Over Christmas and New Year 2018-2019 we spent a pleasant few days in the Hotel Balneario Las Arenas in València, the third largest city in Spain.
We were driving south and were looking to spend Christmas and New Year in a Spanish city we had not yet visited, so València was high on our list.
If I remember rightly there are only a handful of 5-star hotels in the city, and the Hotel Balneario Las Arenas stood out as being the only one right on the beach.
It is on the beach, but it is still only a short taxi ride to the major tourist attractions in the city centre.
When we arrived at the reception we were welcomed as you would expect for a 5-star hotel. Our car parked for us, they took our bags, and we were shown to our room.
A real positive was the excellent underground parking, and that everyone was very friendly. I spoke to another guest who had been coming to the same hotel for the last 10 years, and he noted that he would find many familiar faces, etc. So staff looked to be well treated, and it showed.
Our room
We had booked a really good room with a terrace that had a great view across the beach and out to sea.
At the time I forgot to take some photographs of the room, but I’m pretty sure it was identical to the photos below.
A mix of tourism and relax
We decided to alternate between tourism visits in the city centre, and the simple pleasures of afternoon tea on the terrace and a walk along the beach.
The beach in front of the hotel is called ‘Platja del Cabanyal‘ which is a long, wide, sandy beach very popular with both locals and tourists.
Another name for this beach is the Playa de las Arenas. In fact the hotel was once the Balneario de las Arenas, a Greek imitation temple used by the Valencian bourgeoisie in the late 19th C.
Also the hotel is just down the road (or beach) from the harbour of Valencia that was the venue for the 2007 America’s Cup (won by the Swiss-based Alinghi) and for the 2010 America’s Cup (won by USA 17). And the harbour was also the venue for the Valencia Street Circuit that hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix from 2008 to 2012. Fine place for a stroll, but you can see that the area was more or less deserted.
Food, Chistmas, Food, New Year, ...
We had booked half-board for our stay, but this did not include Christmas or New Year dinner.
When we arrived we found that the Christmas and New Year celebrations were already fully booked, and that they would have been exorbitantly expensive, e.g. more than 400€ per person for the New Year dinner.
Instead we had our Christmas dinner in our room, and fortunately the hotel also organised a more reasonable buffet dinner for the New Year celebration (still with a good sense of occasion and lots of cava, funny hats, and fireworks).
Breakfast was outstanding, and dinner was waiter service with a small but interesting set of menu options, etc. Staff were always very pleasant and friendly.
Spa
I also visited the spa several times. It was more than adequate for me, with a good hot sauna and a smallish pool, but well equipped with water jets, etc.
Conclusion
Valencia is undoubtedly a city worth visiting, and worth visiting again in the future.
The hotel was certainly a 5-star experience, but given that it was expensive, other options might be better. Given the price, location, and what was on offer, it would be sensible to shop around when we visit Valencia again.
However, in the world of ‘fake’ 5-star hotels, we could do a lot worse than return again to the Hotel Balneario Las Arenas.
In addition I don’t know how we managed it, but we actually did not try a paella, the traditional dish from Valencia. So another reason to return soon.
