Parrilla Príncipe — Restaurant in San Lorenzo de El Escorial

Our room in this hotel has quite possibly the best view of any hotel room in San Lorenzo del Escorial, and anything else I say about the hotel has to be set against that fact – last thing at night and first thing in the morning I looked out and my window was full of the glory of the Escorial Palace. The view is like a fairy tale, and at least 4 or 6 of the rooms in this small hotel have that view. How much you enjoy that view may well define how much you enjoy this hotel! It is spotlessly clean, but very basic; there is no air conditioning and in the summer that might be an issue, although there is a ceiling fan. There was a rusty fridge in our room (!) which I suppose might have been useful if we had had medicine or water that we wanted to keep cool, and I like ‘quirky’ so nothing like that would ever put me off. We used Miss Google to help us find the hotel, because it is right in the centre of town with access via a back street – she did a fine job as she usually does. We then found a place to park the car very close to the hotel, and it was completely safe being parked on the road (you pay at a meter for parking between 9am and 3pm, at other times it’s free). ||The hotel’s restaurant is quite good for dinner – lots of people come from outside to eat here, so make sure you reserve, and make sure too that you insist on having a table on the outside terrace not stuck round the corner at the back. I have seen comments on this site about one of the employees (actually, possibly the manageress) being a bit brusque, and I would sort of agree with that but if you take the trouble to engage her in conversation things change a bit. The other staff at the hotel are charming and helpful. Breakfast was a croissant and a piece of baguette each, with portions of jam and butter as usual, plus freshly squeezed orange juice and good coffee – this is fine for the cost, which was not a lot. Personally, I would stay here again like a shot, but it may not be...

Our room in this hotel has quite possibly the best view of any hotel room in San Lorenzo del Escorial, and anything else I say about the hotel has to be set against that fact – last thing at night and first thing in the morning I looked out and my window was full of the glory of the Escorial Palace. The view is like a fairy tale, and at least 4 or 6 of the rooms in this small hotel have that view. How much you enjoy that view may well define how much you enjoy this hotel! It is spotlessly clean, but very basic; there is no air conditioning and in the summer that might be an issue, although there is a ceiling fan. There was a rusty fridge in our room (!) which I suppose might have been useful if we had had medicine or water that we wanted to keep cool, and I like ‘quirky’ so nothing like that would ever put me off. We used Miss Google to help us find the hotel, because it is right in the centre of town with access via a back street – she did a fine job as she usually does. We then found a place to park the car very close to the hotel, and it was completely safe being parked on the road (you pay at a meter for parking between 9am and 3pm, at other times it’s free). ||The hotel’s restaurant is quite good for dinner – lots of people come from outside to eat here, so make sure you reserve, and make sure too that you insist on having a table on the outside terrace not stuck round the corner at the back. I have seen comments on this site about one of the employees (actually, possibly the manageress) being a bit brusque, and I would sort of agree with that but if you take the trouble to engage her in conversation things change a bit. The other staff at the hotel are charming and helpful. Breakfast was a croissant and a piece of baguette each, with portions of jam and butter as usual, plus freshly squeezed orange juice and good coffee – this is fine for the cost, which was not a lot. Personally, I would stay here again like a shot, but it may not be...

We stayed at Hotel Paella Principe in May 2008. We had been driving all day and expected to sleep in Madrid, but all hotel were fully booked. As our intention was to drive to El Escorial the next day, we decided to call an hotel there and see if there were any rooms available. They had, and there we went. ||||The hotel was right opposite the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, in the town's centre. We had a magnificent view of the monastery from our rooms (at the back of the hotel). We paid 60 euros (VAT included) for a double room. They were spacious ,clean and modern, both with mini-fridges. ||||We had dinner at the excellent Paella Principe's restaurant, on the ground floor. We were very pleased with the quality of our meals and the customer service. Breakfast was not included but could be taken at the same hotel...