darts match with our aperitifs. Then we walked (by choice!) 40 minutes into Ezcaray, the next town, with loads of excellent restaurants and bars. Javier pre-ordered us a taxi to bring us back each night. Valganon has 2 places to eat, but they somehow didn't really work out. We tried one of them and had an entertaining lunch of enormous portions, but didn't go again. Ezcaray has a huge choice and we really liked the town - especially as we coincided with an Andalusian festival there, which was fun. We also had a fantastic lunch at Casa Rural Zaldierna (see google maps) which is in a tiny hamlet outside Ezcaray. We walked there and back (by choice), which was the usual 40 mins into Ezcaray then a really lovely walk on a good flat track through the woods which took about 1.5 hours. For the wine tasting, Javier booked us on a visit to RODA vineyard. It was excellent, just 8 of us, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience- interesting, well executed, professional, generous - couldn't fault it. This stay at Pura Vida combines well with a visit to san sebastian or bilbao on the coast, they are a good contrast. We stayed a few days in San sebastian first, then hired our car in San sebastian and returned it to Bilbao airport, which worked out very well. By public transport, you can get a train to logrono (or haro?) and then a bus to ezcaray and then a taxi...

If you are visiting this region, you must stay here. In fact, even if you are not visiting this region, you should come here just to stay at Pura Vida.

The moment we walked into the hotel, Javier (Javi) and Ascension (Ascens) greeted us with such warmth that we felt like long lost relatives (that they liked!). And, they kept making us feel warm and welcome for the entire 4-day stay, so we know we hadn't outstayed our welcome.

Put these amazing hosts into an amazingly designed boutique hotel and it's truly the 'pure life'. Javi designed the place and spared no expense or attention to detail. From the art that adorns the walls, to the impeccably designed rooms, to the enormous beds (King+), to the beautiful furniture.

And, Javi helped us organize our stay, so we had lots of towns and bodegas to visit, monasteries to see, and restaurants in which to dine.

I'm writing this review primarily to honour the love that Javi and Ascens have put into their place. It's too rare to see people put so much craft in all that they do. Although I want them to do well, I really do hope that they will always have a room for us when we ever come...