Latest news from the hotel

There are amazing savings on a holiday with us this February.

If you need to unwind after Christmas, we're offering a 20% discount on a week's package holiday for the whole month.

Well, the nights are beginning to draw in and we'll soon be thinking about stocking up the firewood. Winter is a magical time of year in the Alpujarras - clear blue, sunny days and cold, crisp star-filled nights. Why not get away from the pre-Christmas madness, for a complete chill-out? We're offering a 10% discount if you would like to join us during November or December this year, and there's a further 10% off if you book at least a month in advance. Happy holidays!

Sammy must be the most famous dog in the Alpujarras, if not in the whole of Spain. Her photo is all over the internet and on Facebook. She has walked with all nationalities all over these mountains; many people say she directed them on the right track and even saved them from getting lost.

Wash away the winter blues. Sunlight and exercise in our breath-taking surroundings will make you feel on top of the world. Plus there’s a 10% discount on our 7-day holiday before 15 April 2011. Contact us.

To start the year we’ve decided to give you something sweet: the recipe for our home-made flans, or crème caramels. Many people say they are the best they have ever tasted, but two Trip Adviser reviewers claim they come straight from the supermarket. We want to remove all doubt on that score, so here is the secret which we have kept for over twelve years.

There’s good news and bad news. First the bad: in July this year IVA (VAT) in Spain went up from 16% to 18%, so there’s been a price hike of at least 2% as the tax rise reflected in consumer prices. Now for the good news: our prices have not changed for three years and if you book your next year’s holiday with us before the end of this year we will respect the same old prices.

We just said goodbye to our friendly painters after their fifth consecutive 9-day holiday here.  As usual they produced some brilliant work, mostly without actually leaving the hotel.

For some time the birds have been telling us that Spring is on its way. The morning chorus is a full orchestra to wake up to and it's the perfect time for spotting a huge variety. But until this week, apart from the birds, the almond blossom and the daffodils, there have been no other signs of spring. The winter in the south of Spain has been the worst and wettest on record. But “no hay mal que por bien no venga” (from all bad things something good will come), so at least now all the reservoirs are full and the drought of the past ten years is officially over.

This month is known as La Cuesta de Enero , the hill of January, because it’s very hard work to make ends meet after all the extravagance of the festive season.

Spain has just enjoyed the last "Puente" of 2010.  Puente really means bridge but it also means an extended weekend and this time there were two national holidays to celebrate. 

Before you go to sleep you can now catch up on your favourite TV. We have just installed a new set of satellite decoders at the hotel and each TV in our double rooms can receive three English-language channels.

This week we have been enjoying(!) a regular feature of late-summer Alpujarras weather; electrical storms.

It has been a less than sun-drenched summer in northern Europe, as many of our guests have been telling us. Here in the Alpujarras it has been one of the warmest and driest in recent years.

Bérchules sister village, Alcútar hit the national headlines yesterday

With the arrival of Spring we have also noted the arrival of a bumper migration of birds to or passing through the Alpujarras.