Near-Perfect Seville Hotel (San Gil Hotel Seville)

Member Name: louiseypees

Product:	San Gil Hotel Seville
Date:	05/08/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gorgeous, good location, nice staff

Disadvantages: Bit of a walk from town, pool on the small side

For our summer holiday this year we decided that the cheapest way for us to have a 4*, multi centre, 2 week break on a bit of a budget was to go completely independent and book all the individual components ourselves. So emerged the 2009 tour of Spain - calling at Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and finishing up on the Costa Del Sol for that real "brits abroad" holiday vibe.

Seville was stop three on the tour. We'd heard nothing bad about the city from anyone who'd been there so we figured it would make for a great place to spend my twenty-*mumble* birthday.

We picked the Hotel San Gil in the same way we picked all of our hotels on the tour. We refused to go below 4* (as you do!), but weren't keen on shelling out much money on our accommodation. So we hit up lastminute.com and expedia.com to try and find the best hotel deals we could. We ended up finding the 4* Hotel San Gil for under £50 per room per night - which was a little bit of a bargain!

The Hotel is located in the Macarena district of Seville (something that did lead to a few drunken renditions of the Macarena dance routine after a few too many sangrias on my birthday...). This isn't very central, and although technically I suppose the hotel is walking distance from the main city centre attractions of the Cathedral and the Alcazar, it isn't really a walk you'll appreciate in the heat. Having said that, we found the location to be perfect for our needs: food and drink prices in the city centre are much more expensive than in the Macarena district; and the hotel is a 5-10 minute walk from one of the stops on the open-top tour bus routes, so getting into town wasn't a problem for us once we booked our tour tickets.

When we first arrived at the Hotel San Gil, we were completely knocked for six by how beautiful the place is. With a gorgeous Andalucian-style tiled lobby and a sun-drenched courtyard as the central point of the hotel, we felt like we'd walked into a little slice of heaven. Upon check in we were greeted with a welcome drink of fresh peach juice and they insisted on carrying our bags to our room for us - always a nice touch!

Most of the rooms (of which there are only around 50) in the hotel face inwards to the lovely courtyard, with floor-to-ceiling windows letting you soak up the atmosphere. The room itself was huge, with a comfortable king size bed, spacious bathroom (with two sinks and a bidet!) and a sofa. Lovely white marble floors helped to keep the room cool during the hot Seville days. Other things I liked included satellite TV which actually worked (rare on our trip!), loads of crazy bathroom freebies and coathangers you could take out of the wardrobe!

The hotel has a rooftop pool, which was lovely although a little small. We found that it didn't get too busy, but we did find that the opening hours were a little restrictive - when it stays sunny and hot until 9pm, you don't much fancy getting out of the pool at 7! Towels were available from the front desk for a small refundable deposit.

On our first night, we were pleased to discover that the hotel puts on flamenco shows at 9pm most nights during the summer. Obviously, it's not something you want to be watching every night of your stay, but we found that the small two-person show quenched our appetite and meant we didn't feel the need to shell out for a tourist-heavy show in the city centre.

We went to the hotel's restaurant on the night of my birthday, having read (in their own literature!) that it was award-winning. We had a decent meal, but we did feel it was a little expensive for what we got. It ended up being one of the most expensive meals we had in Spain, but it wasn't our favourite. The cafe-style food on offer during the day in the courtyard and reception area, however, was good value and served with a smile.

Another big highlight of this hotel for us was the nearby Plaza de La Alameda de Hercules. This is a really great spot - fantastic bars, tapas and nightlife, all of which felt really "real". Drink and food prices were incredibly reasonable (we had massive meals out, including a few drinks for under £15 each) We had three great nights in the Plaza, all of which were completely different, and have both said that we wouldn't stay anywhere else in Seville unless we could get there for our nights out!

All in all, I'd certainly recommend this hotel. The staff were friendly and courteous, the room was well above our expectations, the location was perfect, it was almost criminally cheap, there's a pool... We're really tempted to go back!!

Summary: We want to go back!