Hotel Cueva del Fraile

1. you need a transport from the city centre, definitely 2. the hotel is on the countryside but close enough to the old city (13 minutes drive), which we really enjoyed 3. breakfast very good 4. rooms very, very good

The hotel was lovely. A mix of traditional Spanish with very modern. Some rooms opening out onto the gallery above the central quadrangle complete with fountain where dinner is set and there is a bar for al fresco drinks. The pool is really big - open 11am till 8pm. We are more 10am to 7pm swimmers but life in Spain is generally later than home. The staff were amazing. So helpful to us two OAPs trying to get by with my schoolgirl Spanish! All the Reception staff, though, spoke perfect English. The setting of the hotel is beautiful - well into the rocky gorges of the surrounding national park, 7km outside Cuenca. We had a hire car but a taxi to the new town or high old town is 10 euros and taxis seemed to be plentiful. Really good breakfast however the lunch and dinner menu was rather limited. It didn't change during the week as far as we could tell - the daily set lunch or dinner seemed to be choices from the regular menu and didn't seem to be something new each day. However, the menu didn't have an English translation and my phone was out of action for Google translate! I may be doing the chef a disservice! The old town of Cuenca and the Cuidad Encantada- a fascinating geological site (about 30 miles away) which costs 4 euros to enter for the 3km walk round extraordinary rock formations and boulders that are millions of years old, are well worth visiting. We would like to return to Cuenca and to the hotel one day.

hotel has recently been renovated ,though not quite finished yet.we stayed 2 nights Friday and Saturday ,we had a very nice room with views over the garden area .The amenities are good but the staff need to be a bit more friendly ,they did seem to be a bit harrast at times .the restaurant was good value for money .Breakfast could be improved by having a proper coffee machine instead of thermal jugs of milk and coffee .We didn't see any tea making facilities either.Nice hotel beautifull position for walking in the country.

We greatly enjoyed our stay here.