Hotel Santa Lucia, Santiago de Compostela

...ones that had vacancies, the hotel rooms were very expensive. Luckily, one of the hotels recommended the Hotel Santa Lucia on the outskirts of the city. At first, we thought it would not be good as we didn’t really want to stay on the outskirts as we would have preferred one in the centre so that we could visit all the attractions on foot without having to rely on the car, but as we could not find anything central, we decided to go to the Hotel Santa ...
...'''LOCATION'''
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The hotel itself is found on the Santiago – Orense road, very close to another major road – the A9 La Coruna – Vigo. It is approximately 13 km from Santiago de Compostela Airport (roughly a 15 minute drive).
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In reality, although it is situated on the outskirts of Santiago De Compostela, it is very close to the city, approximately 3 km away, and roughly 5 minutes travel in a car, but even this distance ... more

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  For a long time now, I have been receiving promotional e mails from Ryan Air offering cheap air travel to various destinations, and so, on a whim, I decided to book a return trip to Santiago De Compostela in Spain from London Stansted. Both myself and my wife decided to make it an adventure, so we agreed to make the costs for air travel as cheap as possible, involving taking minimal luggage, and not to book any accommodation until we got to our destination. This is something that we have never done, but it did make it exciting.
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  We booked the flights to cover a week end after the summer holiday season and arranged a cheap hire car to be picked up at Santiago De Compostela airport.
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  On arriving at Santiago de Compostela, even though it was out of the peak holiday season, it looked like nearly all of the hotels were full and in the ones that had vacancies, the hotel rooms were very expensive. Luckily, one of the hotels recommended the Hotel Santa Lucia on the outskirts of the city. At first, we thought it would not be good as we didn’t really want to stay on the outskirts as we would have preferred one in the centre so that we could visit all the attractions on foot without having to rely on the car, but as we could not find anything central, we decided to go to the Hotel Santa Lucia.
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  THE HOTEL SANTA LUCIA
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  LOCATION
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  The hotel itself is found on the Santiago – Orense road, very close to another major road – the A9 La Coruna – Vigo. It is approximately 13 km from Santiago de Compostela Airport (roughly a 15 minute drive).
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  In reality, although it is situated on the outskirts of Santiago De Compostela, it is very close to the city, approximately 3 km away, and roughly 5 minutes travel in a car, but even this distance could make it too far to walk into the centre and back again, so we used the car to travel to the built up areas.
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  FIRST IMPRESSIONS
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  The hotel is basically located next to the main road, with a restaurant and a small car park to the front, and is built on five levels. It looks modern, compared to other hotels that appear to have been built many years ago. From outside, it did look well kept and clean. Whilst I was there I discovered that it was completely renovated in 2005, and originally built in 1980.
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  This is a 2 star hotel, therefore was not expecting a palace, but at this point I must say that for a 2 star hotel, this hotel was better than many 3 and 4 star hotels in which I have stayed in in the past.
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  BEDROOMS
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  The hotel itself has just over 100 bedrooms, with bathrooms, televisions, satellite receptions, telephones, internet access, hair dryers etc.
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  The room that we were given was a double, was what I would consider to be of average size, in other words not too big or not small, and sensibly and simply decorated, with all the furniture in good condition. The room had a window which overlooked the main road outside, which to be quite honest, had me worried, thinking that I might not be able to sleep at night because of the noise of traffic outside. To be quite honest, some traffic noise could be heard at night, but I slept perfectly and I am a light sleeper.
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  The double bedroom that we were in consisted of two single beds put together, making one double bed, and at the foot of the bed, we had a small table with a seat and a portable television which worked perfectly well and all of the channels worked well and had good reception.
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  The beds themselves were perfect, and that is saying something, as in the past I have found it difficult to get to sleep in strange places – I always miss my own bed. I don’t know why on this particular occasion during our stay, I slept like a log, and if I had to complain about something, it would be that the pillows themselves were too thin, so I had to fold them in two to make them thicker.
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  The bathroom itself was fairly basic, and if anything, slightly small for my liking, but it was very clean and it was not missing anything.
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  CLEANLINESS
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  When we arrived, and got to the bedroom and the bathroom, they were impeccable. They were very clean, and this is something I tend to be quite fussy with, but on this occasion there was not a single thing I could fault. Whilst we stayed there, it was obvious that they worked hard to keep all areas clean, and always supplied us with an ample supply of towels.
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  RESTAURANT – CAFETERIA
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  The hotel itself has a restaurant and a cafeteria.
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  To be quite honest, I cannot really comment on its service and food, as we had decided to enjoy the local cuisine that the city itself offered, however, whilst we were there, we discovered that a newly wed couple had decided to hold their wedding reception there, so I imagine that the hotel can cater for large parties, and the fact that wedding receptions are being held there, I can only assume that the food and service there must be good.
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  The cafeteria is quite big, and on the day that we arrived, it was being used by quite a few people. It has a central serving area, with quite a few tables and chairs, and we had breakfast there on two days, and on a few occasions simply a coffee and cakes, and the prices were not, in my opinion excessive. The cafeteria has large windows whereby you can see the car park and the main road, and is bright and airy.
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  PRICES
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  The actual price that we paid was cheap as far as I am concerned, but like all hotels, I imagine it depends on the actual days and the time of the year that you stay in them. For our double bedroom, we paid 40 Euros per night (approximately £36 per night), but once again, the sterling price will fluctuate daily depending on the exchange rates. I imagine that the hotels closer to the centre charge a lot more, and if the exact same hotel was placed in the centre, I would be paying far more for the same service and conditions. If you book breakfast, then it is an extra 3 Euros.
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  DISADVANTAGES
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  Only two that I can think of really, the first one being the fact that it was possibly too far outside of the town to comfortably walk into the centre every day, and secondly the noise in the mornings due to the busy road.
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  ADVANTAGES
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  The cost and the cleanliness and general ambience.
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  SUMMARY
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  If you want a hotel that is not too flashy or over the top, but comfortable and clean, this is your hotel, with its only major flaw being the location, or the fact that it is on the outskirts of the town, but a taxi to the city centre costs approximately 8 Euros, or if you don’t want to take the taxi option, very close to the hotel, there is a bust stop with hourly buses to the centre. It is not a luxury hotel – it does not have a gymnasium, no air conditioning, not even a mini fridge in the bedroom, but for the money, you get a good deal.
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  HOTEL INFORMATION
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  Telephone:- 981 549283
  Web Page:- www.hotelsantaluciasc.com
  Email:- santaluciasantiago@yahoo.es
   

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